Betting Games

[ These are the most popular betting games. For a more complete list see here. And remember to always, ALWAYS, ask about the local rules. ]

Term refresher:

Stroke play – standard tournament scoring. Lowest overall number of strokes wins.

Match play – Lowest number of strokes wins the hole. Most number of holes won wins the match. If there is a tie on number of strokes for the hole neither player gets a point.

Press – the original bet still stands, but an additional bet is added for the remaining holes. Sometimes ‘the remaining holes’ is just the nine you are currently on. Sometimes ‘the remaining holes’ means till the end of the round.

Games:

Nassau -  $2 Nassau is probably the most popular betting game in golf. The front nine is worth $2, the
           back nine is worth $2 and the low 18 hole score is worth $2. Nassau can be played between

players or between teams. And it can be played with any format: stroke play, match play,
scramble, best ball, etc. $2 may not seem like much of a bet, but that doesn’t take into account the ‘presses’. If a player or team is behind they can place an additional bet for the remaining holes on a side. However the original bet still remains in place. Players in a Nassau are generally obligated to take presses.

As an example: After 6 holes player A finds himself down by 2 points. He is driving well but just had a couple of bad putts and is sure his game will be perfect from hole 7 on. So he decides to press. In addition to the current $2 bet( $2 for the winner of the front nine ) he bets $4 that he will win 2 of the remaining 3 holes( 7,8,9) on the front nine. If he wins 2 of the 3 he still loses the original $2 bet, but he wins the $4 bet and comes out ahead. If his game doesn’t improve and he loses two of the three holes he loses both bets and is out $6. But if his game really does improve and he wins all three holes he wins both bets and is up $6.

A Nassau that has been pressed and re-pressed and double-pressed and pressed even more can wind up making, or costing, you a lot of money.

Las Vegas( also known as just Vegas ) – This is a game for a 4-some, two teams of  two players. Each

team plays for a team score on each hole. The team score for a hole is determined by putting the players scores together. As in: if Player A gets a 4 and Player B gets a 5, the team score is 45. Lowest score always goes first. That team score is the number of points the team earned for the hole. Points are tracked for each team, and at the end of the round the losing team pays the winning team the difference. For instance if Team A had ( to make it easy ) 900 points and Team B had 750 points, Team B owes Team A the price of 150 points. And here is where Vegas can get expensive. If you were playing for 10 cents a point Team B owes $15. If you were playing a dollar a point Team B owes $150.

And if your foursome is "flipping the bird," the money can really start adding up. When using this rule, a team that makes a birdie and wins the hole can flip the other team's score for that hole. So instead of the low number going first, the high number goes first. The opponent's 4 and 5 would be 54 instead of 45. If one member of Team B had a really bad par 3 and racked up a 6 what would have been a 36 becomes a 63.

Skins – Made famous by the annual Skins game that features professional players and is televised each

fall. Each hole is played for a ‘skin’. The skin is determined before the round starts. It could be a set number of points, or a dollar amount. The winner of the hole wins the skin. If there is no winner the skin is carried over and added to the skin for the next hole.

As an example: Say the agreed upon skin is $2. On the first hole one player wins the hole and gets the skin. On the next 3 holes all the scores are the same, no one gets a skin. This means the next hole is worth 4 skins, the 3 from the previous holes, plus the one for that hole. For a total of $8.

Wolf -  A game for 4 players. Players alternate being The Wolf so they agree on a set rotation before

starting the round. They also agree on the price of each hole per player. The player whose turn it is to be Wolf decides whether to play the hole 1 against 3 (himself against the other three players in the group) or 2 on 2.

If the Wolf chooses to play 2 on 2, he must choose his partner immediately following that player's drive. Example: Player A is the Wolf. Player B hits a bad drive. Player C hits a pretty good drive. If the Wolf wants C as a partner, he must claim his partner before Player D hits his tee ball.

The side with the lowest better ball score wins the hole. If it's 2 on 2, then the winning side wins the bet. If it's 1 on 3, the Wolf wins double or loses double.

There's also Lone Wolf, in which the Wolf announces before anyone tees off - including himself - that he's going it alone, 1 on 3. On a Lone Wolf hole, the Wolf wins triple or loses triple.

Nines -  Good when there are only 3 players. Nines is a points based competition between players. The

price of the points is agreed on ahead of time. Nine points are at stake on each hole. The low score on a hole is worth 5 points, the second-lowest 3 points, the next lowest 1 point and the high score 0 points.

The bet can be based on total points - the high-point player is paid by the other three - or can involve point differentials and a per-point value.

Calcutta – This is a tournament betting system. In a Calcutta, golfers bid, auction style, on the golfer

or team who they think will win the tournament (you can bid on yourself or your own team, too). All the money raised through the "auction" goes into the pot. At the end of the tournament, those who "won" the team that then won the tournament get a pre-determined payout from the auction pool. In many private club tournaments club members who are not actually participating in the tournament are allowed to participate ( bid on a team ) in the Calcutta.

The precise rules of a Calcutta can vary from place to place; many tournament organizers employ software programs that apply odds and determine win-place-show amounts. Perhaps the simplest and most common Calcutta payout is 70 percent of the pool to the "owner" of the winning tournament team, 30 percent to the "owner" of the second-place tournament team.

Among other variations is one that allows a golfer to buy back half of himself or his team from the winning bidder. For example, your team is "won" in the auction by Team X; if this rule is in effect, you can pay half of Team X's winning bid back to Team X in order to buy back half a stake in your own team. If your team then wins the tournament, your team and Team X split the Calcutta payout.

 Bingo Bango Bongo – Each hole is worth 3 points. One point for fewest strokes getting on the green

( bingo ). One point for being closest to the hole after every one is on the green ( bango ). And one point for finishing the hole in the least number of strokes ( bongo ).  A monetary value is assigned to each point. At the end of the round add up the points. Highest number of points wins.

Snake -  Originated Dr. Sean K. Kesterson of Brighton, Mich., who explains it this way:

"(Snake) is a putting game. At the beginning of the round, all players in the foursome agree on the bet amount. Whoever three-putts first gets and keeps the 'snake' until someone else three-putts, then it changes owner to that golfer ... and so on. Whoever is the last with the snake pays the other players in the foursome the agreed amount.

Comments

[Betting System]

Nice Blog. Keep posting more

Regards...

[Brian Gunnoe]

Great List, you can also play Animal Skins Golf. This game, created in 1997 is a simple Hot potatoes game. Got a coin, get rid of it!

•On the first tee agree on a value that the coins will be worth at the end of the round.
•All players tee-off and play as usual. The first golfer to commit one of the indicated golfing infractions receives the corresponding coin.
•The player keeps the coin until another player commits the same infraction, at which time, the coin is passed to them.
•If a golfer already has a coin and commits the same infraction again, there is no added penalty. Play continues.
•Any player may have more than one coin at any time.
•Be sure to play in turn, each coin may change hands more than once per hole depending on how many infractions occur
•For more fun, play the game during the front nine and start again on the back nine.