Printable Golf (Card Game) rules

Golf (Card Game) in one page

2–4 players · 1 deck (2 decks for 5–8) · pencil and paper

Each player gets six cards face down in two rows of three and turns any two face up. On your turn you draw from the stock or the discard pile and either swap that card into your layout or discard it. When one player has all six cards face up, everyone else gets one last turn, then you score columns, and after nine holes the lowest total wins.

In brief

• Deal 6 each, face down, 2 rows of 3
• Turn any 2 of your cards face up before play
• Turn: draw from stock or top discard
• Discard pickup must go into your layout
• Stock card: swap it in or discard it
• Replaced cards go to the discard pile unseen
• A player turns their 6th card up: everyone else gets 1 more turn
• A = 1, 2 = −2, 3–10 face value, J/Q = 10, K = 0
• Same rank in the same column = 0
• 9 holes, lowest total wins

Setup

1. Use one standard 52-card deck for 2 to 4 players. Add a second deck for 5 to 8 players, and a third for more than 8.
2. Deal six cards face down to each player. Each player lays them out in two rows of three without looking at them, so the layout has three columns of two cards.
3. Put the rest of the deck face down in the middle as the stock, and turn the top card face up beside it to start the discard pile.
4. Before play starts, every player turns any two of their six cards face up. The other four stay face down, and you may not peek at them.
5. The player to the dealer's left goes first, and play moves clockwise. Rotate the deal around the table from hole to hole.

On your turn

1. Draw one card: either the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile.
2. If you took the top discard, you must swap it into your layout. Put it in place of any one of your six cards and throw the replaced card face up on the discard pile.
3. If you drew from the stock, you may swap it into your layout the same way, or you may simply discard it face up and end your turn.
4. When you replace a face-down card, you put the new card face up and discard the old one without looking at it first. You do not get to check a hidden card before deciding to replace it.
5. Cards you place in your layout stay face up for the rest of the hole. A face-up card can be replaced again on a later turn.

Scoring

Winning

Play nine holes, one deal each. Add up each player's nine hole scores. The player with the lowest total wins the game. The published rules give no tiebreak, so agree before you start whether a tie is shared or settled by one extra hole.