Do you have your own bocce court?  Do you play bocce at your country club or recreational center?  Or maybe you’re lucky enough to be in a planned community with an activities center and the bocce court is only used a few days of the week?  Have you ever considered using that bocce court for a much cooler game like cornhole?  

If you’ve found this article, we’re going to go out on a limb here and guess that you have. And rather than sit around patting ourselves on the back all day for being great guessers,  we’re going to teach you exactly how you can upgrade your dull bocce court into a cornhole tossing mecca.

Here at Slick Woody’s, we get asked about Cornhole rules and regulations all the time.  In fact, if you’d like a free copy of the official rules of cornhole you can download the rules right here on our website.

But getting back to the point, the reason for this blog is to get you thinking about either permanently converting  your bocce court into a cornhole board court or just doing it temporarily (especially if it’s not your own).  But why would you even consider this?  Let me give you a few reasons.

Bocce Court specifications vs. Cornhole Court specifications

A standard bocce court measures 13 feet by 91 feet per the United States Bocce Federation.  Most courts range from 8-14 feet wide and 60-91 feet long.  Typically, a 10 foot long area is reserved at each end for the players, thus the playing surface is what is left over.  Play is determined by where the Pallino (little white ball) is thrown.

A standard cornhole court is 10 feet wide and a minimum of 45 feet long.  The cornhole board sets are placed 27 feet apart (measured from the front of the boards).  There is a “pitcher’s box” on each side of the boards (4 feet long and 3 feet wide) with the front of the boards serving as the “foul line”.

As you can see above, the cornhole court layout will easily fit in your bocce court. If you really wanted, you could set up two cornhole games on the same court for maximum fun. The nice flat smooth surface of the bocce court allows for easy placement of the boards and actually makes an outstanding area to play Bag Toss or Bags.

Is bocce a game all your friends or members can still play?

Bocce balls are not light, except for the Pallino.  Bocce balls are 4.2 inches in diameter and weigh TWO POUNDS EACH!  Now before you call me a pansy, let me tell you that even when you are just rolling the balls, they start to feel heavy pretty quickly for most people, especially after a few games.

Cornhole bags or resin bags, on the other hand, weigh only 14-16 ounces (half the weight if you’re into math).  They are typically 6” x 6” and are made of 12-ounce cotton duck canvas material.  Bags come in different grades and styles and you can learn about them (here).

I am able to play cornhole for hours because the bags are not as heavy as bocce balls.  Image your friends at the recreational center who can no longer play bocce.  Maybe they would love to continue the competition with cornhole bag toss instead.

What about younger or junior players?  How about the ladies?

One of my country club’s favorite activities is cornhole.  We play it during happy hour.  We play it in leagues.  We play it at night after dinner or after a bit too long at the bar.

It is a game that our ladies enjoy between themselves (they are just as competitive at golf as they are in cornhole games).  Couples bag toss games are very popular both in mixed as well as gender vs. gender matches.

The younger people at the club love it too.  Cornhole is perfect for the juniors as we set them up with a 21-foot distance that they excel.  Mother-daughter or father-son are great family games in cornhole.

Is it getting too dark to play?

Night?  Yup!   

We have cornhole boards that light up and we have bags that light up too.  Many bocce courts are lit up, but if they are not, or if you just NEED to finish that last game to decide who is paying for drinks or dinner, the night light boards and bags are absolutely perfect.  See this video to visualize the night time version.  

Wouldn’t it be cool to get the most utilization out of your bocce courts?.  After all, you paid a lot of money for its construction.

Summary

So…..what have we learned?

• Cornhole courts will fit and play perfectly within your existing bocce court.
• Adding cornhole to the events that use the bocce court will maximize its utilization.
• Cornhole bags weigh half as much as bocce balls and therefore are easier to play.
• Families, couples, women, men and juniors all can play cornhole if you convert your bocce court.
• Cornhole can be played on your bocce court even after the sun has set and the lights have gone off.
  
  
  

OK……let’s go toss the bags and have some cornhole fun.