Pub Golf Drinking Game

Nine pubs, nine pars - the great British drinking crawl.

Also known as: Bar Golf

Be the first to rate this game

Your rating:

Players 4-20

You needScorecards, golf outfits (optional), a route

DrinkVaries per hole

Intensity

Time3-6 hours

Pub Golf turns a night out into a nine-hole championship. Each pub on your route is a 'hole' with a designated drink and a par - The number of sips you're allowed to finish it in. Sink your pint in two gulps on a par-3 hole and you're one under; nurse it across six sips and you're writing a bogey on the scorecard. Lowest total score after nine pubs wins the night.

Born in British student towns and now played everywhere from London to Sydney, Pub Golf works because it gives a bar crawl structure, stakes, and a uniform. Half the fun is the planning - Mapping the course, setting fair pars, printing scorecards - And the other half is watching your most competitive friend agonize over a bottle of cider like it's a downhill putt at Augusta. Dress code: full golf attire, obviously.

What you need & setup

Plan a course of 9 pubs (18 for the brave) within safe walking distance of each other.
Assign each hole a drink and a par - The maximum number of sips to finish it at par.
Print or share scorecards listing each hole, its drink, its par, and a column per player.
Appoint a scorekeeper (the 'club captain') whose scorecard rulings are final.
Agree penalty rules - Spillage, toilet breaks, and skipped holes - Before tee-off.
Optional but encouraged: golf outfits, a trophy for the winner, and a tee-off time.

How to play Pub Golf

Design the course

Pick nine pubs forming a walkable loop, ideally ending near food and transport home. Vary the holes: big pints get high pars, small bottles get low ones, and one wildcard hole (a cocktail, a half of stout) keeps it interesting. Front-load the heavier drinks - Hole nine should never be your hardest par.

Set fair pars

Par is the number of sips (drinking motions) allowed to finish the hole's drink at even score. A pint of lager plays as a par 4, a bottle of alcopop a par 3, a mixed drink a par 2. Test your pars against reality: if nobody can make par without chugging dangerously, raise it. Good pars create close scorecards.

Tee off and count sips

At each pub, everyone orders the designated drink and finishes it counting every sip. Three sips on a par-4 hole scores 3 - A birdie. Five sips scores a bogey 5. The scorekeeper records everyone's strokes before the group moves on. You don't have to race; you have all visit long to finish the hole.

Apply penalties

Penalty strokes keep the round honest: +1 for spilling your drink, +1 for using the toilet during a hole (the infamous 'water hazard'), +2 for failing to finish the drink, and +3 or disqualification for skipping a hole. Some groups allow one 'mulligan' per player per round. The captain's ruling settles all disputes.

Walk the fairway

Between pubs, the group walks together to the next hole - No splitting up, no stragglers left behind. This is where you drink water, eat something, and talk tactics. The walk is a feature, not dead time: it paces the round, sobers the scoring debates, and keeps a three-to-six-hour night from collapsing at hole five.

Tally at the 19th hole

After hole nine, gather at the final stop - The '19th hole' - For the scoring ceremony. Lowest total strokes wins the trophy and eternal bragging rights; highest score traditionally buys the winner's next drink or wears a forfeit. Keep the scorecard as evidence, because this argument will resurface at every future round.

The rules

Each pub is one hole with a set drink and a set par; everyone plays the same course.
One sip = one stroke. Finish the drink in par sips or fewer to score par or better.
Example 9-hole scorecard: H1 pint of lager (par 4), H2 cider bottle (par 3), H3 vodka mixer (par 2), H4 pint of ale (par 5), H5 alcopop (par 3), H6 wine glass (par 3), H7 pint of lager shandy (par 4), H8 gin & tonic (par 2), H9 half-pint finisher (par 1).
Scoring is real golf scoring: under par is good. Birdie = one sip under par; bogey = one over.
Spilling any of your drink: +1 penalty stroke.
Toilet break during a hole (before your drink is finished): +1 stroke - The water hazard.
Failing to finish your drink at a hole: +2 strokes.
Skipping a hole entirely: +3 strokes, or disqualification if the group votes it.
Non-alcoholic substitutions are always allowed at identical par - The scorecard never asks what's in the glass.
The appointed scorekeeper's rulings are final; lowest total after 9 holes wins.

Variations & house rules

18-Hole Championship

The full-length version: 18 pubs, usually run as two nine-hole halves with a proper food break at the turn. Pars must be set low-alcohol and generous - Think halves, singles, and soft-drink holes mixed in - Because no responsible course plays 18 pints. Reserve it for all-day events like birthdays and stag weekends, with a strict pace-of-play schedule.

