Ladder Golf is an outdoor game that is played with 2 or more players/teams. Teams can consist of 2 people (one by each ladder). The basic objective is to throw a bolo towards the "Ladder" and get it to wrap around one of the steps on the ladder. The first one to get the designated number of points wins.

• Ladder Golf Components
• How to Play
• How to Score
• How to Win
• How to Build Your Own Game
• Other Names for Ladder Golf
• Share Feedback

Ladder Golf Components

• 1 or 2 Ladder Golf Ladders
• 2 or 3 sets of Bolos (each set is a different color)

How to Play

Each team is given a set of 3 bolos each. The first round will begin by having one player from each team stand by Ladder 1. It is up to the players to determine who goes first at this point. Each player will take a turn throwing one bolo until every player by Ladder 1 has thrown all three of their bolos. Once all the bolos have been tossed, the points will be added up. The next round will begin by having the players at Ladder 2 toss the bolos back towards Ladder 1. The team with the most overall points after the previous round will throw first.

How you throw the bolo is up to the individual. I find that it works best to put one golf ball in your hand with the string going through your fingers. Then you take a couple practice swings (rocking the ball back and forth gently) to develop a rhythm. Once you have the rhythm down, you will toss the bolo towards the ladder attempting to get spin to the toss so that the bolo has a good chance of wrapping around one of the steps.

How to Score

Each step of the ladder is worth points. The top step is worth 3 points; the middle step is worth 2 points; and the bottom step is worth 1 point. If you get all three bolos to stay on the ladder, you get an extra point. You can also play with a rule where you get an extra point if you get one bolo on each step of the ladder. The design recommended by this site actually color codes the steps to add further clarification as to which one you are aiming for (ie - "aim for the red one").

Note that some people will play with or without a Bounce rule. Many times someone will toss the bolo and it will land before the ladder and bounce up onto a step. I personally prefer to play where you this is allowed, although some people prefer to not allow this.

Scoring Variation - Cancellation: An alternative scoring technique when playing with only 2 teams is to cancel out each others score. If both teams land a bolo on the same step, those points would be cancelled out (thus no bonus points would be awarded either).

Cancellation example: If John lands a bolo on the top ring (3 pts) and the middle ring (2 pts) and Steve lands two bolos on the top ring (6 pts) and one on the bottom ring (1 pt). In this situation, John would end up with 2 points (both from the middle step) and Steve would end up with 4 points (3 from the top step and 1 from the bottom step...no bonus point is awarded).

How to Win

Winning Variation: If your team goes over 21, you will return to a score of 11. Although this may seem harsh, you could easily come back in one turn if you can get all 3 bolos on the top step giving you a total of 10 points (3 for each bolo and then one bonus point) bringing you exactly to 21.

In the case of a tie, you can have a quick showdown for the first person to reach exactly 11 (once the round has completed)

How to Build Your Own Game

Download the Instructions on how to build your own Ladder Golf Game

Other Names for Ladder Golf

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