Golf

Golf is a card game for two or more players, in which the object is to score as little as possible, as in the sport of Golf. In front of each player is a layout of cards arranged in a square or rectangle, and players improve their scores by drawing new cards to replace unwanted cards, which they discard. Each deal is seen as the equivalent of a hole of Golf, and in many versions a complete game consists of 9 or 18 deals, corresponding to the length of a Golf course.

There are two main forms of the game, which I shall call 4-card Golf and 6-card Golf, according to the number of cards in each player's layout. There are also 8-card, 9-card and 10-card forms of Golf, but these seem to be less widespread.

A major difference between versions of Golf is in the method of ending the play.

• The first method, used most often in 4-card Golf, is that if you think you have the lowest score you can use your turn to knock instead of drawing to replace one of your cards. This causes the play to end after each of the other players has taken one more turn.
• The second method, most often used with the 6-card and larger layouts, is that whenever a layout card is replaced, the new card is placed face up. The play ends as soon as any player's entire layout is face up.

Four-Card Golf

Players, Cards and Deal

A standard 52-card pack is used, and the number of players could in theory be from two to around eight or more, though the game is said to be best for about four. With a large number of players, say eight or more, two packs may be shuffled together. The deal and play are clockwise.

The dealer deals four cards to each player, one at a time. Each player's cards are to be arranged face down in a square. The remaining undealt cards are placed face-down in the centre of the table to form a drawing stock. The top card of the stock is turned face up and placed beside the stock to start the discard pile. Before play begins, each player may look once at the two nearest cards of his or her square layout, without showing them to anyone else. After this, the layout cards may not be looked at again until they are discarded during play or scored at the end of the play.

The Play

The player to the dealer's left begins, and the turn to play passes clockwise. At your turn you must either draw the top card of the face-down stock, or draw the top discard, or knock to cause the play to end.

• If you draw a card, you may use it to replace one of the four cards of your layout, but you are notallowed to look at any of your layout cards before deciding which to replace. You place the drawn card face-down in your layout, being careful to remember what it is, and discard the card that previously occupied that position, putting it face-up on top of the discard pile. It is then the next player's turn.
• If you draw a card from the stock and decide that you do not want to use it in your layout, you may simply discard the drawn card face up on the discard pile, and it is then the next player's turn. However, if you choose to take the discard, you must use it to replace one of your layout cards - you cannot simply put it back on the discard pile, leaving the situation as it was.
• If you knock, you do nothing else in your turn. Each of the other players in order has one more normal turn (in which they draw a card from the stock or discard pile but cannot knock) and then the play ends.

Note that if you look at any face down card in your layout, that card must be discarded replaced with the card you drew. There is no way to check the value of a face down card and leave it in place.

Scoring

At the end of the play, each player's square of four cards is turned face-up and scored as follows.

• Each numeral card scores face value (Ace=1, Two=2, etc.)
• Each Jack or Queen scores 10 points.
• Each King scores zero points.

The player who has the lowest cumulative score after nine deals wins.

Variations of Four-Card Golf

Looking at cards

Some play that you may choose any two of your cards to look at before play begins - not necessarily the two cards nearest to you. Some play that you may only look at one of your four cards at the start.

Some play that you may look at any of your four cards during the play, at a cost of 1 point for each occasion when you look at a card, added to your score at the end of the hand.

Some play that you may look at the two cards you saw at the beginning, or their replacements in your layout, as often as you like during the game. Some play that you hold these two cards in your hand, so that you (but not the other players) can see them at any time. Some even play that you hold all four cards in your hand, so eliminating both the need to remember any cards, and removing the uncertainty about your two unseen cards.

Replacing cards

Some play that the two cards that you did not look at to begin with can be replaced only once. The two cards that you see at the start can be replaced as often as you wish.

Turning cards face up; ending the play

This variation is characteristic of Golf with six or more cards, but is sometimes played in four-card Golf. Whenever a card is replaced, the new card is placed face up in the layout. When all the cards belonging to one player are face up, the play will end after each of the other players has had one more turn.

Some play that all four cards begin face down and a card that is face up cannot be replaced. If you replace a face down card, the replacement card is placed face up. If you draw a card from the stock and discard it, you must turn one of the cards of your layout face up, and this card cannot subsequently be replaced. The result is that on every turn, one more card of your layout is exposed. The game ends when all players have exposed all of their cards.

Alternative methods of scoring the cards

Some play that if your layout contains a pair of equal cards (such as two nines), the score for that pair of cards is zero. If there are three equal cards, only two of them are cancelled in this way; if all four cards are equal the whole layout scores zero. Some play that pairs score zero only if the cards are together in a row or column; equal cards that are in diagonally opposite corners do not cancel.

In some variations, queens are given a higher score of 12, 13 or even 20 points instead of 10; in one variation the spade queen scores 40 points while the others score 10; in this same variation eights score zero.

Some play that one-eyed jacks are wild - they can be paired with any card, making the pair score zero.

Some play that jacks score zero, like kings. Others play that jacks score zero, queens 12 and kings 13.

Some play that jacks score 20 points, and that when a jack is discarded the next player misses a turn - the turn to play skips to the following player.

Some add two jokers to the deck; the score for a joker is minus 5, so the total score for a layout can be negative.

Special score for the knocker

Some play that a player who knocks but turns out not to have the lowest score is penalised. There are several alternative versions of this, played by different groups:

• The knocker adds a penalty of 10 points.
• The knocker's score for the hand is doubled and 5 points added.
• The knocker takes a score equal to the highest scoring player for that hand.

If the knocker's score is lowest, some players give the knocker the benefit of a reduced score.

• Some play that the knocker scores zero if lowest.
• According to others the knocker's score is reduced by the number of players if lowest and doubled otherwise - for example in a four-player game a player knocks with 3 points, and scores -1 point (3 - 4) if this is lowest, but 6 points (2 x 3) otherwise.

Some play with a pot to which all contribute equally at the start. The knocker collects this pot if his score is lowest and doubles it otherwise. To prevent such payments becoming too large, it may be wise to agree a maximum amount that can be won from or paid to the pot.

End of the game

If you want a longer game you can play 18 holes (deals) instead of 9.

Instead of playing a fixed number of holes, you can agree to play until one player's score reaches or exceeds 100 (or other target agreed in advance). The player with the lowest score then wins.