Raleigh Bar Golf

Bar golf is a very simple game. It simply adds a little gaming element to the standard bar crawl. Have one drink at each stop along the way and you shoot par. Having a second drink at a stop means that you shoot a birdie. Want to score an eagle, have three drinks at one stop.

Scores lower than an eagle are of course possible, but ill advised. Stops at each bar usually only last 30-45 minutes and pacing yourself is important unless binge drinking is your thing.

So what counts as a drink? A standard beer/pint, mixed drink or shot each count as one drink. If you want to order a mixed drink with a double shot then that can count as two.

Let me just say that bar golf is meant to be a very casual event. There is nothing to win and having bragging rights will do you no good if you have to be carried out of a place. I would encourage everyone to drink responsibly and just have fun. Everyone is responsible for keeping their own score so bring a little score card, tweet your progress or just have a good memory. Again, you shouldn’t be taking this too seriously.

So what’s the course?

• First tee – Mellow Mushroom: The mushroom makes for an awesome starting tee because it’s a great chance to start early with some food. Filling up on pie makes the entire crawl easier. This also provides some great scoring opportunities. Having two or three beers while you take down pizza is a great way to start off with a low score. We have also been known to kick the afternoon off with a shot too. Birdies and eagles here are very common.
• Hole two – MoJoe’s Burger Joint: The second hole on this course is a quick jump across the street from the mushroom. If it’s a nice day outside MoJoe’s provides an excellent birdie opportunity because it’s easy to hang out on their deck for more than one drink. There is no official time limit to any stop and it’s easy to spend a little longer at MoJoe’s and soak up the sun.
• Hole three – Armadillo Grill: Another great patio stop and Dos Equis is a must here. Everyone is feeling good and the pace has been relaxed to this point. Enjoy it now because things usually ramp up from here.
• Hole four – Hibernian Pub: It’s pretty much a tradition now that you have to do a car bomb here. This of course is not required and you can certainly make this your only drink here. In my experience, this hole is usually the turning point for me.
• Hole five – Tobacco Road: A new spot for this crawl. This would probably be an excellent time to grab a quick appetizer.
• Hole six – Napper Tandy’s: This is usually the point where the crawl starts to fragment into smaller groups that move at their own pace. Remember there is no time bonus for finishing first!
• Hole seven – Vintage Bar and Lounge: The Blue Martini was a staple during our previous crawls so it makes sense that we stop at Vintage. This place is brand new so I’m looking forward to checking it out.
• Hole eight – The Ugly Monkey: You can probably imagine what everyone is feeling like at this point. Fortunately the monkey is a quick stop. Spin the shot wheel, drink the concoction they put in front of you and head across the street for the finish line.
• Hole nine – The Flying Saucer: Congrats you made it. Please get some food to go along with your final beer. If you are still in good shape go for a birdie, eagle, double eagle… whatever. Hope you had fun along the way!

There is a back nine to this course that starts at The Pit and finishes in city market. I’ll post details about it sometime this summer. There has been talk of trying all 18 in one day but I need to remember I’m not in my 20's anymore.

For people that have smartphones (anything with GPS), I would encourage everyone to checkin with Gowalla during the crawl. The more people that complete the trip on Gowalla the better chance I’ll have at lobbing them to make it a featured trip for Raleigh.