Golf Game: 'Random Club Challenge'
Before a round of Random Club Challenge starts, the golfers in your group (it can be played by a 2-, 3- or 4-person group) get some kind of container — a box, bag or the like. Next, on slips of paper write down the names of the golf clubs. Then, on each hole, a golfer reaches into the container and pulls out a slip of paper. Whatever club is on that paper is the club you have to use to play that hole.
Did you withdraw a 4-hybrid? That's the club you'll have to play all your shots (except putts) with on this hole. Did you get pitching wedge? You'll be teeing off with that pitching wedge, playing all your approach shots, playing any shots short of the green with it.
Most groups that play Random Club Challenge stipulate that once you are one the green, you get to putt using your putter. Some go all the way, though, and require you even to putt with your randomly selected club (you maniacs!).
You also should not write down putter on a slip of paper for the hole-by-hole drawings. The putter, in this game, is only used for the thing for which it is supposed to be used.
Those are the basics. But there are two common but different ways to play (and bet) Random Club Challenge. First is that each golfer in the group, on every hole, draws from the bag. So every tee-to-green shot by all golfers throughout the round is being played with just those randomly selected clubs. This format slows down the round quite a bit, so it should only be played when your group is on a wide-open course and won't be holding back any following groups. (Or as part of an organized tournament with multiple groups and the permission of the pro shop.)
A second way to play it: On 16 of the holes (usually holes 2-17), just one golfer in the group draws from the bag and plays the hole using the resulting club. Golfers rotate on each hole using the random club, so that in a 4-person group each one has to play with a random club on four holes. (In 2- and 3-person groups, all 18 holes can be used — nine holes each for two people, six holes each for three people.) The total score each golfer makes with the random club then serves as a bonus pot, with the low score winning that side bet. A common stipulation is that if the golfer using the random club wins the hole, he or she earns another bonus from each of the others in the group.
Note that the drawings can also be conducted before the round starts, with each golfer noting on the scorecard the one club they drew for each hole or each spot in the rotation. This does help speed it up a bit on the course.
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