PLAYER 1

PRONG

Eight players and a practice green.

Furthest from the hole sits out.
Closest picks the next shot.
Hole out from Exile Island and sprint back in.
▶  PRESS START

LEVEL 1 — THE 18TH GREEN, FALL 2024

The Story of Prong

Eight of us walked off the 18th green on a boys’ trip in the fall of 2024. The course had a massive short-game complex, so instead of saddling up at the bar, we took our drinks to-go and dropped our bags to hit a few chips. Within five minutes, cash came out.

WILL What are we playing?
BRIAN Knockout. Twenty bucks a man. Pick a pin. Furthest away sits out. Winner take all.

The tactics immediately got greasy. One guy flubbed his shot three feet from his shoes. The next guy didn’t bother aiming for the pin; he just nudged his ball four feet out to survive.

JOHN Don’t need to win. Just have to beat the worst guy.
RYAN New rule. Closest guy picks the next lie and the next target.

That wouldn’t do.

By game three, the guys who got knocked out were off on a secondary green messing around. Will looked over and hollered across the grass:

WILL If you hole out from over there, you respawn into the main game!

That was the missing piece. The castaways were now frantically chipping at a back pin, trying to make one and sprint across the turf before the main group finished the current hole. We played until the sun dropped below the tree line and the maintenance crew drove up on a cart to kick us off the grass.

The next day, standing in the 18th fairway of a championship track, nobody was talking about their scores. We just wanted to finish so we could get back to the chipping green.

That was the start of Prong.

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

Rules of Prong

1The Setup

FIELD
8
TERRAIN
S/G
STAKES
$
  • Field: as many players as are available, but eight is the sweet spot.
  • Terrain: any short-game complex with room to move. A separate chipping green nearby makes it work best.
  • Stakes: whatever. Winner take all.

2The Main Game

  1. The first player picks a starting spot in the rough or sand and calls a target pin on the green.
  2. Every player gets one shot.
  3. The player furthest from the hole is eliminated and sent to Exile Island.
  4. The player closest to the hole picks the next lie and the next pin for the survivors.
  5. Shots get progressively more creative: bunker shots, flops over mounds, 40-yard pitches to tucked pins.
  6. The last remaining player takes the pot.

3Exile Island & Respawning

~5 YDS OFF A SEPARATE GREEN
→ CUP 15–20 YDS AWAY
→ CHIP UNTIL YOU HOLE ONE
→ THEN RUN.
  • Knocked-out players head to Exile Island: a designated spot about five yards off a separate practice green, facing a cup 15 to 20 yards away.
  • Exiled players chip continuously at that cup.
  • If an exiled player holes out, they are instantly back in the main game.
  • The catch: they must physically sprint from Exile Island and reach the main tee box before the current round of shots finishes. If the final two players hit their shots before the runner arrives, the game is over and the runner is out of luck.

4The Hole-Out Rule

×2

If any active player in the main game holes their chip, the ante doubles for everyone still alive.

STATUS: HAS NEVER HAPPENED.
THE SHOTS GET TOO WEIRD.

DEMO MODE

Watch a game play out

ROUND 0 POT $160

Eight players, $20 each. Each round everyone chips once. Furthest goes to Exile Island, where they keep chipping and can respawn — if they make it back before the last two hit. A main-game hole-out doubles the pot. The odds here are made up; the rules aren’t.