4 Card Golf

Golf is a card game for two or more players, in which the object is to score as little as possible, as in the sport of Golf. In front of each player is a layout of cards arranged in a square or rectangle, and players improve their scores by drawing new cards to replace unwanted cards, which they discard. Each deal is seen as the equivalent of a hole of Golf, and in many versions a complete game consists of nine or Eighteen deals, corresponding to the length of a Golf course. Each player has a layout of cards, initially face down, which can be successively replaced by new cards drawn from the draw or discard pile. The aim is to make a layout scoring as little as possible. At the end of nine holes,(deals),the player with the lowest total score wins.

My two favorite versions of this game are 4 card golf and 9 card golf. Both versions are quite fun and offer different game play and strategies. 4 card golf is somewhat faster to get through nine holes, so if you are looking for a shorter game, give this version a try. In 9 card golf each deals lasts about twice as long.

4 Card Golf

The Deal:

A standard 54-card pack is used,(with jokers) and the number of players could in theory be from two to around eight or more. With a large number of players, say eight or more, two packs may be shuffled together. The deal and play are clockwise.

The dealer deals four cards to each player, one at a time. Each player's cards are to be arranged face down in a square. The remaining undealt cards are placed face-down in the center of the table to form a draw pile. The top card of the draw pile is turned face up and placed beside the stack to start the discard pile. Before play begins, each player may look once at any two of his or her cards without showing them to anyone else. After this, the cards may not be looked at again until they are discarded during play or scored at the end of the play.

Play:

The player to the dealer's left begins, and the turn to play passes clockwise. At your turn you must either (1) draw the top card of the face-down draw pile, (2) draw the top discard, or (3) knock to cause the play to end.

1 - If you draw a card, you may use it to replace one of the four cards of your layout, but you are not allowed to look at any of your layout cards before deciding which to replace. You place the drawn card face-down in your layout, being careful to remember what it is, and discard the card that previously occupied that position, putting it face-up on top of the discard pile. It is then the next player's turn.
If you draw a card from the stock and decide that you do not want to use it in your layout, you may simply discard the drawn card face up on the discard pile, and it is then the next player's turn.

2 - if you choose to take the discard, you must use it to replace one of your layout cards

3 - If you knock, you do nothing else in your turn. All cards are then turned face up and each of the other players in order has one more normal turn (in which they draw a card from the draw pile or discard pile) and then play ends and scores are tallied.

Scoring:

Each numeral card scores face value (Ace=1, Two=2, etc.)
Each Jack scores ten (10) points.
Each Queen scores twenty (20) points.
Each King scores zero (0) points.
Each Joker scores negative five (-5 ) points.

If two cards of the same value are in the same vertical column, they cancel each other out and the total for both cards is zero. This counts for any card, including Queens and Jokers.

Penalty for knocking: If the player who knocks does not end up with the lowest score at the end of the round he or she must add 10 points to their score.

Players add the score of the four cards in front of them and record it for each round. The player who has the lowest cumulative score after nine deals wins.