Golf games
Parful runs thisRabbit
Also called Rabbit golf game, Catch the rabbit.
Rabbit is a golf side game in which nobody starts with the rabbit, the first outright hole winner captures it and any later outright winner steals it. Tied holes change nothing. The holder after the ninth wins the front nine; a fresh rabbit is released on the tenth and the holder after the eighteenth wins the back nine.
- Players
- 2 or more, in one group
- Scoring basis
- Gross or net (net by default)
- Capture
- Outright lowest score on a hole takes the rabbit
- Ties
- The holder keeps the rabbit
- Two rabbits
- Front nine (holes 1 to 9) and back nine (holes 10 to 18), independent
- Payout
- Each nine's holder collects one unit from every other player
How Rabbit works
The rabbit is loose on the first tee. It is captured by the first player to win a hole outright, meaning the single lowest score in the group on that hole. From then on it belongs to someone. Every later hole that is won outright moves the rabbit to the winner, whoever held it before. A hole that is tied for low, by any number of players, leaves it exactly where it was.
The rabbit is caught for good at the turn. Whoever holds it after the ninth hole wins the front-nine rabbit. A fresh rabbit is then released on the tenth tee, with nobody holding it, and the same rules run over holes 10 to 18. The holder after the eighteenth wins the back-nine rabbit. A nine in which no hole is won outright has no rabbit winner.
This is the direct-steal form of the game, and it is the one Parful runs. Because the rabbit moves on every outright win, the winner of a nine is simply the last player to win a hole outright in that nine, which makes the closing holes of each nine the ones that matter.
What the rabbit pays
Each nine is worth one unit per opponent. The front-nine holder collects one unit from every other player in the game; the back-nine holder does the same. In a four-player game each rabbit is therefore worth three units to the winner and costs each of the others one. A player can win both rabbits, one, or none, and the ledger is zero-sum.
Try it
Can we play Rabbit in our format?
Derived from the same compatibility rules the scorecard uses, so it cannot drift from the product.
Own ball, individual
Available
Four-ball, best ball, counted scores
Available
Shamble, bramble, cha cha cha
Available
Scramble, foursomes, greensomes, chapman
Needs a score per player; this format keeps one per side
Where the game is won
Rabbit is about holes 7, 8 and 9 and holes 16, 17 and 18. Winning the first hole is worth nothing unless nobody else wins one outright before the turn. The player holding the rabbit on the eighth tee wants ties, so a safe par is the play; the players chasing need an outright win and will take on the pin. In net Rabbit the strokes on the closing holes decide who has the easier task.
How Parful scores it
A member starts Rabbit from the group scorecard for two or more players in the same group. Gross or net is set at creation; net uses each player's handicap strokes from their Course Handicap™ on each hole. There is nothing else to set and nothing to record during the round; the rabbit is worked out from the hole scores alone.
Parful walks each nine hole by hole and stops at the first hole where any player in the game has no score, so the current holder shown on the card is always derived from complete holes and never guessed. The front rabbit is settled once holes 1 to 9 are all in, and the back rabbit once 10 to 18 are in. A corrected score replays the whole nine from its first hole.
Standings show each player's rabbits won, which nine each came from and who is holding the live rabbit. Settlement gives each nine's winner one unit from every other player. On a nine-hole outing only the front rabbit runs. Rabbit works on any format where each player records their own hole score, including four-ball and shamble; it is not available on a scramble, foursomes, greensomes or chapman.
Worked example
A worked example: eighteen holes, three players, net
Ana, Ben and Cal play net Rabbit. Net scores are shown with the outright winner of each hole, if any, and who holds the rabbit after the hole.
| Hole | Ana | Ben | Cal | Outright winner | Holder after the hole |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 4 | 5 | None (Ana and Ben tie) | Loose |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 | Ben | Ben captures |
| 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | Ana | Ana steals |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | None | Ana |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | Cal | Cal steals |
| 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | None (Ana and Cal tie) | Cal |
| 7 | 4 | 4 | 5 | None (Ana and Ben tie) | Cal |
| 8 | 5 | 4 | 4 | None (Ben and Cal tie) | Cal |
| 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | Cal | Cal wins the front nine |
| 10 | 4 | 5 | 5 | Ana | Ana captures the new rabbit |
| 11 | 4 | 4 | 4 | None | Ana |
| 12 | 5 | 4 | 4 | None (Ben and Cal tie) | Ana |
| 13 | 3 | 4 | 3 | None (Ana and Cal tie) | Ana |
| 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | Ben | Ben steals |
| 15 | 4 | 4 | 4 | None | Ben |
| 16 | 4 | 5 | 5 | Ana | Ana steals |
| 17 | 4 | 4 | 5 | None (Ana and Ben tie) | Ana |
| 18 | 5 | 4 | 5 | Ben | Ben wins the back nine |
- Cal took the rabbit on hole 5 and held it through three tied holes. He did not need to win hole 9; the tie on hole 8 would have been enough had hole 9 also been tied.
- Ana held the back-nine rabbit for seven of the nine holes and lost it on the eighteenth to Ben's only outright win since hole 14.
- Front nine: Cal collects 1 from Ana and 1 from Ben. Back nine: Ben collects 1 from Ana and 1 from Cal. Net: Ana -2, Ben +1, Cal +1.
Common variants
- Release on a tie
- The classic form: a tied hole sets the rabbit loose again, and it must be captured with a fresh outright win before it can be held. Parful plays the direct-steal form, where ties leave the rabbit with its holder.
- Legs
- The rabbit must be held for a number of holes in a row (a leg) before it counts. Parful has no legs; the holder at the end of the nine wins.
- Eighteen-hole rabbit
- One rabbit for the whole round with no reset at the turn. Parful releases a fresh rabbit on hole 10 and settles each nine separately.
- Money per rabbit
- Each nine is worth a stake per opponent. Parful can carry the stake on the game, shows who owes whom at the end and never moves money.