The 18-18-18 challenge is eighteen holes, eighteen beers and eighteen hot dogs in a single round. It started as something one person tried to finish alone, and it went around the internet because completed the feat in a Happy Gilmore costume.
We’d never tell anyone to attempt the solo version. Golf Digest covered it and put “this could kill you, do not do this” in the writeup, and they are right.
Run it as a foursome instead. The same eighteen beers and hotdogs, split four ways, is a genuinely fun day and it makes for quite the memorable round.
IF YOU’RE BUILDING A DAY AROUND IT
What else the group can run alongside it:
- Golf games for 4 players — Formats that keep a foursome interested while all this is going on
- Bachelor party outing — Where a challenge like this usually ends up on the itinerary
- Beer Tax — A far smaller commitment if eighteen of anything sounds like too much
Why the Solo Version Is a Bad Idea
The danger is the objection. A round takes about four and a half hours, so eighteen beers on your own is roughly four drinks an hour, sustained, for the entire round.
That is a rate that puts most people in the hospital, and it doesn’t matter how big you are or how well you reckon you handle it.
The food side is no kinder. Eighteen hot dogs is somewhere north of four thousand calories eaten inside a single afternoon, on top of the drinking.
People have finished it and filmed it. That’s an internet stunt, and stunts are a different thing from reality.
Take this on as a crew and you still have the fun without the danger.
The Foursome Version
Four players share one goal. Between them, the group finishes eighteen beers and eighteen glizzys (hot dogs) across eighteen holes.
That’s four or five of each per player over four and a half hours, which is an ordinary round of golf for a lot of groups and a big lunch on top. The challenge stops being about survival and turns into a group achievement, which is the fun part anyway.
Two things make it a game rather than a buffet. Everything has to be consumed on the course before you hole out on the last green, and nothing carries over to the parking lot.
Tackle it as a team. One player falling behind is the group’s problem. Come together and make it happen.
SUPPLY LINES
Call the course first. Eighteen hot dogs is a real order for a turn shack, most courses ban outside alcohol as a licensing condition, and a foursome carrying its own coolers is the fastest way to get pulled off the property.
Splitting It Up
An even split of four or five each is the simple way, and it’s the way you should go about it. So make sure you each person in your group can hold their own.
The better way is to let people play to their strengths. Somebody in your group would rather eat than drink, and somebody is the reverse.
Pace beats appetite over a round this long. A beer and a dog every four holes finishes comfortably, and the groups that fail are usually the ones who loaded the front nine and then had nine holes of golf left to play in a gluttoned condition.
Running It Without Anyone Regretting It
Four things that aren’t negotiable once you’re out there.
- Rides are arranged first — Nobody drives a car afterward. Sort the lift home while everybody is still sober.
- Water doesn’t count against you — Drink it constantly. It costs nothing and it’s the difference between a good story and a bad one.
- Anyone can stop — No talking a player back into it. A challenge that needs persuading has stopped being fun for somebody.
- Not for every group — If anyone has a difficult history with drinking, skip this challenge altogether.
Done properly it’s a long, slow, ridiculous afternoon that your group will bring up for years. Done as a solo stunt it’s an ambulance. Take the four-way split, and have a day one out there.
