The best golf party games are the ones non-golfers can win: chipping contests with foam or velcro balls, DIY mini golf built from household junk, relay races for kids, and card games for the table. This guide covers 12 of them, from ready-to-play sets like Golf Pong to free games you can set up in ten minutes, with what you need, how to play, and how to score each one.
1. Golf Pong
What you need: A Golf Pong set ($69.99) and any wedge. The Original includes the velcro target mat, six scoring rings, a turf hitting mat, 16 velcro balls, and a carry bag. Bring your own club: any wedge works, and most parties end up sharing one or two.
How to play: Set the target mat 10 to 30 feet away and chip the velcro balls at it. Balls stick where they land, so there are no arguments about scoring and nothing rolls into the neighbor's yard. Higher rings score more points; first team to 21 wins. Because the balls are foam-core, it is safe indoors, in the garage, at a tailgate, or on the beach.
Why it carries a party: Rounds take minutes, so nobody stands around waiting, and the velcro scoring means a total beginner can beat a single-digit handicap on the right night. When the group wants stakes, add house rules like Redemption, On Fire, or Island from the full rules and 12 game modes guide. For bigger parties, the Versus set ($124.99) doubles everything, with two target mats, twelve rings, two hitting mats, and 16 balls, so two teams fire at each other beer-pong style from opposite ends of the yard.
2. Chip Tac Toe
What you need: A Chip Tac Toe set: a four-foot inflatable tic tac toe board, nine claim squares, and ten oversized foam golf balls. The game-only version is $64.99, or the $69.99 Club Included version adds an adjustable-length club that plays right- or left-handed, so one club covers every guest from kids to grandparents.
How to play: Two players or teams alternate chipping foam balls at the board, red versus blue. Land in a square and you claim it. Three in a row wins, exactly like tic tac toe, except your opponent can snipe the square you needed. Games take about two minutes, which is the perfect length for a rotating party bracket.
Why it carries a party: It floats. Toss it in the pool and chip from the deck, or play it flat on the lawn or beach sand. The strategy layer (block or build?) keeps adults engaged while the oversized foam balls keep it toddler-safe.
3. Closest to the Pin Chipping Contest
What you need: One wedge, a few golf or foam balls, and a target: a hula hoop, a bucket lid, a towel, or a flag stuck in the lawn.
How to play: Everyone gets three chips from the same spot. Closest single ball to the target wins the round. Move the hitting spot after each round so the distance changes: 10 yards, then 20, then a short-sided flop over a chair.
Scoring: Simple ladder, one point per round win, first to five. For mixed groups, let newer players throw underhand from the same spot. If anyone wants to actually get better while they play, the drills in Golf.com's short game section translate directly.
4. DIY Backyard Mini Golf Course
What you need: Plastic cups laid on their sides, cardboard ramps, pool noodles, hula hoops, and whatever else the garage offers. One club and one ball per group.
How to play: Build six to nine holes around the yard or living room. A cup on its side is a hole. A pool noodle arch is a gate. A cookie sheet propped on a book is a ramp. Lowest total strokes wins.
Party tip: Have each guest or family design one hole. People defend their own hole's honor all afternoon, and the terrible holes become the best ones.
5. Golf Ball Relay Races
What you need: Golf balls, tees or spoons, and two lines of players.
How to play: Each racer balances a golf ball on a tee (or a spoon for younger kids) and carries it across the yard and back. Drop it and you restart your leg. First team to cycle through every runner wins.
Why kids love it: Zero skill floor, maximum shrieking. Add variations: hop on one foot, carry two balls, or run backwards on the return leg. This is the reliable option for the under-8 crowd at a golf birthday party.
6. Frisbee Golf Around the Yard
What you need: A few frisbees and five or six targets: buckets, trees, lawn chairs, a kiddie pool.
How to play: Pick a target, everyone throws from the same spot, and you count throws like strokes until the frisbee hits the target. Lowest total after the full course wins. It plays exactly like golf without a single golf shot, which makes it the game for guests who refuse to swing a club. The PGA keeps a good primer on golf lawn games if you want more course-style ideas.
7. Golf Trivia Showdown
What you need: A phone and a list of questions. Free.
How to play: Split into teams. Alternate questions across eras and difficulty: majors, famous collapses, rules oddities, movie quotes. Wrong answers pass to the other team for a steal.
