Just a quick note that I have been spending a good deal of time cozying up next to Pocket Pro Golf by Steve Sisk.  My review of this print and play game can be found off the game's main page at BBG.

I didn't want to add too much more to the review that I had already posted.  I've since played a few more games, tinkered with the probabilities and had a great time really appreciating the design.  In the past off and on I had  wanted to give a golf game a try.  I loved playing Thinking Man's Golf by 3M way back in the day with its grease-pencil board and plasticgrid overlay.  PPG has much the same feel with more spontaneity and a quicker cycle to get through the game.  It's a great little game that balanced theme, mechanics and believability.  I really like it on a number of levels.

In terms of design, it gave me a few ideas for the Rail Baron derivitive game that I had been turning over in the back of my mind the past few weeks.  The use of different combinations of dice with doubles and triples and a gently graduating scale for the range of a club with its risks is quite clever and easy to remember during play.  I think something similar to that could be devised in terms of destination selections and payouts.  Again, I don't know if it would breathe any life into the game.  I'm much better at designing games with cards instead of dice.  I find my mind boxed in on certain combinations, saving dice, etc.  I also have an aversion to charts and lookups, but I suppose if I make something easy enough to remember, maybe plain dice can be used.  

As for PPG itself, I'm probably going to doodle up some quick homemade cards and/or boards to go with the game in my spare time.  I may even adapt the Thinking Man's Golf course to PPG which would be fun to play out.  I'm not sure how easy that will be to do.

Anyhow, do yourself a favor and try out the game.