How to play Shoreputt

Set up the hole

1. Choose a spot on firm, hard-packed sand near low tide.
2. Dig a hole with the included shovel and insert the Shoreputt cup.
3. Add the flag so everyone can see the target.

Add Wi-Fi, if you like

Use the sand you dug out to build a small, curved berm behind the cup on the downhill side. It acts as a backstop for putts rolling toward the water. Add more arcs if the beach is sloped. These optional sand berms are called Wi-Fi.

Draw a scoreboard nearby. Write each player’s name and leave room to record their points after each hole.

Pick a tee box

On the first hole, the first player chooses the hole location and starting area. After that, the winner of the previous hole chooses the next hole location and tee box.

Draw a horseshoe or three-sided boundary in the sand. Everyone starts inside it and hits out through the open end, as shown by the arrow.

There are no fixed distances or permanent tee boxes. Make the next hole short, long, straight, or challenging. The beach is your course.

If players tie for the win, the one who played earlier in the previous hole’s order chooses the next hole and tee box.

Alternate shots

• First hole: tee off in age order.
• Later holes: the winner of the previous hole goes first. The remaining players follow from lowest to highest total points for the round.
• Tied players: keep their relative order from the previous hole.

Once a hole starts, keep that order until everyone finishes. Take one shot per turn and skip anyone who has already holed out. Distance from the cup does not change whose turn it is.

The previous winner gets to choose the next challenge, but must play first. Everyone else gets a look at how the hole plays.

Drain your putt

Count every shot until your ball is in the cup. When everyone finishes, group players by their shot count, from lowest to highest. Each distinct shot count sets a points tier, regardless of how many players share it.

• The lowest shot count earns 0 points for every player in that tier.
• The next distinct shot count earns 1 point, the next earns 2 points, and all remaining shot counts earn 3 points.
• Players with the same shot count earn the same points. Count the distinct lower shot counts, not the number of players who beat you.

Example: scoring one hole

Player	Shots	Points
Player A	2	0
Player B	2	0
Player C	4	1
Player D	5	2

Here, the shot-count tiers are 2, 4, and 5. Players A and B share the lowest tier, so both earn 0 points. Player C earns 1 point for the next tier, even though two players took fewer shots. Player D earns 2 points for the third tier. The gap from 2 to 4 shots does not add an extra points tier.

Record each player’s points on the scoreboard. No one earns more than 3 points on a hole.