Golf Pool

Golf Pool is a money game played by amateurs. Golf lends a few concepts to golf pool. One point that golf pool shares with golf is the fact it can be played by more than 2 players without the need for teams or other rules changes. In the context of a billiards crowd or a pool hall, the game is simply called golf.

Golf Pool Equipment

Golf pool needs no other equipment than a standard game of eight-ball. Players will need cue sticks, a cue ball, 15 object balls and a billiard table. Golf pool can be played either on a snooker table or an American billiards table.

Golf Pool Rules

In golf pool, each pocket is given its own number designation. These pockets are numbered in a clockwise pattern, from 1 to 6. The first person to pocket their ball in all six pockets wins. The shooters must pocket their ball in ascending fashion, from 1 to 2 to 3 and son on.

To keep track of which player is which, each player chooses one of the numbered balls to act as his personal shooting ball for the game.

Shooting in Golf Pool

A shooter begins his turn in golf pool by placing his object ball on the foot spot.

The shooter then places the cue ball in the "kitchen", or the area behind the head string on the billiards table. In England or a place with a snooker table, the shooter might be required to place the cue ball in the D area. The D-area is the semicircle found in the kitchen connecting to the head string line.

If a shooter pockets the object ball in the 1-hole, he or she places it on the foot spot again and tries to pot the ball in the 2-hole. This continues until the shooter misses. In this way, it is possible for the first player to win without the others getting a shot.

When the shooter misses, the next shooter takes a turn. This player shoots the ball from the kitchen or D-area. Please note that when a player misses, that player's object ball remains on the table.

Each player gets to start their first turn by shooting the cue ball from behind the head string. After the first round of turns, though, the cue ball remains on the table wherever it comes to rest. If a player pockets the cue ball, the next player shoots from the kitchen again.

Special Snooker Rule

If a player commits a foul, then the next player to shoot is allowed to remove any balls that snooker or block his object ball. After the shot, the obstructing ball must be replaced.

This rule is one of the few times balls can be moved from the table in billiards games.

When one player legally pockets his object ball in the 6-hole, the game is over and that player wins.

Golf Pool Scoring

Each foul costs a certain point value. A foul point total for each player is kept. This count is usually called a hickey count.

Also, the player who ends the game by pocketing the ball in the 6-hole is also awarded a certain number of hickey points. These point values change from one house game to the next.

Once the game is over, players pay up by figuring out the difference in the various players' hickey points. The relative difference is how the price is figured, with a set amount of money for each relative hickey point.

Golf Pool Fouls

If you knock any ball off the table, this is a foul in golf pool. Object balls are placed on the foot spot. The cue ball is ball-in-hand behind the head string.

If you pocket the object ball in the wrong numbered hole, this is a foul.

If you fail to hit your object ball first when shooting, this is a foul.

If you don't contact a rail cushion with the cue ball after it strikes the object ball, or you don't contact the cushion with the object ball after it was struck by the cue ball or you don't pot the object ball, this is considered a foul.