From the Toysit archive
Silly Golf
Visit Silly Golf’s green, meet its three chattering gophers and add an original course-postcard story to the putting game.
The play at a glance
A putting green with three chatty residents
Silly Golf’s rounded green looks like a little hill with its own cartoon golf-course backdrop. Two colorful putters wait beside it. Beneath the colored tops are Birdie, Chip and Spike: the three gophers identified in Milton Bradley’s guide, ready to pop up, chatter and get in the way of a ball heading for the center cup.Putt past Birdie, Chip and Spike
Three ramps lead up to the green. The gophers rise from their holes and chatter, giving a player more to watch than the cup alone. A ball that hits a gopher makes it duck down; its voice continues from inside the hole. Sink a putt and the ball pops out again, with lowered gophers rising for the next attempt.
In the guide’s basic game, each cup scores one point and the first player to six wins. Knocking down a gopher earns another turn. Score markers on the putter heads help players keep track. The little course can therefore change between attempts: an opening that looked blocked a moment ago may now be clear.
Send a postcard from the course
Original Toysit activity: after an ordinary round, give the course an imaginary holiday name—“Gopher Hollow” or “The Chattering Green.” Draw it on one side of a paper postcard. Mark the route of one memorable putt, including a gopher it passed or bumped.
On the other side, write a message from a pretend visitor: “Dear friends, the green was lovely, but someone kept talking from underground.” Add your own gopher reply in a speech bubble. This invented conversation belongs to the postcard; the toy’s recorded phrases supply the actual game’s chatter.
Swap golfer and postcard-narrator roles next time. A player who prefers drawing can illustrate a completely imaginary course and describe how a ball might travel through it, keeping the same playful gopher theme.
A comfortable place to putt
The original guide labels the game for ages three to six and one or two players, and recommends a bare floor or low-pile carpet. Have an adult check the assembled ramps, putters and backdrop against the instructions. Use the game’s balls and short putters, give each player room for a small putting stroke, and save the postcard work for a pause in play.
The historical record
Original Toysit coverage
The original product account and commentary are preserved below as historical coverage.
The Goofy Gopher Golfing game from Milton Bradley.
Reviewer: The characters voices and comments are very funny. When the little Gophers go down in thier holes they talk as if in a cave. They seem to have endless sayings. Has a little bit of assembly, but not too hard. It was easy to play and the kids had lots of fun. The toys is made of really high quality plastics and should last a long time.
A golf game designed for young children introduces them to the basic mechanics and joys of the sport in a way that's both entertaining and developmentally appropriate. From the colorful clubs and balls to scaled-down putting greens, these games are often designed with eye-catching aesthetics to engage the child's imagination. The act of swinging the club and aiming for the hole fosters hand-eye coordination, focus, and fine motor skills. Because golf is a game of both skill and strategy, even at a simplified level, it provides a great early introduction to concepts of distance, angle, and even simple physics. Whether playing indoors or outdoors, this scaled-down version of golf offers a constructive way for children to expend energy, practice patience, and even learn about sportsmanship—all while having fun.
Sources and editorial notes
The complete three-page Hasbro/Milton Bradley 40384 instruction file, ©2001, was visually reviewed and matched to the course and putters. It establishes the gophers’ names, pop-up action and scoring. The preserved Reviewer paragraph is an earlier contributor’s opinion, not current Toysit testing; its durability claim and the general developmental essay remain historical commentary. The postcard activity is original.
- Original Toysit image — Existing same-site photograph reviewed and retained unchanged.
- Hasbro Silly Golf 40384 instructions — Complete three-PDF-page guide visually reviewed; includes four printed pages, setup, basic/challenge/solo play and storage diagrams.
- Original Toysit coverage — Complete original product account and historical commentary preserved.
Images and descriptions are retained as historical material. How Toysit covers toys.
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