Golf board game apparatus

A golf game in which a game board is provided on which to determine a wind-condition for play and to mark and record player decisions relative to club selection, method of aiming, and the type shot that will be made. A plurality of fairways are provided on cards or boards preferably simulating an actual golf course i.e., there could be nine boards with a fairway on each side of the board simulating the eighteen fairways of an actual golf course. Each fairway board is marked to show the area, distance marker, selected terrain features, and areas that are possible landing sites for shot balls. The greens are color-coded for the purpose of defining putt difficulty. Before teeing off, a player spins the wind vane to determine the wind condition with which he must cope, then with reference to the fairway board, he chooses a club, the point of aim, and the type shot. These decisions are punched on to a calculator and totaled. The total is compared against a shot value card for the hole being played and the player marks his position on the fairway board unless his ball is lost, in water, or out-of-bounds--in which case he tees off again. In the course of play, the player's ball will come to rest on a color-coded green. At which time he throws a dice of the same color as that on which his ball rests on the green to determine the number of putts taken to hole out.

The object of my invention is to provide a realistic game of golf to be 
played on a game board along with the necessary apparatus, by one or more 
players. In brief, a player is required to make decisions regarding 
selection of a club, point of aim, and the type shot he will make in 
conjunction with a wind condition. He then punches this decision onto a 
calculator whose mathematical response is compared with a shot-value card 
for that hole to locate his shot ball on a color-coded green, or in sand, 
water, out-of-bounds, lost, or other designated positions in the fairway. 
If the tee shot does not land on the green, the player continues to 
attempt to reach the green by reshooting, unless his ball is 
out-of-bounds, in water, or lost, in which case, he tees off again. When 
on the green, he rolls a dice that is color-coded and structured so as to 
give a high probability of a standard number of putts. 
Realism is provided through the use of accompanying apparatus and through 
design features of the game. Apparatus in combination evoking realism are: 
boards which picture the holes to be played; a wind vane; immoveable 
decision boards; a calculator; and shot value cards used in conjunction 
with calculator output to determine the landing site of the player's shot. 
I have designed this game with a view toward realism in that unwise 
decisions made by players will elicit a penalizing response from the 
calculator, in consort with shot-value cards, on shot attempts toward the 
green, which is the area of the course on which the hole is located. This 
was done by assigning a mathematical factor for each location, club, 
aiming point, and type shot during design of the calculator. Realism on 
the putting surface is provided in three ways: firstly, by color-coding 
the putting surface to coincide with the expected degree of difficulty of 
the putt. Secondly, five dice are also color-coded to correspond with the 
five colors used on the surface of the green, and the dice are marked so 
as to approximate the number of putting strokes that would normally be 
required in accordance with the degree of difficulty of the putt. Thirdly, 
the markings on the dice allow for an occasional lucky putt, i.e., in 
situations where the average number of required putts in three, there is 
approximately a 1 to 6 chance that only one putt would be required. 
To generally describe the game, it will be necessary to refer to the 
various drawings which accompany and form a part of this specification.

