| Type | Stroke |
| Alias | None |
| Format | Tournament |
| Number of players | 2, 3, 4+ |
| Team or Individual play | Individual |
- Blind Bogey is a one-day tournament format that can be played in three different ways. However, only one of these formats is played for the tournament, while others are commonly used for bonus prizes.
Variations
- Version 1: Throw out six holes
This version of Blind Bogey is most likely to be played as a tournament. In this version, all players tee off and complete the round. Six holes are selected by the tournament organizers at random before the game begins, and each golfer’s scores on these six holes are thrown out. The scores on the rest of the 12 holes are combined, and the player with the lowest score wins the tournament.
Although the six holes are chosen randomly, some tournament organizers tend to choose two of each type of par, i.e., two par-3s, two par-4s, and two par-5s.
Handicaps:
The “blind bogey handicap” is calculated after the players have completed play. When the six holes to be eliminated, also known as the “blind bogey holes” are revealed, the players check their scorecards to see how they scored on those six holes because the blind bogey handicap is based on a player’s score relative to the par on blind bogey holes.
For example, if the first hole chosen as a blind bogey hole is a par-4 and a player scored a 6 on that hole, then they are at +2. In the same way, all of a player’s blind bogey holes are checked, and the strokes over par on those six holes are combined. The result is then doubled, and this number is the player’s blind bogey allowance. The blind bogey allowance is subtracted from the player’s gross score, which results in the blind bogey handicap net score.
Example:
Suppose Player A finished the round at 102. Their score relative to par on the six blind bogey holes was +3, +2, +2, +3, +2, and +3, which adds to +15. Doubling this would result in 30, which is Player A’s blind bogey handicap allowance. This handicap allowance is then subtracted from the gross score.
102 – 30 = 72
72 is Player A’s blind bogey handicap net score.
- Version 2: The luck of the draw
In this version of Blind Bogey, the tournament organizers randomly draw a number between the golf course’s par and 100 before the game begins. This number is kept hidden until the end of the game. At the end of the tournament, after all the scores are recorded, the number that was drawn earlier is revealed and it is called the Bling Bogey score. The player whose final score is closest to the Blind Bogey score wins the tournament.
For example, if the Blind Bogey score is 87 and the closest score to this is Player 2’s 85, then Player 2 will be announced as the winner of the tournament.
However, this version of Blind Bogey using the Blind Bogey score is only used to award a bonus prize to whichever player’s score is closest to it.
- Version 3: Closest to Pin and Longest Putt
This is yet another version of Blind Bogey that is used to award a bonus prize. In this version, holes for each bogey type are designated before the game starts e.g., holes 2 and 8 will be closest to the pin, and hole 9 will be the longest putt on a white course. The player who either lands closest to the pin or has the longest putt for the particular holes wins the prize.