Golf pool: rules and how to play

The object of the game

Complete all six pockets in the fewest strokes.

Setting up

1. Each player takes a numbered ball as their own.
2. Place all balls behind the head string. Pockets are played in an agreed order — normally clockwise from one corner.

The rules

One stroke a turn, like golf

On your turn you play your own ball once, aiming for the current pocket. Count every stroke. Lowest total after all six pockets wins.

Hitting other balls

Legal and often tactical, since knocking an opponent away from their pocket costs them a stroke to recover.

Scratching adds a stroke

And your ball goes back behind the head string.

House variants

This is a folk game with no governing body, so the version below is the common one and these are the variants you will meet. The only real mistake is not saying which you are playing before the first break.

Nine holes

Play the six pockets then three again for a longer game.

Cue ball only

Everyone plays the same cue ball at their own object ball. Harder and slower.

How a night of this actually runs

It takes 2–8 and runs about 20–40 minutes, which is the number that decides whether it suits your room more than any rule in it does. You need one ball per player, ideally numbered, and it sits at a beginner level — so think about whether the weakest player in the room will still be enjoying it an hour in.

Compared with three strikes, the format this site is built around: that one takes any number of players, keeps everybody in the room for roughly two hours, and needs nothing but a rack and a way to count lives. Most of the games on this site are better as the game inside a night than as the shape of the night itself.

Is it any good in a bar?

Underrated for a mixed crowd. Everybody is involved on every lap, the scoring is obvious, and it needs no knowledge of pool whatsoever.