Q: How do you play Bingo Bango Bongo in golf?

The great equalizer. Three points on every hole: bingo for first on the green, bango for closest to the pin once everyone's on, bongo for first in the hole. Order matters — points go by who plays when, and honors are strict, which is the entire strategy. The short hitter playing first has the first crack at bingo; the long hitter waits. Each point pays the agreed value, settled among the players at the end. Fifty-four points go out over eighteen holes; an even share is that split by however many are playing, and everything above it is profit. It's the one game where the 210-yard driver takes money off the club champion, which is why mixed groups love it and club champions pretend to. Putt everything out. A conceded putt is not a holed putt, so a gimme cannot take bongo. Hole out, in turn. Once bongo has gone the rest of the hole decides nothing — unless you're keeping a card. Par threes. Everybody plays from the same tee, so nobody is farthest away and whoever has the honor gets the first look at the green. Most groups play it as it lies: the edge is real, it's about four holes a round, and it moves with the honor. Bingo needs no scores and Rivalry files none unless you ask. Turn the card on if you want the round in your scoring average and the record book — it changes nothing about how the points settle.

Question 1

How do you play Bingo Bango Bongo in golf?

Accepted Answer

The great equalizer. Three points on every hole: bingo for first on the green, bango for closest to the pin once everyone's on, bongo for first in the hole.

The rules

Order matters — points go by who plays when, and honors are strict, which is the entire strategy. The short hitter playing first has the first crack at bingo; the long hitter waits. Each point pays the agreed value, settled among the players at the end. Fifty-four points go out over eighteen holes; an even share is that split by however many are playing, and everything above it is profit.

It's the one game where the 210-yard driver takes money off the club champion, which is why mixed groups love it and club champions pretend to.

Two rules to agree on the first tee

Putt everything out. A conceded putt is not a holed putt, so a gimme cannot take bongo. Hole out, in turn. Once bongo has gone the rest of the hole decides nothing — unless you're keeping a card.

Par threes. Everybody plays from the same tee, so nobody is farthest away and whoever has the honor gets the first look at the green. Most groups play it as it lies: the edge is real, it's about four holes a round, and it moves with the honor.

Keeping a card

Bingo needs no scores and Rivalry files none unless you ask. Turn the card on if you want the round in your scoring average and the record book — it changes nothing about how the points settle.

Question 2

How does Bingo Bango Bongo pay out?

Accepted Answer

$2 a point, 54 points on the card. Chris never breaks 90 and walks off with $16, and the two single-digits split the bar bill and their feelings.