Party tip: Write ten questions about people at the party ("Who once lost a ball on a par 3 with a putter in hand?"). The personal round is always the loudest.
8. The Card Game Called Golf
What you need: A standard deck of cards and a table. Free, indoors, any weather.
How to play: Each player gets six cards face down in a grid and flips two. Draw and swap to make your grid's total as low as possible: number cards count face value, kings are zero. When one player knocks, everyone else gets one last turn, then all cards flip. Lowest total wins the hole. Play nine hands, and lowest cumulative score wins the round, just like real golf.
Why it works: It fills the lull after food, seats any number of players, and golfers and non-golfers are dead even.
9. Marshmallow Long Drive Contest
What you need: A bag of large marshmallows and one club.
How to play: Tee up a marshmallow and swing for the fences. Marshmallows fly unpredictably and land harmlessly, which makes this the one long drive contest you can run at a party with windows nearby. Longest carry wins; biggest whiff also gets a prize.
10. Glow Ball Night Golf
What you need: Glow-in-the-dark or LED balls, glow sticks for targets, and darkness.
How to play: Ring your targets with glow sticks and play any chipping game from this list after sunset. Short chips only, and keep spectators behind the hitter. The glow-stick arena look is why this ends up all over the party photos.
11. Forfeit Golf: The Funny Dares Edition
What you need: Any chipping or putting target plus a bowl of written forfeits.
How to play: Miss the target, draw a forfeit: putt the next shot one-footed, sing your next shot's play-by-play like a commentator, swing with your eyes closed, use your opposite hand. Land the shot and you assign a forfeit to an opponent instead.
Why it works: This flips the incentive of every other game on the list. The worst golfer at the party generates the most entertainment, so nobody minds losing.
12. Chipping Ladder Tournament
What you need: Any target (a Golf Pong mat, a bucket, a towel), a wedge, and a bracket drawn on paper.
How to play: Seed everyone into a single-elimination bracket. Each match is three chips per player at the same target from the same distance; closest total wins and advances. Move the ladder back a step each round so the final is the longest, hardest shot of the day.
Making it fair: Give newer players a shorter distance, the same way a handicap works in real golf. A well-seeded bracket keeps 16 people invested for an hour with one target and one club.
Golf Party Game FAQs
What is a 3-3-3 game in golf?
It is a practice game golfers play on the putting green: three putts each from three, six, and nine feet, nine putts total, counting makes. For a party, play the chipping version instead: three chips each from three increasing distances at one target, most points wins. It runs faster and works for guests who have never held a putter.
What are some ideas for a golf party for adults?
Run two or three stations instead of one game: a Golf Pong match in the yard, the card game Golf at the table, and a chipping ladder bracket as the main event. Stations keep a big group moving, and the bracket gives the evening a finale. Forfeit Golf works best after dinner.
What are some fun golf games for two people?
Chip Tac Toe is built for exactly two: it is you against them, block or build, best of five. Golf Pong head-to-head, closest to the pin, and the card game Golf all play well with two as well.
What are some funny golf games?
Forfeit Golf and the marshmallow long drive are the two reliable laughs. Both work because bad shots are funnier than good ones, so the skill gap in your group becomes the entertainment instead of a problem.
Which golf party games work indoors?
Golf Pong with soft velcro balls, DIY mini golf through the living room, golf trivia, and the card game Golf. Skip anything with real golf balls indoors, and give the marshmallow long drive a hallway, not the room with the TV.
Are there free golf party games?
Half this list costs nothing: closest to the pin, frisbee golf, relay races, trivia, the card game, and DIY mini golf all run on things you already own. If you also want more non-golf options, our backyard party games guide covers the rest of the yard.
Build Your Party Around the Chipping Game
DIY games fill an afternoon, but the station people line up for is the one with real equipment and instant scoring. Golf Pong ($69.99, or $124.99 for the head-to-head Versus set) gives you the sticky-ball target game that works on grass, sand, concrete, or carpet, and Chip Tac Toe ($64.99, or $69.99 with the adjustable club included) adds the pool-friendly strategy game. Between them and our roundup of backyard chipping games, your next golf party plans itself: set the targets, split the teams, and let the velcro settle the arguments.