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Four Animals and four ways to land yourself a forfeit!
We had a lot of fun testing this one and it proved to be an overwhelming success, so we’re pretty sure you’re going to love it too!
Animals adds an optional extra side game to each playing group in your event and for us, very quickly became one of the most engaging games we’ve played on the course.
The beauty of Animals is that it doesn’t matter how well (or badly!) your round is going. Your scorecard might be ready for the bin after seven holes, but if you’re holding the Snake and Camel with only three holes to play, you’ve got plenty to keep you interested!
It’s all quite relaxed and friendly as the Animals change hands during the opening few holes, but as you head into the back nine and start running out of holes to get rid of the Animals, things can get very interesting! Squeaky bum time, especially if some cash debts or suitably embarrassing forfeits have been assigned to each Animal.
And there’s no hiding from your mates either. If you’re holding an Animal, it takes over your profile picture on the leaderboard for everyone to see. Get yourself into enough trouble to collect more than one and they’ll rotate through your profile picture, just to make sure nobody misses it!
You’ll definitely want to make sure you’re not the one left holding an Animal (or multiple) when you walk off the 18th.
So, time to meet the Animals…
The Snake
Trigger: 3-putt (or more)
Nobody wants the Snake! If you take three putts or more to get the ball in the hole, it’s yours. Keep hold of it until someone else in your group has an equally painful time on the greens. Putts from the fringe or off the green don’t count, so no arguments please!
You might even find yourself hoping to miss the green rather than face a monster first putt. A little chip suddenly looks very appealing when the Snake is on the line! And don’t be surprised if the usual generosity with gimmes suddenly disappears, or someone is suspiciously quick to tap in their third putt before you do the same! We certainly witnessed a few questionable tactics on the closing holes during testing, but won’t name names! 👀
The Camel
Trigger: In the bunker
Found the sand? Say hello to the Camel. Land in a bunker and you’ll take possession, until one of your playing partners finds the beach and takes it off your hands.
The Gorilla
Trigger: Lost ball / out of bounds
The Gorilla is waiting for the wayward ones. Lose a ball or send one out of bounds and you’ll be taking him with you, at least until somebody else gets themselves into similar trouble.
One important exception: if your ball is lost in water or a red hazard, that’s Frog territory, so you’ll pick up the Frog rather than the Gorilla.
The Frog
Trigger: In water / red hazard
Water and Frogs tend to go together, so this one should be fairly easy to remember! Find the water or a red hazard and the Frog is yours until another player does the same.
How does Animals work?
If Animals is switched on for your event, each playing group gets its own set of four Animals. So if you’ve got five fourballs heading out, there are five Snakes, five Camels, five Gorillas and five Frogs in play.
Assigning them couldn’t be much simpler. When entering scores in the app, the four Animals are displayed on each player’s card. If they’ve triggered one on that hole, simply tap the relevant Animal to assign it to them. If somebody else was holding it, the Animal changes hands.
The change is reflected on the leaderboard too. Whoever holds an Animal will see their profile picture become that Animal, with an orange circle highlighting when an Animal has just changed hands. If you’re unfortunate enough to be holding multiple Animals, they’ll rotate through your profile picture so everyone can see exactly how much trouble you’re in.
And that’s really all there is to it. The Animals continue to change hands throughout the round and whoever is left holding each one after the 18th faces whatever has been agreed by the group.
What happens then is completely up to you. Animals is optional and organisers can decide whether you’re playing for cash, forfeits or simply bragging rights. During testing, small cash debts worked well, while shots of drink (the nastier the better!) in the clubhouse made for some particularly entertaining forfeits. Or get creative and come up with something suitably embarrassing for your own group.
Whatever you choose, just remember there are four Animals in play in every group… and one unlucky golfer could end up walking off the 18th holding all four!
About the ParUp Golf app
ParUp Golf is the ultimate free golf app for society golfing. Find and join a local golf society or golf group near you. Alternatively, you can also just use the platform to host and facilitate your existing golf society events, whilst enjoying a range of features including a digital golf scorecard and live leaderboards. Check out the full range of features on the ParUp Golf app by clicking here. The latest version of the app can be downloaded on both iPhone and Android mobile devices.
We have lots of new features coming very soon to the app, but are also constantly looking to improve the current offering, so if you have any feedback or suggestions, we’d love to hear from you – please email us at info@parup.golf