The goal: Get from the tee word to the hole word in as few strokes as possible, using the fanciest, most closely related words you can.
Each stroke: Type a word related to the previous one and press Safe Shot. Your word is scored on two things:
- Fanciness (0-100): How rare, long, or unusual your word is.
- Relation (0-100): How closely your word connects to the previous word.
Stroke value: Each stroke starts worth 1. Your scores adjust it — brilliant words can reduce a stroke to zero, terrible ones can cost up to 3. A hole always costs at least 1 stroke total.
Aiming: Type your word, then press Aim for the Hole (or Aim for the Lay Up). Your word must relate to both the previous word and the target. The relation score is the average of both connections.
Tee markers: Choose your difficulty! ● Novice (Red) = shanks only on zero relation. ● Front (Yellow) = shank below 15. ● Middle (Blue) = shank below 20. ● Back (Black) = shank below 30. The cutoff line on the relation gauge shows your shank threshold.
Shanks & slices: When aiming for the hole or lay up, if either of your relation scores (to the previous word or the target) falls below your tee marker threshold, you shank into the rough — costing a full stroke and landing on a random word.
Lay up holes: Par 5 holes have a lay up word — an intermediate checkpoint you must reach before aiming for the hole.
Mulligans: If your word isn't in the dictionary or you accidentally repeat a word, don't sweat it — it's a free mulligan. No penalty, just try again.
Whiffs: If your word is too simple or has no connection to the previous word — it's a whiff. Whiffs cost a penalty stroke.
Hole score: All weighted stroke values are summed and rounded to the nearest whole number. Like golf, lower is better.
The art: Balance speed and style. Fewer strokes is good, but fancy, well-connected words dramatically reduce each stroke's cost. A sesquipedalian shortcut beats a pedestrian slog every time.