During everything that is going on in the world right now, I think we can all agree on one constant and comforting fact of life – Golf Is Fun. And our goal at Proud 90 is to make each round just as much fun, or more fun than the last! We have put together a quick list of 10 ways to have more fun on the golf course.
Some of these you may have tried, some maybe not. But we encourage you to mix these in to your next round and see how changing it up a little bit can add some of excitement to what we can only imagine is an already great day on the course – because let’s be honest, any day spent on the course is a great day!
Play Some Tunes
Not every round of golf needs to be treated like you are teeing off on Hole 18 of the Masters – absolute silence and the pure sounds of nature with every swing. Sometimes you need to go out there and set the tone of this being a fun round for your foursome – and there is no better way to loosen everyone up than to crank some of your favorite music while cruising around on the course. Classic Rock? EDM? Beethoven?? It’s all good! Whatever is going to set the mood for you and your group to have an awesome day out there. There are some awesome golf specific Bluetooth speakers out there these days – AmpCaddy is a great one that hooks up to your golf. But honestly, most iPhones have a loud enough speaker to let you enjoy some music while your riding. Don’t be afraid to crank it up! Just be mindful of others on the course who may be a tad more serious about their “Quiet Please” while teeing off.
Match Play / Team Up
These are both pretty common ways to change up the competition out there from time to time, so we decided to combine them into one single tip for you.
No matter what level of golfer you are, half of the fun of playing is to compete with your friends. One way to change it up a bit is to create 2 teams of 2 out of your foursome and go head to head as a paid instead of individually! With golf typically being such an individual sport -teaming up makes it more fun because you are rooting for someone else to do well besides yourself. Help your partner read lies, give them advice on what club to swing, and have someone to celebrate with when you hit that awesome shot! Teaming up makes things much more fun when playing with your normal, every weekend foursome.
We also combined Match Play and team up because Match Play is even more fun to play when Teaming Up with a buddy. Match Play is where you are assigned a point for each hole you or your team win, opposed to the normal stroke play where one blow up whole could devastate your whole round! Match Play is fun with a teammate because even if you are having a bad hole, your teammate could still swoop in with the Birdie and save it for you. You can still keep your total score for your own sake – but Match Play can help level the playing field a bit and make things more interesting as you get further down the stretch into the round.
Make things a little more interesting – Friendly Wagers
Putting a little bit of money on a round with your buddies is always a good way to get the competitive juices flowing a bit. But we prefer to keep things interesting and add some variety to our wagers. Here is a list of some different fun bets we have done in the past – that don’t all involve cash:
- Loser of the whole has to play the entire next hole with their Pitching Wedge
- Closest to the Pin – Furthest away has to chug a beer before the next hole
- Highest Score at the Turn/Worst Score on 9 has to buy a round at the Turn
- Longest Drive Competition – Loser chugs a beer before the next hole
- Loser of the last hole gets to remove 1 club of choice from the winners bag for the next hole (Or vice versa)
- $5 per hole (or whatever everyone is comfortable with)
As you can see, we typically substitute beer for cash in most of our bets – but get creative with it! The more you can raise the stakes a little on each whole the more fun the round can be. This also gives the hacker in your group (usually us) a chance to win a little something even if they are out of range to win the entire round.
Putt It Out
This may not apply to golf purists who already require their entire foursome to finish every putt – but if you are like us, we typically allow gimme’s within 2 feet or a putter grip away. If you want to really see your buddies sweat and put a little extra pressure on – try a round where you make EVERYONE finish their putts on every hole. You will be amazed at the amount of 2 foot knee knockers some of your buddies botch, and it never fails to give everyone else a good laugh watching a gimme bogey escalate into a double, or TRIPLE!
Already making everyone putt it out – try the opposite! Allow gimmes for anything with 2 feet on putts for Bogey or more. This helps speed up the game a bit and might help you shave a few shaky putts off of your score at the end of the day.
