Gool in Goole – Part 3

The putting green version of Gool, called Putting Gool, is slightly more complicated as all 18 holes of the putting green come into play. The balls are racked in the very centre of the green and players must play all shots from a prone position and not be covering a hole when they play the shot. If the Checking Judge believes a hole has been covered, deliberately or not, when playing a shot then that player forfeits two shots.

The rules state that if, for example, a spotted ball is potted in any even-numbered hole then all the other spotted balls must be potted in even-numbered holes with a maximum of one ball per hole. This means that when the player potting the spotted balls has potted them all then there will be only one even-numbered hole not containing a spotted ball. This is the hole that the player must pot the black ball into in order to win the game. If more than one spotted or stripped ball lands in one hole all balls in that hole are returned to the centre of the putting green and are then in play.

Games of Putting Gool can last for several hours largely because players have to keep checking the holes to make sure there’s not a ball in the hole before attempting a pot. The champion Putting Gool player is Ricky Selby from Beverly who has a very good memory and so doesn’t lose concentration by checking holes for balls. He won the Goole Masters Putting Gool contest 10 times between 1974 and 1990 and the Goole Open twelve times between 1975 and 1992. He had to retire because of arthritis which his doctor believes was largely induced by Selby lying on damp grass for hours at a time. Now some players lie on thermal blankets to prevent a similar fate.

The Goole Open in June (and sometimes July) attracts hundreds of entrants per year and sometimes lasts for 6 weeks due to the protracted nature of some of the games. The motto of the event is “Putting Gool – Putting Goole on the map.”