One 18-hole card with a par column, two 9-hole cards for short rounds — blank pars, so it fits the course at the beach, the bucket-golf set in the yard, or the one you built out of cardboard boxes.
| Hole | Par | P1 | P2 | P3 | P4 | P5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | ||||||
| 3 | ||||||
| 4 | ||||||
| 5 | ||||||
| 6 | ||||||
| 7 | ||||||
| 8 | ||||||
| 9 | ||||||
| OUT | ||||||
| 10 | ||||||
| 11 | ||||||
| 12 | ||||||
| 13 | ||||||
| 14 | ||||||
| 15 | ||||||
| 16 | ||||||
| 17 | ||||||
| 18 | ||||||
| IN | ||||||
| TOTAL |
| Hole | Par | P1 | P2 | P3 | P4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| 4 | |||||
| 5 | |||||
| 6 | |||||
| 7 | |||||
| 8 | |||||
| 9 | |||||
| Total |
| Hole | Par | P1 | P2 | P3 | P4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| 4 | |||||
| 5 | |||||
| 6 | |||||
| 7 | |||||
| 8 | |||||
| 9 | |||||
| Total |
Mini golf scoring is golf scoring with the pretension removed: every stroke counts, every hole gets a row, lowest total buys nothing and brags forever. The card runs five players down an 18-hole course with a par column and halfway totals — the OUT/IN rows exist because announcing the leaderboard at the turn is a sacred tradition.
Real courses print par on a sign at each tee — copy it into the column before teeing off and the final total gains meaning ("four over" beats "fifty-one" as a story). Backyard course? Assign pars by committee before the first putt: a two for the straight shot past the flowerpot, a four for whatever involves the drainpipe. Writing them down is what makes it a course instead of a pile of obstacles.
Two smaller cards cover short courses, second loops, and the putting-green formats — bucket golf sets, DIY cardboard opens, hotel-lobby championships. They're also the right size for kids' tournaments, where eighteen holes is about nine holes too many for everyone involved.
Do gimmes exist in mini golf? They can if you announce it — "inside the putter grip is good" keeps groups of six moving. Purists tap everything in; purists also hold up the line.
How do handicaps work casually? Simplest version: subtract a stroke per hole for the youngest player, or give the course owner +2 for hubris.