The 'Cone Game' at Fund-Raising Golf Tournaments
The basics of the Cone Game are this: Tournament organizers pick one hole, typically a longer hole that is considered one of the toughest on the course. They set up three cones at different distances from the pin (short, shorter and shortest). Golfers have the option to pay a fee in order to move up to one those distances for their first stroke, rather than playing from the teeing ground.
When golfers reach the designated hole, tourney reps will be there to make the golfers the offer and collect any additional funds that are raised.
Most commonly, three cones are set up at 150 yards from the flagstick, 50 yards from the hole, and on the putting green just 10 feet from the hole. And they are priced accordingly: the intermediate cone will cost more than the 150-yard cone; and the cone that is on the putting green will cost more than the 50-yard cone.
If you wish, you can play the hole normally, teeing off from the teeing area and ignoring the cones. But if you want to help out the fund-raising efforts, and if you want a better shot at a lower score for the hole, you can pick one of the cones, pay the fee, and move up the hole to that location.
If you pick the 150-yard cone, that's where you tee off from. Same with the 50-yard cone. And if you pick the cone on the putting green, then you are "teeing off" with a 10-foot putt. (But remember: Organizers can makes these distances anything they want.)
How much does moving up to one of the cones cost? That's up to organizers. One common example: the 150-yarder goes for $5; the 50-yarder for $10 or $15; the 10-footer for $25. But organizers can charge less, or more. We've seen prices as low $1/$5/$10, and as high as $10/$25/$50. The putting green option has to be priced much higher or else every golfer will choose it.
In addition to the extra fund-raising, another benefit of the Cone Game: It can speed up play. Since the Cone Game runs on one of the course's more difficult holes, having many golfers move up to play it from much shorter distances (perhaps even as short as 10 feet!) results in fewer strokes, less time, and less likelihood of bottlenecks around that difficult hole.
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