Ryder Cup Format

Two teams compete instead of individuals: at each hole, compare each pairing's sip counts and award the hole to the lower scorer, with halves for ties. Team with the most holes after nine lifts the cup. This format rescues players having a bad round - You can lose your match and still win the night on team points.

Crazy Golf Rules

Each hole carries a gimmick alongside its par: drink left-handed on hole two, no phones on hole four, everyone speaks in golf commentary on hole seven. Breaking a gimmick costs +1 stroke. It plays sillier and slower than the classic game, and it's the best format for groups who care more about the bit than the leaderboard.

Par-3 Course

Every hole is a small, quick drink - Bottles, halves, and single mixers, all par 2 or 3 - Making a lighter round that's friendlier for weeknights and mixed-pace groups. Scores bunch tightly together, so penalties and birdies decide everything. Also the recommended intro format for first-time course designers who aren't sure how pars play out.

Country Club Rules

The strict-etiquette version: full golf dress code enforced with a +2 penalty at tee-off for violations, formal honors system for drinking order (best previous hole tees off first), and a written local rule sheet per pub. Play it when your group loves ceremony - The pomp is the point, and the scorecard becomes a keepsake.

Pro tips

Plan the route so holes get easier as the night goes on - Heavy pars after hole six ruin scorecards and evenings alike.

Eat a proper meal before tee-off and schedule a food stop mid-round; the course is long.

Laminate the scorecards or use a shared phone note - Paper cards rarely survive nine pubs.

Alternate alcoholic holes with water between pubs; a hydrated golfer scores better on the back half anyway.

Call ahead for big groups so pubs expect you, and have a backup hole in case one venue is packed.

Book transport home from the final hole before you start, not after.

Where Pub Golf fits on the shelf

Pub Golf sits near the top of the intensity table - 2th heaviest of our 9 world games, rated 4 out of 5.
It needs at least 4 players to spark, but it scales all the way to 20+ - a true big-group game.
Rounds are fast (3-6 hours), so it slots between bigger games without hijacking the night.
Browse the full world drinking games shelf to compare all 9 games side by side.

A little history

Pub Golf is generally credited to British pub and university culture, where organized bar crawls with scorecards appear to have taken hold by the 1990s and spread through student unions across the UK. Its exact origin pub is unknown - Plenty claim it - And similar 'bar golf' crawls emerged in Australia, Ireland, and the US. The polo-shirts-and-visors dress code became standard somewhere along the way, and today it is a rite of passage on British high streets.

Drink responsibly: Pub Golf spans nine drinks over several hours, which is a lot - So build the course for pacing, not punishment. Use small-drink and low-par holes, walk slowly between pubs with water, and eat at the turn. Nobody is forced to finish a hole: a soft drink at par is always legal. Arrange transport home before tee-off. See our safety guide for pacing tips and alcohol-free versions.

Pub Golf FAQ

How does scoring work in Pub Golf?

Exactly like golf, but sips are strokes. Each pub's drink has a par - Say, four sips for a pint. Finish it in fewer sips and you're under par; take more and you're over. Add penalty strokes for spills, toilet breaks mid-hole, and unfinished drinks. Everyone's strokes are recorded per hole on a scorecard, and the lowest total after nine holes wins.

What is a good par for each drink?

A useful baseline: pint of lager or ale par 4-5, bottled cider or alcopop par 3, glass of wine par 3, single spirit and mixer par 2, half-pint par 1-2. Tune to your group: pars everyone hits easily are boring, and pars that force dangerous chugging are worse. When in doubt, set the par one sip higher.

Do you have to chug your drink at every pub?

No - And a well-designed course never requires it. Par counts sips, not seconds, so you can take your four sips across the whole pub visit. Players chasing birdies will drink faster by choice, but the rules only care about the number of drinking motions. Anyone can also play any hole with a soft drink at the same par, no questions asked.

How long does a round of Pub Golf take?

Plan on three to six hours for nine holes, depending on walking distances, group size, and how long you settle in at each pub. A good pace is 25-35 minutes per hole including the walk. Eighteen-hole rounds are all-day affairs with a meal at the turn. Build the timing into the scorecard so the group keeps moving.

Where did Pub Golf come from?

Its precise origin is unclaimed, but it almost certainly grew out of British university and pub-crawl culture, with scorecard crawls well established in UK student towns by the 1990s. The format spread to Australia, Ireland, and the US - Sometimes as 'bar golf' - And the golf-clothing dress code became a signature somewhere along the way. Today it's a British night-out institution.

Pub Golf Drinking Game

What you need & setup