R.Loeffelbein's OFFBEAT GOLF COLUMN: "Paper and Pencil Golf"

     Golf addicts often find time on their hands, like waiting out the weather in a hotel room, trapped in an airport lounge or even awaiting call to tee off. As a former community recreation director I was often called upon to innovate new games for waste-times like these. I did a three-handed pinochle game once and now I have a paper-and-pencil golf game for players who can't get onto the golf course.
     The game's tools are simple: five dice and an unused score card, or any piece of paper that can be marked up to simulate one, and a pencil or pen. Roll the five dice for high count to determine players' order of play.
     A game consists of 18 turns for each player, one turn per hole. Lowest total for 18 holes is the winner.
     Two different methods are used to score, one applying to holes 1 through 6 and the other for 7 through 18.
     Holes 1 through 6 cannot be scored until the dice have been rolled enough times so the number of the hole has shown on three of them. At each roll the number 1's can be held out from following rolls until three of them have been rolled. The number of rolls it takes to get three 1's is the roller's score for that hole. If it takes five rolls, you score a five for that hole.
     This same process goes on for holes 2 through 6.
     Holes 7 through 18 are scored by counting the number of rolls needed for the dice to show the number of the hole being played. For example, to hole out number 7 you could roll a 6 and a 1 on the first roll, for a birdie, or two 2's on the first roll and a 3 on the second roll, for a score of 2, etc. If a 7 total is not reached in ten rolls, mark a 10 as your score for that hole and pass the dice to the next player..
     Players may roll for any hole not already played during each turn, and do not have to tell the other players what hole they are playing until all rolls have been completed. However, the scores they make must be marked in the correct spots for a given hole on a given turn. For example, if the player ends up claiming a nine on four rolls, his score of 4 must be placed for the #9 hole. Limit again is 10 rolls. Add up scores for 18 holes. Low count wins.

    Now, if this is too complicated for anyone, I suggest they skip the game and go straight to the 19th hole!