Please send your comments and questions, and register your course with us at:
Cowbell Golf
4303 Moore Lane
Culleoka, TN 38451
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 Installing the Course
- Walk over and carefully survey your yard and garden area to locate the ten holes (four holes for the Short Course set). Many people begin their course near the front door, play out and around the house area, and have the last hole near the back or porch door. Some courses have a pause for refreshment area after the fifth hole, often a picnic kiosk or umbrella covered beach table.
- Choose the hole locations with an eye towards rewarding good shots, and punishing bad ones. For example, you might have a paved or stone path that pitches towards a garden or parking area. Devise a hole whereby the player must cross it on his first shot to have a reasonable second shot chance at hitting the bell for a birdie. Failure to cross the path could result in the ball bouncing about and rolling down the path to drop off in the garden or parking area, costing the player a penalty stroke and putting him in a humorous and difficult predicament. Sunken gardens, ponds, brooks, blind doglegs, etc., all provide excellent opportunities for challenging holes. One superb hole choice for a short hole might require the player to tee off facing two or three steps or a low garden wall, over which he must gently loft the ball. Placing the target bell between two close together trees is another fun hole. A mishit that caroms off one of the trees could seriously impact the player's score. Let the Scottish devil of golf go to work and cause your imagination to flow freely!
- The distance between tee and bell for each hole should not generally exceed 300 feet, nor be shorter than 30 feet. Very short holes should have a special hazard or exceptional difficulty as a rationale for being so short. Remember, all holes are par 3, and players must play the whole course with only one club! Wedges, nine irons, eights and sevens will be those most commonly chosen. Frequently, the course host will provide a selection of clubs, since many of the players may not be regular golfers. (Our original course had a huge milk can umbrella stand on a covered porch with irons dating back decades. Some even with wooden shafts!)
- After mowing the course area, position the tee markers facing each other, forming the line from behind which the players must begin each hole.
- Position the cowbell targets, making sure the bell hangs freely in the center of the wicket, and that a ball may not pass beneath, nor between it and the wicket sides, without striking the bell.
- Get a ball, choose your club, and test the course you have just installed. Make what adjustments you feel necessary, and invite your friends to play!
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