Golf
How to Play Golf
Golf the card game — Knock Golf, 9-card Golf — is a low-score race for 2–6 people, everyone for themselves. You deal nine cards into a 3×3 grid, flip two face up, and swap from the stock or the discard. After 9 holes, lowest total wins.
This page is kitchen-table Knock Golf. Short enough to deal tonight. Not the sport. Not solitaire Golf (that is a one-person tableau). Not 4-card or 6-card Golf unless the table says so before the first deal. Three people is a real table, not a leftover. Pick it from tonight with 3 players or tonight with 4.
What you need
- 2–6 players. Everyone for themselves. No partners. Three is a real table.
- One standard 52-card deck. No jokers. At six people the grids need 54 cards, so shuffle in a second 52.
- Paper with a column per person. Nine holes, then add them up. Lowest wins.
Sit, pick a dealer, agree on the house
Sit where you can reach the stock. Cut for the first deal, or point at someone. After each hole, the deal moves clockwise.
Say these out loud before the first card:
- Nine cards, 3×3, two face up. Not four-card Golf. Not six-card Golf. Not solitaire.
- Two of the same rank in a column cancel to 0. Those two score nothing. The unmatched card in that column still counts. All three the same: the column is 0. Pairs in different columns do not cancel.
- Ace is 1, 2–10 are face, jack, queen, and king are 10. Jacks are not zero. Twos are not minus. If your table wants jack as 0 or 2s as −2, say so now.
- Knock, then one more turn each. Nine holes. Lowest total wins.
Deal 9 in a 3×3
Shuffle. Deal clockwise until each player has 9. Each person lays their nine face down in three columns of three — a small grid in front of them, not a hand you hold. Flip two of your nine face up. Any two. The rest of the pack is the stock, face down in the middle. Turn the next card face up beside it to start the discard.
If someone has 8 or 10, you misdealt. Throw it in and deal again.
Your turn: draw, swap or dump
Left of the dealer starts. Each turn is one card in, one card out — or a dump.
- Take the discard or draw the top of the stock.
- If you swap, put that card face up into one spot in your grid. The card you replaced goes face up on the discard. You may replace a face-down card; you do not look at it first.
- If you drew from the stock and you do not want it, dump it on the discard and leave your grid. Taking the discard means you swap it in — you do not throw it back.
New cards sit face up. Face-down cards stay down until you replace them or the hole ends. You will score them. A hidden king is still 10.
Knock, then one more turn
After you finish a turn, you may knock. You like your grid. You do not want another full round. Each other player gets one more turn, then the hole is over.
If nobody knocks and you turn your ninth card face up, that is the same as knocking: everyone else gets one more turn, then you score.
Then flip every remaining face-down card. Score the hole. Write it. Deal the next one. Nine holes is a game.
Scoring, in the amount you need tonight
Score each player's grid. Columns are independent. Then write the hole on the pad.
| What | Points |
|---|---|
| Ace | 1 |
| 2 through 10 | Face value |
| Jack, queen, king | 10 |
| Two of the same rank in one column | Those two score 0 |
| Three of the same rank in one column | The column scores 0 |
| Unmatched card in a paired column | Still counts |
| Pair in two different columns | Does not cancel |
| After 9 holes | Lowest total wins |
Example: a column of 7♠, 7♦, and A♣ is 0 + 0 + 1 = 1. A column of K♥, 4♣, and K♦ is 0 + 4 + 0 = 4. Two queens in different columns are 10 and 10.
4-card Golf, 6-card Golf, jacks as 0, and 2s as −2 are real at some tables. They are not tonight. If someone wants a different grid, stop and agree. Otherwise use this page.
Walk through one first-night hole
Three people. You are West. South dealt. You speak first. You flipped the 7♥ in column 1 and the 4♣ in column 2.
The discard is 7♦. Take it. Swap it into column 1, onto a face-down card. You now have two 7s in that column — those two are already 0. The third card in the column is still down.
Next turn you draw a king. Dump it. A king is 10. Later you draw a 4♠ and swap it into column 2, onto a face-down card, next to your 4♣. Two 4s: that pair is 0.
Your face-up cards look small. You knock. East and South each take one more turn. Flip the rest. Suppose column 1's last card is a jack (10), column 2's last card is a 9, and column 3 is 2, 5, and king. That hole is 10 + 9 + 2 + 5 + 10 = 36, plus the cancelled 7s and 4s at 0. Write 36 and deal hole 2.
Night-one habits
- Flip two in different columns so you can start a pair in two places.
- A king is 10. Get it out. A jack is 10 too.
- Matching ranks only cancel in the same column.
- Do not knock just because two cards are face up. Hidden kings still count.
- Three people is a real Golf table. Deal.
You know enough to deal. Keep this page beside the pad. Three people is a tonight pick. There is no Golf trainer on CardPractice — this how-to is the product.