The typical Hartz Homes blog offers advice on home construction and home ownership. And, homeownership means having fun too! So here is how you can make a poplar backyard game that’s a hoot to play… just in time for Labor Day! To play ladder golf, you just toss two balls held together by a rope and try to get them to stay on the ladder. (More detailed rules are at the end.)
Once you have the materials, you can make your own game in less than an hour! Here’s all that you need to build a ladder:
- 13 sections of ¾” PVC pipe: 7 pieces 24” long and 6 pieces 12” long.
- Two PVC elbow connectors and six PVC “T” connectors, all for ¾” pipe.
- One dozen golf balls and 12’ of 3/8” nylon cord. You can use all white golf balls, or have half another color to differentiate teams when playing.
To cut the PCV pipe to length you can use a hack saw. Or, as shown above, you can quickly and accurately cut it with a miter saw outfitted with a blade designed to cut plastics.
After cutting the PVC pipe to length, layout the sections along with the connectors, as shown above. If you want to paint your ladder, it’s easier to paint it now, before gluing.
Using PVC cement, glue the pieces together. Note: You may not want to glue the upright structure to the base so that they can be separated for transportation and storage.
Drill a 3/8” hole in the golf balls. A clamp can firmly hold your ball while being drilled.
To make ball/rope projectiles, called bolas, cut the nylon rope into six 20” sections. Tie a knot on one end of the rope sections and melt the end with a lighter to keep the rope from fraying. String two golf balls on each section of the rope and tie a knot on the other end. Adjust the knot so that there is 13” between the golf balls. Once you have the correct distance, melt the second end to keep the bolas secure.
Rules:
The object of the game is to toss your bolas and have them wrap around the rungs of the ladder. You get 3 points for wrapping the bola on the top rung, 2 points for the middle rung and 1 point for the bottom. First one to 21 points wins!
Place the ladder 15 feet from a toss line that you mark on the ground. The game is played in rounds, each round consisting of both players tossing three bolas.
Please check out these new home communities from Hartz Homes:
Armitage Pointe of Addison, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Bella Vista Townhomes of Bolingbrook, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Heather Glen of New Lenox, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Hibernia of New Lenox, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Lago Vista of Lockport, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Leigh Creek of New Lenox, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Manchester Cove of Mokena, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Marquis Pointe of Montgomery, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Marywood Meadows of Montgomery, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Nantucket Lakes of New Lenox, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Oliviabrook of Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Park West of Manteno, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Playa Vista of Plainfield, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Sky Harbor of New Lenox, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Whisper Creek of Mokena, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Hartz Homes has new home communities in:
Addison, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Aurora, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Bolingbrook, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Lockport, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
New Lenox (Chicago area new home construction)
Manteno, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Mokena, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Montgomery, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Plainfield, Illinois (Chicago area new home construction)
Oakbrook Terrace (Chicago area new home construction)