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Fairway fiends

Putt your best foot forwards, whether this is par for the course or you’re new to the club.

Back to Activities

You’ll need

  • Tables
  • Chairs
  • Pens or pencils
  • Craft materials (for example, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, stickers)
  • Scrap paper, plain and coloured
  • Flipchart or whiteboard, with pen
  • Golf-related items, including some clubs, balls, clothing and anything else
Open plan
PDF – 93.0KB
Download Open plan

Before you begin

  • Two weeks before running this activity, ask around the group and find out who’d like to run a golf-related activity as part of a session. See how much or how little each golf enthusiast would be willing to do. It may be that there are a limited number of willing enthusiasts, so individuals might need to run more than one activity.
  • The chosen enthusiasts should think up, prepare and run between three and six activities at the same time in the session. They may use activities from those provided in these instructions. It’s their responsibility to make sure all activities are accessible, safe and suitable for the rest of the group, and that resources are prepared for each activity. They also need to make sure they cater for golf lovers and those who aren’t so interested in the game. Fill in the activities on the ‘Open plan’ sheet.
  • One week before running this activity, the enthusiasts running activities should complete their plans and hand these to the person leading the activity. The person leading the activity should check the plans and ask questions about how they’ll manage risks and how they’ll keep everyone engaged.

Run the activity

  1. Several or all of the enthusiasts who’ve prepared activity bases for this session should introduce the activities to the rest of the group. They should also talk about why they’re golf enthusiasts, what excites them about this sport of irons, greens and caddies and discuss their favourite golf-related memory or experience.
  2. Depending on how many people are running bases, you might be able to have the rest of the group move between activity bases throughout the session. Alternatively, the person leading the activity or other volunteers could step in to run the bases with no enthusiasts. If there are more activities than there are people who can run bases, run the activities one after the other, or two at a time. Set up for all of, or the first, activities.
  3. Run the activities.

Here is a sample session plan that you could use:

You will need

  • A green jacket
  • Rules, regulations and expectations cards
  • Everyday recycled goods and old drinkware
  • Famous faces quiz sheet
  • Sheet
  • Chalk, masking tape or a large eight-by-eight grid
  • Objects to make common golf course features (eg sand traps)
  1. Explain that this activity tests knowledge of golf’s many rules and regulations. Players should sit back-to-back in pairs, with one player A and the other B.
  2. Player A is given a pre-prepared card with a picture on it. The picture should show a rule, regulation or expectation (ie a player moving their ball illegally or striking into the rough).
  3. Without using any words related to golf, Player A should describe what’s on the card to Player B. Player B should try to guess the golf rule, regulation or expectation.
  4. Continue playing until two minutes have gone. Count how many Player B guessed correctly. The players should then swap places and play again, to see if the other person can guess more.
  1. Give out everyday recyclable items and old drinkware, with craft materials. Individuals or groups should use these to create golfing trophies from around the world, using what they know about the nation or the trophy itself to decorate their creation.
  2. Give each group the name of the trophy they should try to make. Some examples you could use are: ‘The British Open Championship’ (UK, men), ‘The Women’s PGA Championship’ (USA, women), ‘The Senior PGA Championship’ (USA, men over the age of fifty) and ‘The PGA European Tour’ (Europe, all men or all women).
  3. When the trophies are complete, each player should try and guess which trophy the others have made. Trophy-makers may point out features they’ve added, but shouldn’t say the name or the location of their trophy until it’s correctly guessed.
  1. Set out a ‘fairway’ in a grid pattern, eight squares by eight big. You could draw this with chalk or masking tape, or use a pre-existing grid.
  2. The person leading the activity should mark out on a piece of paper a path that can be taken from one side of the grid to the other. They should mark all squares not in this path as molehills, boundaries, sand traps or rough terrain. There could be other obstructions too – use your imagination! Hide this sheet showing the path across the fairway from anyone taking part in this activity.
  3. Players take turns to ‘tee off’ and cross the fairway, one at a time. They take a shot by stepping into the next square. The person leading the activity should commentate on their progress. If they step into a square with an obstruction, the person leading the activity should point this out (“...and that shot’s gone straight in the lake, plop!”) and that player must return to the back of the line. If they step into a square on the safe path, they may take another shot.
  4. Those waiting to tee off should watch carefully to work out the safe path across the fairway. Continue until everyone has crossed.
  1. Players should get into small teams. Give each team a pre-prepared ‘Famous faces quiz sheet’ and pens or pencils.
  2. Each team should try to guess all the famous sports personalities from their faces. They may be professional players, legends of the game, pundits or famous golfers.
  3. See who got the most answers correct. That team is the winner.
  1. Talk about the five areas of every golf course hole – the ‘general’ playing area, teeing area, penalty areas, bunkers and the putting green. A diagram of a golf course can be found here. You could also talk about other obstructions, like people in the crowd or animal burrows.
  2. In groups, everyone should now use objects to make one hole. Each hole should have a teeing area, penalty area(s), bunker(s) and a putting green, with the rest of the space a natural/human obstruction or general playing area. Groups should make a plan with paper and a pencil before building.
  3. When the hole is complete, each group should be able to point out the five individual areas of their bit of the course. If there’s space and you have clubs and a ball, play the entire course and see how tough it is. Each hole can then be given a par score – the average number of shots it should take to get the ball in the hole.
  1. Lay out some golf-related items. This could include clubs, clothes, balls or other paraphernalia. There should be no more than 15 items.
  2. Allow everyone to look at the items for about 30 seconds, then cover them with a sheet.
  3. Everyone should make a list of the items they remember. See who correctly remembers the most items. That person is the winner.

Reflection

For some, this activity might’ve been right up their street, though they may still have stepped out of their comfort zone! Golf fans needed to think carefully about the activities they chose, prepared and ran, so that everyone could play their part, whatever their level of golfing knowledge. Were group-led activities a success, and would you like to see more group-led sessions in future?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Active games

The game area should be free of hazards. Explain the rules of the game clearly and have a clear way to communicate that the game must stop when needed. Take a look at our guidance on running active games safely.

Scissors

Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.

Glue and solvents

Always supervise young people appropriately when they’re using glue and solvent products. Make sure there’s plenty of ventilation. Be aware of any medical conditions that could be affected by glue or solvent use and make adjustments as needed.

Rubbish and recycling

All items should be clean and suitable for this activity.

Poles and long objects

Be careful when moving poles or long items. Take care if the ends are sharp. Have appropriate supervision for this activity.

To add a competitive element, run this session with a tour-style league table. Groups could give themselves a team name and add their points from each activity to a scoreboard. The team that gets the most points across all the activities is the overall winner, and they could receive the coveted green jacket! To make the teams fair, try to spread out those with more golfing knowledge among the different teams.

Make sure all written text is easy to read.

Make sure grid squares in ‘Find your fair way’ are large enough for all players to occupy and move between.

Explore the use of handicaps in golf in the ‘Custom courses’ activity.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Scouts Sports Enthusiast Activity Badge

If this was a success, continue to plan group-led activity sessions, with other themes like skills, music or the arts.

Young people who are into golf should take this opportunity to run activities, share their knowledge with others and express how golfing makes them feel.