Bachelorette Bar Golf Follow Up

My previous post about bachelorette bar golf has been quite popular. Every week I have several visitors to my blog who get here through Google keywords related in some way to “bar golf.” If you look at the Google image results for "bachelorette golf," three of the images on the first page are of us from that fateful night (we're famous!). I’ve also received several questions regarding our bar golf details. Not one to leave the people hanging, I give you: 10 Steps to Fabulous Bar Golf.

Step 1: Plan your route.

Plan out the bars (or "holes") you'll be visiting ahead of time. We planned a 9 hole game, but actually only managed to make it to 8 holes. If you want to be ambitious and play 18 holes, go ahead. But don't say I didn't warn you.

Obviously, consider geography in your planning. Each bar should be a short walk apart, and you don't want to go zig zagging and backtracking all over town. Plan your holes in a logical order. Another important point to consider is cover charges. Don't plan holes at bars where you know there is a cover charge. No one wants to pay 9 or 18 different cover charges to go in and drink one drink and leave. That being said, with a big group of bar golfers, you can usually talk your way out of paying a cover. As Amy said to one bouncer, "There are 11 of us. We're playing bar golf. We're coming into your bar and all buying a drink and leaving and we're not paying a cover." Boom boom pow we were in, sans cover.

Bonus points for: planning food holes into your route. It'll make your golfers last longer and make everyone happy to boot.

Step 2: Determine your scoring.

Our scoring went something like this for each hole:

• Eagle, -2 pts = signature drink from that bar or a classic cocktail or shot
• Birdie, -1 pts = well drink
• Par, 0 pts = beer
• Bogey, +1 pt = water or nothing

Step 3: Make awesome scorecards.

You need a scorecard, like ours below:

We typed this bad boy up in Word and printed on regular computer paper. It includes each hole, the eagle, birdie, par and bogey drinks for each hole, and a column to keep score. Then we backed the scorecards with cardstock and laminated them to protect from spills (this comes in handy!). If you don't have access to a laminating machine, you can use something like these self-laminating pouches that you can get from any office supply store. We attached a ribbon long enough to hang the scorecards around our necks and tied on a mini Sharpie marker. Voila!

Bonus points for: matching the cardstock, ribbon AND mini Sharpie for each golfer.

Step 4: Dress the part.

Remember what we looked like? You MUST dress up, or your bar golf outing will be lame. Here are some ideas: Polo shirts, white or khaki shorts, skirts or capris, sweater draped over the shoulders, pearls, anything argyle, Sperry's or Ked's (but more importantly, whatever shoes are comfortable).

Bonus points for: popped collar, visor, golf glove.

The next 4 steps are dedicated to Bachelorette bar golf, in particular:

Step 5: Send out a cute invitation.

Sara did a great job on ours:

You can find this one here.

Step 6: Assign a designated golfer to each hole.

This was probably the smartest decision we made. Each hole was assigned a Lead Golfer, who was responsible for 1.) picking out the signature drink for that hole 2.) buying the bride's drink at that hole (or finding someone at the bar to buy her drink) and 3.) coming up with the dare for that hole.

This made it super easy to divide the duties between everyone attending and make sure the bride was never left lacking a drink and always had a fun dare to complete. Which brings me to...

Step 7: Come up with fun dares for the bride to complete.

Each hole should include a dare. Have your golfers come up with these beforehand, so people have some time to think up good ones. We typed ours out and backed them with paper with grass printed on it. Some of the dares were golf related and some weren't. Some of our favorites? Find a cute guy at the bar and have him stand behind you and teach you a proper golf swing. Find an older couple at the bar and ask them for their best piece of sex advice.

Step 8: Outfit your bride in a sweet visor veil.

This isn't rocket science. Find a solid white visor (or whatever color) and attach a cheap dress-up veil or piece of tulle from Wal-Mart or Michael's and maybe some ribbon.

Step 9: Let the night take you where it will.

Your plans will change. Your holes will change. You won't make it to all of the holes. You'll be having so much fun dancing on tables at hole 5 that you won't even bother to keep playing. This is ok. If you play out all 9 or 18 holes as you planned them, something is probably wrong. Someone is probably not having enough fun.

Step 10: And the most important: Be safe.

Designate a driver or secure a cab ride home for everyone. This should actually be done at Step 1, before you even start planning your route.

Thanks and happy bar golfing!