Inasmuch as a golf game is played under varying conditions of weather, 
terrain, and shot difficulty in which thought processes come into play in 
regard to distance, selection of clubs, aiming points, type shots, 
obstacles, and penalties--this game was designed with these processes in 
view. In the printed instructions accompanying the game, I have covered 
rules, procedures, penalties, scoring, and some fourteen variations of the 
game. 
With reference to the accompanying drawings, following is a detailed 
explanation to further describe that portion of the game needing 
amplification. 
FIG. 1. 
The game board illustrated in FIG. 1 is suitably colored. It consists of 
the game board proper A, on which is imprinted club ranges al, the wind 
direction portion of the "wind vane" a2, and "decision boards" a3, which 
are also impregnated at the sites of the crosses on the drawing as small 
holes to receive the peg markers (as shown at FIG. 2a). These peg markers, 
when inserted into the spaces on the decision boards as required, indicate 
the players' decisions which are to be factored by the calculator. 
Item B indicates the nine "hole-layout" boards with the board for Hole no. 
1 as the top-most board. The hole-layout boards are suitably colored. 
Numbered items on the hole-layout board for hole no. 1 indicate the 
following: b1-marks sand traps around the green; b2-marks positions from 
which second shots may be hit onto the green. These positions are lettered 
A, B, C, D, and E, however, other letters, numerals, or words may be used 
as well; b4-marks the out-of-bounds indicator; b5-marks the ball-washer 
which is used to indicate the distance to the green. Ground distance is 
measured from the ball-washer location to the center of the green; 
b6-marks the ball on tee. It should be noted that the tee may be off-set 
from the distance indicator (ball-washer) as is usual on actual golf 
courses; b7-marks the off-set distance between the ball-washer and the tee 
position; b8-marks the trees on hole #1; b9-marks the note imprinted on 
the hole-layout board which suggests the clubs to be used during play of 
hole #1. The double-lettered items mark the colors on the green, which are 
colored to facilitate locating shots and determining which color dice will 
be rolled to provide a putting score. The colors WHITE, GREEN, BLUE, RED, 
and YELLOW are used on all greens for the game, however, other colors may 
be used as well. They indicate the least difficult to the most difficult 
putt, respectively. Area bw--is colored WHITE; area bg--is colored GREEN; 
area bb--is colored BLUE; area br--is colored RED; area by--is colored 
YELLOW. It should be noted here that the color-code technique, as well as 
the manner of marking off-the-green positions, b2, are readily adaptable 
for use in the fairways to indicate general and specific locations from 
whence the ball may be hit toward the green. 
Item C marks the "value counters" which are built-in as part of the game 
board. The value counters serve as memory devices for calculated values of 
four players. 
Item D marks the spinner-type "wind vane" wheel which is mounted on the 
game board atop of the imprinted wind-condition markers. The purpose of 
the wind vane is to point to the wind condition in which players must make 
tee-shots toward the green. 
Item E marks the calculator on which player decisions are entered and 
factored in order to arrive at a value count for all shots except putts. 
FIG. 2. 
Item F of FIG. 2a is a drawing of one of the "peg markers" to be inserted 
in the holes impregnated on the decision boards. These markers, of one 
color, are provided so that each player may mark each of four decisions as 
required by the columns on the decision boards. 
Item G marks "place markers," of different colors, by which each player 
marks the location of his shot as determined by reference to the shot 
value card for each hole (FIG. 5). 
Item H is a perspective view of the five different colored die on each 
hole. A player rolls the die which corresponds with the color on the green 
on which the players marker sits. Dice values are as follows: 
WHITE--111112; GREEN--111122; BLUE--112222; RED--122223; YELLOW--122233. 
FIG. 3. 
This figure shows the spinner, a part of the wind vane, which has a pointer 
to indicate the effect of the wind on tee-shots. 
FIG. 5. 
The items at j1-j8 mark significant points on the shot value cards. Line 
j1--shows the four wind conditions associated with the calculated values 
for tee-shots on hole #5. Item j2--marks the column of shot values for tee 
shots; j3 and j8--mark the notations that pertain to the locations of 
shots in which no values are provided for tee shots and "other" shots 
respectively; j4 thru j7--mark shot value columns for other than tee 
shots. 
FIG. 7. 
The face of the calculator shown at FIG. 7 is designed to compliment the 
decision boards (shown in FIG. 1). Each key on the calculator is assigned 
a numerical value, which, when factored with a value from each of the 
other columns--cause a total shot value to appear on the visual display 
screen of the calculator. The top six keys under column el coincide with 
the location the ball is played from; the keys under column e2 coincide 
with the club selected. The putter key is for shots made toward the green 
with the putter; column e3 pertains to the aiming point, and column e4 
pertains to the type shot; item e5--marks an instructional note which 
coincides with the same instructional note on the decision boards (as 
shown in FIG. 1). The key marked by e6--is the "total button." The key 
marked by e7--is designed to clear the visual display screen.