What Are the Rules for Ladder Golf?

Ladder golf is a lawn game. It is played by tossing "bolas," two golf balls attached to nylon rope, toward a ladder with three rungs. The toss line is 15 feet from the ladder. Points are scored for each bola that is hanging from the ladder at the end of a round.

Players

Ladder golf can be played by two or more people, each with a different color of bolas.

Turns

A player's turn consists of tossing three bolas, one at a time. Players flip a coin to determine who tosses first. The player with the most points in a round tosses first in the next round.

Points

At the end of a round, each player scores 1 point for a bola on the first (bottom) step, 2 points for a bola on the middle step and 3 points for each bola on the third (top) step. Players also earn 1 bonus point for having one bola on each step or all three bolas on the same step.

Winning

The first player to reach a total of exactly 21 points wins the game. If the player goes over 21, she earns 0 points for that round.

Ties

If two players have exactly 21 points at the end of a round, they play overtime rounds until one player is at least 2 points ahead of the other. The 2-point rule only applies in overtime.

Team Play

Ladder golf can be played in teams by alternating turns between teams.