Golf gambling games come in all shapes and sizes. Some are complex, some can cost you a heap of money on a bad day and some can remain relatively low-stakes while still being fun and highly competitive. Here’s a selection of fun formats you and your playing partners can try this year.
Betting on the golf course with friends of varying skill levels can be tricky, especially when trying to introduce everybody to a new game. Games with all sorts of rules and variations and, let’s face it, extra ways to potentially lose your hard-earned money can scare the wishy-washy ones in your friend group away. And when nobody can agree on the first tee what the game is, that’s when you end up playing for (gulp!) “fun”.
Golf friends don’t let other golf friends play for “fun”, though. Having something on the line is what can make playing golf with your friends so much “fun”. Hell, having something on the line makes life worth living.
Many of the formats outlined here you’ll know, others you might be vaguely familiar with, but chances are at least a couple of the side-game options will be entirely new to you and your regular foursome. Proceed with caution, anticipation… and your wallet!
Wolf
We hate to make a sweeping generalisation, but it feels safe to say that the majority of club golfers stick to the standard four-ball (best-ball) matchplay format when playing for money. Two vs two, shots divvied up, perhaps some side action. You know the drill.
Every now and then, though, you’ve gotta spice it up and one of the best “let’s change it up today” golf games is Wolf.
Number of players required: Wolf can be played with just three players, but the game works best with your standard foursome.
Best for: Groups looking to break from the norm. Golfers who don’t like to rely on others. Golfers that do like to rely on others. People who enjoy strategy. Gamblers.
How to play: Your first order of business when playing Wolf is to pick a playing order on the first tee that will rotate throughout the round. There is no tee ‘honour’ in Wolf. On each hole, one of the players in the foursome will be the “Wolf”, and then you rotate down the line as the round continues. So on the first hole, if the order is Player A, Player B, Player C and Player D, Player A is the Wolf for that hole, and Player B would automatically be the Wolf on the second. Player C would be the Wolf on the third, Player D the Wolf on the fourth, and then the order would come back around to Player A being the Wolf on fifth hole. Usually, the teeing order is in reverse handicap order, so Player A above would have the highest handicap and Player D the lowest, but that’s up to you.
As the Wolf, you can choose to go it alone (like a lone Wolf, get it?) before or after you hit your tee shot, or you can choose a playing partner for that specific hole. You can do this before anyone hits their tee shots or wait to see Player B’s tee shot. If it’s good, you’ll probably choose Player B to partner up with (also considering who receives handicap strokes on the hole), which then sets up a one-hole match of Players A and B against Players C and D. If you do not choose Player B after their tee shot, once Player C hits their tee shot, Player B is no longer an option. You’d then have to
choose Player C after their tee shot. If you do not choose Player C, your only two options left once Player D hits are choosing Player D as your partner or going at it alone. Again, as a reminder, you can choose to go it alone at any point on the tee when you are the Wolf.
Now, how do you accumulate points and keep score? That’s sort of up to you, particularly if you want to put a dollar amount on it or a point amount on each hole. This should be decided and agreed upon on the first tee. Generally, choosing to be the lone Wolf and winning the hole comes with a larger point total because it’s more difficult to win a hole in a 3 vs 1 best-ball match. For example, if you choose to go it alone and win, you’d be awarded 2 points. If you choose to go it alone and lose, the other three players would be awarded 1 point to your 0. If you choose a partner and play a 2 vs 2 best-ball match, the winning side will also receive 1 point while the losing side
receives 0. The player with the most points after 18 holes would win the game of Wolf.
Another decision to be made pre-round is whether halved holes carry over and jackpot, as in Skins, or are disregarded.
Variations: There are a number of variations on Wolf, many of them involving side action throughout the round. This is, again, up to the group. You can make side bets on who will win the hole, how many points each player might accumulate, etc. One thing a player can also do is deny partnering with the Wolf, thus making that player the lone Wolf on the hole. Something the Wolf can also do is blindly bet on themselves before a tee shot is even struck on a hole, which doubles the bet or point total, depending on what you agree on. In a three-man version of the game, the player who hits the second-best tee shot of the group is automatically the Wolf. A further variation dispenses with the teeing order rotation for holes and 17 and 18, as the golfer who is in the deepest financial hole for the round so far becomes the Wolf.
Yet another option lets the pair who didn’t choose one another initiate a doubling of the value of the hole (and even a doubling-back by the other pair, and so on) before anyone leaves the tee.
Vegas
One of the most frustrating aspects of playing golf with a few mates for money is that, depending on the game, some players can be completely irrelevant to what actually happens in the match. Nothing is more infuriating than handing over your hard-earned dollars to somebody who ‘picked up’ on 16 of the 18 holes.
