One of the best ways to shake up a round of golf, especially when you are playing with a foursome that has a little history under their belt together, is to play the Lone Ranger golf game.
You will need four players to pull this off successfully, though. Any fewer players than that and it’s tough to have as much fun. Scoring also becomes really difficult.
If you’re able to pull off a Lone Ranger win, though, you’ll have tons of bragging rights for the rest of the season.
This isn’t easy to pull off – and by the time you’re done with the inside info below you’ll have a better idea why.
How to Play the Lone Ranger Golf Game
The traditional way to play Lone Ranger on a golf course is to designate – before the round – one player out of your foursome to be the Lone Ranger and everyone else to sort of team up against them.
Every single hole the Lone Ranger is going to be playing their ball and counting their score only.
At the same, the rest of the three players are going to be playing a scramble or a captain and crew (‘s really up to you).
Basically, the Lone Ranger has the odds stacked all the way against them. They have to beat the best shots from everyone on that other team the whole way through!
Lone Ranger Variation
Another way to play the game of Lone Ranger in golf is to have a different player act as the Lone Ranger on every hole.
This way everybody gets a shot at being the solo operator and everybody gets a shot at teaming up and trying to take one another down.
More and more people are playing this way, just to sort of keep everybody in the game and engaged and to help make sure that the Lone Ranger doesn’t feel like they are getting ganged up on.
Still, if you have a guy in your foursome that always brags about being able to take everyone on and beat them this is a quick way to find out whether or not they are huffing and puffing or for real.
How to Score the Lone Ranger Golf Game
The scoring for Lone Ranger is really easy to keep track of:
The Lone Ranger scores themselves, taking every single stroke (and every penalty) into account. The only score the Lone Ranger is going to play for forward is the score they shoot for themselves (either for the round or that hole, depending on how you’re playing).
The other three members of the foursome, though, are either going to have to score their round/hole as a scramble or as a captain and crew sort of set up.
Scrambles are really easy to score (the same scramble format you’ve probably played for as long as you’ve been playing golf), but captain and crew basically works like a best ball situation.
Everybody tees off, everyone plays from the location of the best shot of the bunch, and you rinse and you repeat until putts are canned.
After that’s done, the Lone Ranger puts up their score against the best score the rest of the team has pulled off. That’s how you find the winner!
How to Win the Lone Ranger Golf Game
Now that we have that taken care of, let’s highlight a couple of tips you’ll want to leverage to win the game of Lone Ranger.
Fairways are Critical
Fairways hit (and Greens in Regulation) are a huge piece of the success puzzle when you are the Lone Ranger.
If you aren’t hitting fairways and even just one of the other players up against you are you are going to be in for a very, very long round.
Maybe club down just to get a little more accuracy while sacrificing a bit of distance. It may make all the difference.
Keep the Ball in Play
Penalty strokes will absolutely crush you as the Lone Ranger.
Seriously, even just a single ball out of play – in the sand, in the water, or in the woods – could be enough to tank the entire hole for you. A couple of penalties on a single hole might sink your round.
Keep the ball in play!
Team Play is Huge
Finally, if you are on the other side of the Lone Ranger equation you need to do your level best to play as a team instead of individually.
Sacrificing your specific score to contribute to your team is never the easiest thing in the world to do as a golfer.
We all want to go out and break 80 over and over again.
When you play Lone Ranger – especially as the three combine your scores together – you need to sometimes sacrifice to make sure that everyone is in the best position to win consistently.
Sometimes you may have to dial up the aggression and play risky shots. And that’s always a lot of fun when you know there are two other shots going out that can save a mistake.
Sometimes, though, you have to bite the bullet and play a little more conservatively than you would usually. Whatever it takes to take down the Lone Ranger!