My son was crying hysterically. He was curled in a ball hiding under our porch furniture. Our friends had just left after a long weekend visit. A visit where we swam in the ocean, toured a battleship, and played lots of outdoor games. They were packing up their car to head out and the meltdown began.
Was is because he was sad to see them go?
Was he overly exhausted from the weekend activities?
It was neither. The meltdown was because of ladder golf. Specifically the ladder golf that they had just packed into their trunk. They had brought this game so we could all play it. Apparently my son thought the ladder golf was staying with us.
And since we weren’t about to demand that our friends leave it with us, we were on our way to the home improvement store for supplies not even 5 minutes after they pulled out of our driveway so we could make our own DIY Ladder Golf
^^^PIN THIS SO YOU DON”T FORGET TO MAKE IT THIS YEAR! ^^^
How to Make a DIY Ladder Golf Game
SUPPLIES
this list contains affiliate links
16 golf balls (2 packs of different colors)
Paracord
20 feet of 1″ PVC Pipe
(2) 1″ PVC elbow connectors
(6) 1″ PVC “T” connectors
Drill
Hacksaw or PVC Cutter
Wooden Skewer
DIRECTIONS
FOR THE GOLF BALL PLAYING PIECES
This makes 8 playing pieces with 2 golf balls per piece.
- Drill a hole through each golf ball
- Cut a piece of paracord about 18″ feet long
- Wrap one end of the paracord around the end of a wooden skewer and thread it through the golf ball.
- Tie the end of the paracord into a knot and singe the end so it doesn’t fray
- Tie another knot on the other side of the golf ball so the ball doesn’t slip.
- Repeat with the other end of the paracord and a golf ball of the same color
FOR THE STRUCTURE
- Cut the PVC into the following lengths
(3) 2′ pieces
(6) 18″ pieces
(4) 1′ pieces - Connect the pieces as shown below
- The top rung is connected with elbow connecters. Everything else is connected with the “T” connectors.
We did not glue the pieces together because we wanted to be able to take it apart for easy storage. If you want to glue it all together, use a glue specifically designed for pvc pipes.
TO PLAY THE GAME (2 teams of two people each)
- The object of the game is to get the golf balls to hook onto the rungs
- Each team takes a turn tossing the playing pieces toward the Ladder Golf structure
- 3 points for the top rung, 2 points for the middle and 1 point for the bottom
- If both teams hook a playing piece onto the same rung, it cancels out and neither team gets a point for that rung
- After all the playing pieces have been thrown, the team with the most points wins
This game is perfect for parties. For a crowd, add more playing pieces and add more people to each team.
Just promise me no crying hysterically if you lose.
Eric Burns says
Wow, interesting. Going to try this with my son. Thanks.
Josh says
Just built it from this outline.
Thanks for making it a breeze!
Dennis L. Ward says
Wow…that’s very interesting. Will try ladder golf with my daughter. I hope she will love this.
Thanks for sharing your post.
Dee says
Thanks! Very easy to make! My 3 and 5 year old love it!
Clayton says
I’ve played this game but want to make my own. I’ve thought of adding something heavy to the bottom pipes to weigh it down and help support the ladder. Maybe a little concrete. Has anyone tried this?
Den says
I am going to use some sand in a vacuum sealed bag, probably 2 bags for added strength for the bags. Used this before on my solar panel system works well and will hold the frame down