Although you can play yourself for practicing, keep in mind that Ladder golf is a multiplayer game, therefore, you will need at least two players. If there are more players, and up to six is the recommended number of people to play this game at once, you can split into teams, which is a certain way to make this game even more interesting. The first thing you need to decide is who will get to play first. In the nature of fair-play, the ideal way is to let a coin toss decide this, just like they do it in soccer, tennis, and some other sports.
Ladder golf is played in rounds. For each round, a player gets 3 bolas to throw onto the goal-line ladder, with the goal of hitting any of the ladder steps and hanging his bolas on them. You win points depending on the ladder step you managed to hang your bolas on, and the first player or the first team to scrape 21 points secure the win. Here lies another catch. Similar to blackjack, you need to have exactly 21 points, not a lower and not a higher number. If you go over that number you are returned to the number of points you won until that round. You’re not a safe winner even if you get to 21 points, not unless you are the last player to play in that round. The players that play after the guy who reaches 21 points have the possibility of taking the game into the overtime. All they have to do is to tie the score of 21 in that round, otherwise, it’s all over.
In the case of overtime, the game is continued for as many rounds as it is needed for one of the players to acquire at least two points of advantage. One point is not enough, and this rule only applies in the overtime, not during the regular rounds. Now, let’s move on to see how you win points.
SCORING
So, we already determined that the goal of the game is to throw your bolas on one of three ladder steps. When it comes to scoring, a number of points each player has won in a particular round is calculated only when all participating teams have finished tossing their bolas on the steps of the ladder. There’s a reason for this, too. A player that plays first might not be in the advantage here since there is a possibility for players who play after him to knock his bolas of the ladder steps. For example, if a first player hangs his bola on one of the steps and the following player knocks it off during the same round, the first player doesn’t get any points, even though he has successfully hung his bolas on the steps during his move.
As for the number of points you get once your bolas survive and still hang on the ladder steps when the round is done, it is calculated as following:
- The highest of the three ladder steps is worth 3 points, which is the best result you can achieve when throwing a single bola;
- The middle ladder step is worth 2 points;
- The lowest of three ladder steps is worth 1 point;
You can see from this that the best thing is to aim for the highest step. However, there are bonuses you can strive for and throw in order to get them. Three different bonuses can be achieved in a single round of playing ladder golf:
- If you manage to hang all three bolas on one of the bottom two steps, you get 3 points. So, in order to achieve this bonus, you will need to throw all three bolas onto the middle step, or all three bolas onto the lowest step, you can’t mix them up;
- If you manage to hang one bola on each of the three steps, you also get three points;
- If you manage to hang all three bolas on the highest step, you will get a bonus of 10 points;
As you can see, when you include the bonuses, this game gets very exciting and the result can easily change, so there is practically no advantage a player or a team can have that make them a certain winner. With a couple of good moves, everything can change and you can come in front of your opponent.
This uncertainty is what makes ladder golf game extremely enticing and, once you try it, you will develop a competitive spirit and a friendly rivalry with your families or neighbors. Not long will go by, and you will realize that you’ve been spending afternoons playing ladder golf, laughing together and connecting, and that’s the kind of social life and fun you have been missing while spending all that time by your computer. So, go out, get yourself a hillbilly golf set, and start enjoying this redneck golf game with your friends! Oh, but first, look at this couple of tips, it might help you win.