The rules of Golf

Two players and as many more as practical. Two regular decks with two jokers each — at least 108 cards. A third deck is dealt in automatically for six or more players.

Cut for deal; high card deals first, clockwise, eight cards to each player. The balance of the stock sits in the middle with one card turned face up as the discard. Each player lays their cards face down in two rows of four.

On your turn, draw the top card of the stock or take the top discard. Keep it or discard it. Replace a face-up card and you do not turn up another. Replace a hidden card and you must do so without peeking — the hidden card goes to the discard, joker or king included.

If you simply discard the card you drew, you must then turn up any one card of your choice.

Once you have only one hidden card left, you may discard your draw without turning that last card over, or replace a face-up card with it. Turning up that last hidden card ends the round: every other player takes one final draw and discard, then all hidden cards are revealed.

• Jokers — minus 5 points
• Kings — half a point
• Queens — 0 points
• Jacks — 13 points
• Aces — 1 point
• All others — face value
• One identical pair in the same column — 0 points
• Two sets of identical pairs — minus 10 points, each in the same column

Example: a hand with two pairs of different ranks counts 9 points; make both pairs the same rank — all fours, say — and the minus 10 turns the same hand into 1 point. Every rank pairs this way, jokers and kings included.

Nine hands, or rounds, make a game — one for each hole. Each round is recorded on the scorecard under the players' names and the next round begins. Lowest score at the ninth hole wins.