Rules of Golf

Golf is a game of strategy for four players and has very little to do with either snooker or billiards. Each player strikes a particular colour against another set colour i.e. red plays onto white; green onto yellow; blue onto brown; black onto pink. The players find out which of the four sets they are playing by playing a ball up and down the table to see who gets closest to the baulk cushion.

Once the order of play has been established, the countdown clock is set to half an hour. The object of the game is to pot your object ball in all six pockets in a clockwise sequence. Red goes first, placing the red in the D and the white on the blue spot. No other balls are on the table. He tries to pot the white in the bottom left pocket (pocket no. 1). If he succeeds, the white is replaced on the blue spot and the player tries to pot the white in the next pocket (pocket no. 2). The red is struck where it came to rest after the first shot. Should he succeed in potting the white in number 2, the white is replaced on the blue spot and he tries to pot in number 3. The skill in the game is in turning to face your target pocket so that even if you miss, you will still be in position to pot it on your next turn.

We will assume the first player missed his attempt to pot in pocket 3. The next player places his green in the D and the yellow on the blue spot. He tries to pot the yellow in pocket number 1. Should he fail, player three places the blue in the D and the brown on the blue spot and tries the same thing. Should he fail player four puts the black in the D and the pink on the blue spot and tries the same shot. The problem is that with eight balls on the table, a player's path to a particular pocket may be blocked and he will have to either try a bank shot or lay up and wait for a better chance.

If a player plays a foul shot (e.g. goes in off, misses the white completely, strikes any other ball before striking the white, etc.) he lifts both his balls and will resume the game on his turn in the same fashion as he started…the penalty for fouling is that the player has to move back a pocket. Thus, if he was on pocket 5 and fouls, he lifts the balls and will next try to pot the white in number 4 when his turn comes around. Anyone on pocket 1 stays on pocket 1 after a foul. While he waits his turn the balls remain off the table. He is thus powerless to stop another player making progress. Some players have been known to go from pocket 1 to pocket 6 in one visit. This is very rare and very difficult. One player recently reached pocket 6 in just two visits in under three minutes but through persistent snookering by other players, he failed after half an hour to pot his ball in number 6! He ended up down on pocket 3 through repeated fouling!!

If a player is snookered on his object ball he must make a genuine attempt to get out of it. Should he fail he lifts his balls where they came to rest. He may have ruined someone else's chances of potting a ball in playing his escape! This is part of the difficulty of the game but the etiquette remains that he must make a genuine attempt i.e. no missing his own ball deliberately so as to ruin someone's chances of a pot. If one can play one's own shot legally and by the same token snooker an opponent, all the better. Some players are expert at turning to face their own pocket while at the same time hindering others.

Should a player face an impossible shot he may lift his balls and when next his turn comes, he resumes the game as at the start but he is now a pocket further back. Should it be impossible to replace a ball on the blue spot because another ball lies near or virtually on it, it is temporarily lifted until the man visiting the table plays his shot. Then the offending ball is replaced on the blue spot where it first lay.

The game ends when one player pots his object ball in pocket 6 before the half an hour is up. He collects a dollar/pound from each participant. The fun arises when one or more players reach pocket 4 or 5. The other players must make these players foul in order to bring them back a few pockets. This may mean sacrificing themselves for a whole game, trying to save a pound! Blocking a pocket is a favoured tactic but difficult to keep up for a long period of time without fouling.