Buzzy Buckets & Birdies
Bucket Golf baby!
What is it? you might ask… I had not heard of it before last summer. It is a backyard BBQ game. Bucket Golf is the golf-inspired equivalent of corn hole. In short, it’s awesome. No, you do not play with actual golf balls. You can use real golf clubs though! You hit a whiffle ball / pickle ball.
Several weeks ago, I got a DM from Tara Osbourne of Cincy Girls Who. Tara’s organization is a non-profit who creates the space for women to build connection in an inclusive and supportive environment. If that seems pretty broad to you, you’re not wrong. The organization started with a simple event concept: women getting together to walk. Over the past two years it has grown and spawned events into all corners of interests including improv, mixology, and now golf. Their main thing is still walks - and you should go to one! I went to a Hyde Park Farmers Market walk a few weeks ago and met some awesome people while scoring some great coffee & produce.
AnyWho, Tara messaged me expressing interest in collaborating on an event, and I was all in.
Clearly there is an intersection in values between our two groups: specifically creating inclusive & supportive environments. So it was an easy YES to working together. I wanted this to be a very playful event, something different than what I’ve done in the past. Enter: Bucket Golf. Next I needed a fantastic venue to give the bucket golf format a party glow-up vibe. Enter: Shoreline Social. Great outside cabana bar against a sand volleyball court backdrop, with a big yard area to setup the bucket golf. It’s like being right on the beach here in Cincy.
I arrived early to help setup 6 holes of bucket golf and organize a check-in process. When I arrived, DJ RUZE (Brooke Cordray aka @ruzexoxo on insta) was already playing the BEST music which continued all through our event and beyond. As people arrived, they got their drink tickets. When I saw one slushy, before I knew it I saw at least a dozen slushies. The slushies were a popular choice on this hot day!
Spotted: strawberry slushy
Next Tara and I took the mic and gave everyone a warm welcome, an overview of who we are, and then explained the rules and set the groups off on their way to play the game. Each person kept a scorecard. I had plenty of wedges, 9, 8 and 7 irons for people to choose their club. I even had left handed clubs and yes we had TWO lefties in the group.
I love my mini golf bags - I use them at events they are the perfect size for a few clubs!
Well, let me tell you - it was HARD to hit the whiffle ball out of the sand!!!
Like, really hard. I think on one hole it took me 5 times just hit the ball and get it to move out of one area. It was relatively easy to hit the ball on the grass - however we had used spray paint to designate “hazard” areas where if your ball landed there, you had to add one point to your score. With Bucket Golf, you don’t actually have to get the ball IN the bucket - you just have to hit the side of the bucket to finish the hole. If you land the ball inside the bucket, you get to deduct a point from your score. As in regular golf, lower scores are better.
We had four prize winners who took home QCLL golf swag - Katie came in with an impressive 17! And we had one person - Ashley - who carded a “1” on a hole - it took them two strokes but they got in the bucket with the second stroke, so it was a score of 1. The score card doubled as our raffle tickets for additional prizes: Shoreline Cincy donated custom painted Modelo pint glasses, branded tanks, and trucker hats. Cincy Girls Who raffled off coupons for a few items of their merchandise. So all around, lots of prizes to give away - which is one of my favorite parts of hosting events.
We wrapped up the event with some Bozo Buckets - and I handed out a few more prizes which were sleeves of 3 golf balls (pink of course!).
It was hot outside but folks stuck around because the party was SO GOOD. After having some food, there was a bar promotion for Modelo going on and those that stuck around scored free custom T shirts designed by a local artist.
Big Thank YOU to Cincy Girls Who and Shoreline Social for making this an awesome event!
Queen City Links Ladies next event is September 14 at 7PM at The Acres Driving Range in Evendale. You can check out our events page for more details. If you don’t have clubs, some will be provided for you to use. We will be celebrating the 2 year anniversary of Queen City Links Ladies! If you are interested in our fall indoor golf league in Blue Ash, be sure to scroll to the bottom of the Events page and get your email on the interest list. You’ll be the first to get notified when the sign up opens up.
If you can’t make events, you can definitely download my beginner checklist here and get started on your golf adventure. You got nothing but time my friend … because you can play golf your entire life so why not start learning now? The things you learn will layer on over time and you’ll be surprised how much progress you can make even if you don’t have a ton of time to dedicate to it.