Breakfast Balls, Mulligans, and other Performance Enhancers
Listen, if you are reading this article chances are you aren’t signing up for Q School anytime soon to qualify for the PGA Tour. That being said, feel free to bend the rules a little bit when your out there to make a round a little more fun all around. Here are some easy ways to loosen up the reigns a little bit and help you feel a little better about your round at the end of the day:
- Breakfast Balls – If you are anything like us, you probably get to the course early enough to warm up about 1 in 4 rounds. So treat yourself to a breakfast ball off the 1st tee box. Don’t like your first drive? Hit another one. As long as the rest of the group gets to do the same, have at it. This will help you start the day off on the right foot.
- 1 Mulligan Per 9 – Breakfast balls are basically a mulligan. But why not give everyone in the group a chance at a reshoot once every 9 holes? Typically used for off the tee box, but if you want to extend it to the rest of the course go ahead. If you have ever spanked a Driver to be sitting 150 yards from the pin, only to duff your next shot – you will know why this can be a game changer for everyone involved if used at the right time
- Widen the Gimmes on Bogeys and Above – As mentioned before we usually allow a gimme on the greens within 2 feet of the whole. If you are feeling generous, try widening the gimme to 4 feet if someone in your group is going for a bogey, double bogey or more. If you are right around the same skill level, this should help everybody keeps the scores respectable.
- Triple Bogey or Double Par Max – This will help eliminate those snowmen or at the very least keep your round moving at a brisk pace. Try setting a max per hole and have someone pick up once they hit their max, or at least bring it to the green to putt out the whole. This is particularly helpful with newer golfers – and highly recommended. Nobody likes hacking around the course all day – and this can help end the suffering on some holes you wish you could immediately erase from your memory.
Putting Champion
Something most amateur golfers don’t realize is that around 40% of your strokes on a golf course are strictly putting. So why not make a competition out of it! Keep track of how many putts you have on each hole, and name a Putting Champion at the end of every round. This adds an extra little spark of competition to your round, and if you and your buddies do it enough – it will undoubtedly help you shave some strokes off of your overall score as you start focusing on turning those 3 putts into 2 putts.
Tee It Forward
We know, we know – you can smash your driver 300 yards, why wouldn’t you play from the Tips where the pros play? Whatever tee box you normally play on, try playing a round where you and your buddies bump up a tee box. This can be a fun way to get a different look at a course you play all of the time! Maybe you are sitting 100 yards instead of 150 yards out on your approach shot. Maybe you can even drive the green from time to time! We are not saying play here every round from now on, but it is a fun way to change up the game a little bit – and give you a little confidence boost when you finish your round 10 strokes lower than usual 😉.
Golf Games – Change it Up
There are a ton of different golf game you can play on the course to change it up from your normal stroke or match play. One of our favorites to play is Stabelford, where instead of your strokes you get a certain amount of points for your score for the whole (1 point for a bogey, 2 points for par, 3 points for birdie, etc.) Click Here for a link to 9 different golf games to try out the next time your go out on the course.
Par 3 Competition
Do you have an Executive or Par 3 course somewhere near you? This is a fun way to change it up from the normal 18 holes and work on your short game in the process. Going out and shooting darts at a par 3 course with your buddies is a fun, time friendly way of getting your golf fix in when you may not have a full 4 hours to commit to being on the course. Mix in some of the golf games above like closest to the pin for beer chugs and you can make 9 holes veryyy interesting. Who knows, you might end up draining that elusive hole in one you thought you would never make!
Turn your Golf Swag On
Golf is notorious for having some of the wackiest, most ridiculous outfits since its inception at The Old Course in 1764. We believe it is every golfers duty to keep up with this time-honored tradition. Luckily these days there are a lot of options out there that will help you do so without the need of knickerbockers and argyle socks. Proud 90 has a plenty of options to choose from to help elevate your Golf Polo game, but we are not greedy. Click Here to check out some of our Signature Polos. There are plenty of options from all sorts of brands out there today that will have you golfing in style – so whatever you choose remember to spice it up a bit! Try holding a weekly best dressed competition in your foursome – we actually have a Trophy for best dressed in our group, but a simple beer to the winner will work just as well!
We hope you enjoyed our list of 10 Ways To Have More Fun On The Golf Course! We tried to mix in some oldies with some new ways you may not have tried before. Either way, whatever you decide to try – just remember to HAVE FUN out there. It is hard to beat even a bad day on the golf course, and we hope some of these tips will make sure you have less and less of those in the future.
