Golf Course Scavenger Hunt Ideas

How it works

A round has two games in it: the one on the scorecard and the one going on around it. These golf course scavenger hunt ideas score both, from A ball washer on the first tee to a birdie.

Read the full guide

Five lists, one per cart

Choose a list in the menu, then press Print this list. The first four are things to notice on the way round. Shots of the day is for players: A chip that hits the pin scores 3.

The round comes first

Nobody searches, waits or leaves the hole for a find; the printed rules say so. Each note explains a term for a first-time player. Things seen mostly score 1 point and the best shots score 3.

Tips

At an outing, hand every group the same list on the first tee and add up at the last green.
Playing with beginners? Start with On the green: A pitch mark you repaired teaches the habit and scores 2.

Questions and answers

What can you look for on a golf course?

A ball washer, a yardage marker in the fairway, a rake left lying in a bunker, the flag's color on three holes and a ball marker on a green. Rare ones, such as an area marked GUR, score 3 points.

Does the hunt slow the round down?

It should not. Every find is something you pass or do anyway, and the first printed rule is to keep pace and never search or wait for a find.

Can children or non-players do it?

Yes, walking or riding along with a group. Print the first four lists and leave Shots of the day out. A worm burner still gets a laugh from the cart.

Is anything played for?

No. Points are the whole prize, and nothing is staked on a find or a shot.

All 60 finds

On the tee 12

A ball that topples off its tee before the swing 3 points. It happens to everybody sooner or later.
A ball washer 1 point. A device found on many tees for cleaning golf balls.
A bench beside a tee box 1 point. Sit on it only while you wait your turn.
A box of sand or seed for filling divots 2 points. Look inside and say which it holds.
A broken tee that is not yours 1 point. A tee is the small peg a ball sits on for the first stroke of a hole. Drop this one in the trash.
A course map printed on the scorecard 1 point. Find the hole you are standing on.
A hole whose green is hidden from the tee 2 points. A hole that bends left or right is called a dogleg.
A par-3 hole 1 point. On a par 3 a player is expected to reach the green with the first shot.
A set of tees that nobody in your group plays from 2 points. The farthest back are known informally as the championship tees.
A shout of fore 2 points. A warning shouted when a ball may hit other players or spectators.
The sign giving a hole's number, par and length 1 point. Par is the standard score for a hole, set by its length.
Tee markers of every color on one hole 1 point. The ball is teed between two markers. Their colors have no standard, so count the sets.

Fairway and rough 12

A ball that strikes a tree and bounces back into play 3 points. Golfers call luck on the course the rub of the green.
A divot you put back 2 points. A divot is the chunk of grass and earth displaced during a stroke.
A faster group waved through by a slower one 3 points. Golfers call it playing through.
A mud ball 2 points. A ball with soil stuck to it, which can change how it flies.
A sign that keeps carts on the path 1 point. Do what it says.
A sprinkler head with a number on it 1 point. Read the number out and ask a regular what it means.
A yardage marker in the fairway 1 point. It gives the distance from the marker to the center of the green. The colors vary from course to course.
An area marked GUR 3 points. Ground under repair: a part of the course that is being mended.
An out-of-bounds marker 2 points. It shows where the course ends. Find it before you swing, not after.
The first cut 2 points. The shortest rough, right beside the fairway.
Mower stripes across a fairway 1 point. Say which way the stripes run.
Somebody else's ball lying in the rough 2 points. The rough is the grass that borders the fairway, usually taller and coarser. Leave the ball where it lies.

