How a Blind Bogey Golf Tournament Works
First, let's point out that there is also something in golf called a "blind bogey handicap." A blind bogey handicap and the formats that go by the name Blind Bogey have nothing to do with each other. (Click on the preceding link to read more about blind bogey handicaps.)
The Most-Common Version of Blind Bogey
When you see a charity tournament, association playday or the like advertised as a Blind Bogey tournament, what does that mean? Most often, it means a format in which your scores on six randomly selected holes are thrown out and your scores on the remaining holes determine your place in the standings.In this version, everyone in the tournament goes out and plays normal stroke play, holes one through 18. When you are done with the round, you learn what the "blind bogey" holes are. Because while everyone was out playing the tournament, the tournament organizers did a random drawing to select six holes. (This can be done prior to the start, or, for dramatic effect, can be done live in front of all the players after tournament play has ended.)
Those six, randomly selected holes are the same for all golfers in the tournament. So look at your scorecard, find those six holes, and throw out those scores.
Now add up your scores on the remaining 12 holes. That total is your Blind Bogey score, and low score wins.
Two Other Versions of Blind Bogey
Blind Bogey can also mean a couple other ways of playing a tournament. Two other versions are these:- Golfers play 18 holes of stroke play. Following completion of play, the tournament director randomly selects a score — say, 87 — and the golfer(s) whose actual score is closest to the randomly selected score is the winner.
- Or, before the round begins, golfers assign themselves a self-chosen handicap (which should be recorded to guard against cheating later!) — the number they believe will give them a net score in the 70s. After the round, the tournament director randomly selects a number in the 70s, and golfers whose net scores (using their self-chosen handicaps) match that number are the winners.
These two versions of Blind Bogey don't put much emphasis on one's skill as a golfer, they are more about luck. For that reason, these two versions are sometimes used as a bonus add-on — a honey pot that guarantees everyone playing has a chance to win something — rather than as the format for the tournament proper.
More golf formats:
