Golf Variations
This page is part of the Invented Games section of the Card Games web site. It is a collection of variations of the card game Golf.
Eagles, Birdies, Bogies and Holes in One
These variants of 4-card Golf were contributed by Mike Morgan
Birdie: A birdie is scored when a player's final layout consists of 3 cards of the same rank plus a King. This layout scores -1.
Eagle: An eagle is scored when a player's final layout consists of 4 cards of the same rank - it scores -2.
Bogie: A bogie is charged to a player wishing to look at one card in his layout (any card) - this adds 3 to his score. The bogie can be used by same player as often as desired with each look adding another three stroke penalty to his final score for the hole.
The hole-in-one or "Ace". This is achieved when a player acquires all 4 Kings. The score is -10. Some players have commented that a hole-in-one should be scored when someone acquires all 4 Aces, and this is a possible variant. However, kings are more sought-after and therefore harder to collect: the odds against assembling four kings better reflect the rarity of a hole in one in real golf.
Note: The birdie and eagle scores are less than zero. Thus a player knocking on zero can be penalized 10 points if another player holds a birdie or eagle.
Note: it is possible to score a bogie on the same hole as an eagle or birdie. For example if after looking at a card you collect four equal cards you score 1, being 3 for the bogie less two for the eagle. Even a bogie hole in one is possible, for -7 points.