Sand and water 12

A ball half buried in sand 3 points. A plugged lie. In a bunker, golfers call it a fried egg.
A bunker face taller than you are 3 points. Judged from the grass, not by climbing in.
A cart bridge over a pond or a creek 1 point. Cross it slowly.
A creek bed with no water in it 3 points. A course may mark a dry creek bed as a water hazard all the same.
A footprint that somebody forgot to rake 1 point. For the hunt, whoever spots it smooths it over.
A heron or a turtle beside a water hazard 2 points. Leave it in peace and write which it was.
A rake left lying in a bunker 1 point. A bunker is a hollow usually covered with sand, also called a sand trap.
A red or yellow stake where the grass meets water 2 points. Stakes and lines of those colors mark a penalty area, the rule book's name since 2019 for a water hazard.
A sunken ball that nobody fishes out 1 point. Nobody reaches or wades for it. The sheet's rules say so.
Ducks or geese resting beside a hazard 1 point. Give them room.
One bunker beside a green and one in a fairway 2 points. Golfers call them a greenside bunker and a fairway bunker.
Spray from a fountain in the middle of a pond 2 points. Seen from the path.

On the green 12

A ball marker on a green 1 point. A token or a small coin that shows where a ball lay before it was lifted.
A ball that circles the rim and stays out 2 points. Groan along with whoever hit it.
A long putt that finishes close to the hole 2 points. Golfers call it a lag: a long putt meant simply to get the ball close.
A pitch mark you repaired 2 points. The dent a ball makes when it lands on a green. Players repair their own, usually with a tee or a divot tool.
A practice green with several holes cut in it 1 point. A putting surface, usually near the clubhouse, for warming up.
A putt holed from farther than the flagstick is long 3 points. Judge the distance by eye against the flagstick.
A putt that curves on its way to the hole 1 point. Golfers call the curve the break.
A second, smaller flag on a flagstick 3 points. Some flagsticks carry one to show whether the hole is at the front, middle or back of the green.
A tap-in 1 point. A ball that stops so close to the hole that only a very short putt is left.
The bottom of the cup 1 point. The hole is 4.25 inches across. Look in as you lift your ball out.
The flag's color on three holes 1 point. Write the three colors. The flagstick, also called the pin, shows where the hole is.
The fringe 1 point. The grass around the green, mowed slightly higher than the green itself.

Shots of the day 12

A birdie 3 points. A hole played in one stroke under par.
A bunker shot that finishes on the green 2 points. Out of the sand in one swing.
A chip that hits the pin 3 points. A chip is a short shot from near the green that flies a little way and rolls the rest.
A drive that finds the fairway 1 point. The drive is the first shot of a hole. The fairway is the short grass between tee and green.
A first putt that drops 2 points. One putt, and the ball is in.
A par 2 points. The standard score for the hole.
A sandy 3 points. A par or better on a hole that included a bunker shot.
A shot that carries a pond 2 points. Carry is how far a ball travels through the air.
A tee shot that stops on the green of a par 3 2 points. The whole group has to see it stop.
A whiff 1 point. A swing that misses the ball completely. It counts as a stroke, and as a point here.
A worm burner 1 point. A shot hit remarkably low, and sometimes hard.
An up and down 3 points. Holing the ball in two strokes from off the green.

How this list was compiled

Written for this page in September 2026: original finds and shots for a casual round or a charity outing, sorted into On the tee, Fairway and rough, Sand and water, On the green, and Shots of the day. Nothing was copied from another list, and no course, tournament, tour, player or equipment brand is named. Nothing is played for: the points are the whole prize. No find asks a player to search, wait, wade or leave the hole being played, no find is a drink, and no note tells anyone how to play a shot. The terms and their one-line meanings in the notes were checked on 2026-09-30 against English Wikipedia's Glossary of golf (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_golf: ball washer, tee, teeing ground, championship tees, fore, fairway markers, divot, rough, first cut, rub of the green, play through, ground under repair, mud ball, bunker, penalty area, plugged lie, pitch mark, flag-stick, ball-marker, fringe, break, tap-in, hole, lag, putting green, par, chip, drive, fairway, birdie, up and down, sandy, carry, whiff, worm burner) and its Golf course article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf_course: the dogleg, the par-3 hole, out-of-bounds markers, a dry creek bed marked as a water hazard). Points and levels are our judgment. Licence: own work