Clock golf

 In the Wodehouse novel, Something Fresh, we encounter the game of clock golf being played by the bored guests at Lord Emsworth's castle. Evidently this was a game that originated in the 19th century in London, which the family game firm Jacques of London claimed to have originated. It was sort of a variation of what we now know as miniature golf, but that required even less space. The firm's description of the game was that it "can be played wherever there is space for 'an approximate circle of 10–30 feet in diameter,' and that shrubs and other obstacles can add to the interest.The hole is not placed centrally, so the 12 'holes' of the game can be of different lengths." It sounds as though it could be a pleasant variation on front yard croquet.

This takes me back to my youth. Because of his Great Depression upbringing, my father's family generally could not afford to buy any equipment for games, so they would just make up something with what they had at hand. I don't recall that he ever told us about this one, but it is a game that they might logically have played. The scene depicted below shows how it was played by the affluent stratum of society during the Victorian and Edwardian eras, but it could just have easily have been played in the front yard of a family in the Great Depression using whatever sticks were handy for clubs, and anything that would roll for a ball.