Pubgolf Drinks List: Choosing the Drink for Each Hole

By PubgolfClub. Updated October 2026.

A Pubgolf drinks list is the drink you set for each hole on your route, plus the par that goes with it. Pick one drink per hole, set the par by how much there is to finish, and vary the list across all 9 or 18 holes so the scoring stays interesting.

How do you choose the drinks for Pubgolf?

Choose one drink per hole and pick it on size, not on strength. Work out what the pubs on your route can pour, write that drink next to the hole, then set a par to match. A 9-hole round needs 9 drinks, an 18-hole round needs 18.

Start with the route, not the drinks. Once you know your hole count and what the pubs on the way actually serve, the list almost writes itself. Most UK groups pick from these:

• A pint of lager or ale: the highest par, most to finish.
• A half: the same drink, a lower par.
• A bottle of beer or a cider: a middling par, less in it than a pint.
• A shandy: pint-sized, so it carries a pint-level par like any other long drink.
• A long mixed drink: a higher par to match a tall glass.
• A soft drink or a mocktail: the same par as the alcoholic option.

How does the drink set the par for a hole?

In Pubgolf your strokes are the sips it takes to finish the drink at that hole, so the drink decides the par. A long drink takes more sips and carries a higher par. A smaller glass carries a lower par. Finish a hole in fewer sips than its par and you go under par on the card.

A pint carries a higher par than a half because there is more in the glass. That is it. Par is a target to play against, not an instruction about how to drink, and nobody has to finish a drink to stay in the round.

The lowest total across all 9 or 18 holes wins, so a fair par beats a low one. Penalty strokes come from the built-in challenges and knowledge questions, not from the drinks, and the full scoring sits on How to Play and in the Pubgolf rules.

What makes a good drinks list across a full round?

Variety is what keeps a drinks list working across a full round. Change the shape of the list as you go so no two holes in a row feel the same, spread the higher pars across the card instead of stacking them, and repeat nothing back to back.

Across 18 holes, plan the list in thirds: an opening stretch, a middle where the pars move around, and a close. A drink can repeat on an 18-hole card, just never back to back. Save a challenge or a knowledge question for a late hole so the round ends on something your group still argues about.

Pubgolf plays in the daytime as well as later on, and a card full of high pars makes for a long round, so set the pars around the time you have.

How do you keep the list fair for everyone?

Everyone at a hole plays the same par under the same rules, and that is what keeps a Pubgolf drinks list fair. Mixing the drink types across the round helps too, so nobody's usual ends up dominating the card. Agree the list before the first of your 9 or 18 holes and write it down.

One person holds the list and keeps score, and on a PubgolfClub edition that is the live scorecard in the browser rather than a damp beer mat. One rule worth keeping: a par cannot change once a hole has started, so settle any change first.

What if a pub does not serve the drink on your list?

Swap the drink and carry the par over. If a pub on your route cannot pour what you wrote down, pick the closest thing it has and keep the hole at the par you agreed. A 9-hole round still needs 9 scored holes, so swap rather than skip and note it on the card.

What if someone is not drinking alcohol?

Anyone not drinking alcohol still plays the full Pubgolf round. Put a non-alcoholic option on the list at every hole with the same par as the alcoholic one, and the scoring works identically across all 9 or 18 holes: strokes are still the sips it takes to finish, and the challenges and knowledge questions do not change.

Same card, same par, same chance of winning.

Do you need to pick the drinks yourself?

No. Every PubgolfClub city edition comes with the drink already set for each hole and a par to match, so the list is done before you start. You get an instant link by email, play in the browser on your phone, and keep 100 days of unlimited replay.

Editions cover 45 UK cities, and the routes stick to the districts you would head for anyway: Soho, the Northern Quarter, Concert Square. The route unlocks once you buy, and a stag do, a hen do, a birthday or a work social all get the same list on Pubgolf by city.

Rather build your own round? The Route Builder lets you set the holes, the drinks and the pars yourself, in any UK town.