Fortunately, there are golf betting games that force everybody to contribute. Gone are the days of doing zero work on the group project but getting an equal amount of credit.
Allow us to introduce you to “Vegas”, a game where every shot counts and the money can add up quickly depending on the stakes.
Number of players required: Vegas works by far the best with four players, but it can be done with three.
Best for: Not the faint of heart! It can get expensive depending on the stakes. Also, it’s more enjoyable for those with a handicap of 15 or lower as big blow-up holes can be costly and birdies are key to winning. A group of four alike handicappers is ideal. There is no hiding and letting your partner do all the work.
How to play: Vegas is relatively simple. You select a batting order in advance (flip tees, toss balls, whatever). The order stays in place for the first 16 holes but rotates. On the second hole the player hitting second off the first tee is now leading off and the player hitting first off the first tee goes to the end. It’s a simple rotation – like with Wolf.
Handicap is 100 percent off the low handicap in the group. Set the stakes for point value in advance. Twenty-five cents a point will rarely result in a loss worse than $30. Fifty cents a point can get interesting. A dollar a point can drain your bank account. The low point total pays the high point total and the third-place point total pays the second-place finisher.
After teeing off, the two balls furthest left are partners and the two balls furthest right are partners. You then play the hole out. The low score on the team is the first number and the high score on the team is the second number. So, if Team Left goes net 5-5, they have 55. If Team Right goes 4-6, they have 46. The difference means each player on Team Right gets nine points for that hole.
But here’s the real fun. Natural birdies “flip the bird”. If Team Right goes 3-4 on a par 4, that’s 34. If Team Left goes 4-7, that is flipped to 7-4 and 74, which gives Team Right a healthy 40 points. In other words, if someone is close to the hole, you’re puckering that you don’t blade that upcoming bunker shot. If both players on a team birdie, the total is flipped and doubled! So 3-3 is 33 and 4-7 becomes 74, a 41-point difference that is then doubled to 82 points. Like we said, not for the faint of heart.
Continue this throughout the first 16 holes (so everyone has four tee shots in each position). After 16 holes the points are totalled. The low man then decides the batting order and whether they would like to double, triple or quadruple the points. The 17th hole is played and the process repeated.
You can also add ‘junk’ by providing four points to the team on greenies, birdies, sandies and a long-drive contest where the longest drive in the fairway on par 5s gets four points if they make par.
Say the final totals look like this:
- Player 1: 87 points
- Player 2: 29 points
- Player 3: 47 points
- Player 4: 118 points
Player 2 pays Player 4 89 points, which is $22.25 (118 – 29 = 89; $0.25 x 89 = $22.25). Player 3 pays Player 1 40 points, which is $10 (87 – 47 = 40; $0.25 x 40 = $10).
Variations: You can play with three where the player in the middle goes alone and their score is doubled. So, if they make a 5, they’re 55. However, any natural birdie by the lone player is also doubled so a 3 becomes a 33 and leads to a flip and double!
Another popular variation is “Newtown”. Newtown is basically Vegas but it’s the two balls in the middle that are partners versus the two balls further left and right – a version that rewards better ball-striking off the tee. It also means if you’re hitting last, you can possibly be partners with any of the other three players. That’s not the case in Vegas, where the player hitting last cannot partner with the player in the middle.
Additionally, the ‘junk’ is individual, not team. This is important on the last two holes if you’re chasing but close. You can be partners with someone and still pass them with a birdie or a ‘sandy’.
Umbrella
Sometimes, for the true sickos out there, one game or one match just isn’t enough. That’s where side-action guy comes in and asks, “Do we want some side action?” If the response is anything but a resounding “Yes!” from the entire group, you are hanging out with the wrong people.
Allow us, then, to open you up to the ultimate side action golf game: Umbrella.
Number of players required: Works best with four, two teams of two.
Best for: Golfers who love side bets. Players who want to be rewarded for their good holes. Those who don’t mind a lot of scorekeeping. Groups that want the back nine and the final few holes to seriously matter.
How to play: “Umbrella” is a great side-action game but can certainly be played as the main game, too. It’s ideally a 2 vs 2 game where there are five specific accomplishments, with point allotments attached to them, on every single hole. The catch is that the point totals are awarded according to the hole number.
On the first hole, it would look a little something like this:
- 1 point for the low individual score of the group
- 1 point for your team having the low two-ball total
- 1 point if you hit the green in regulation
- 1 point if your partner hits the green in regulation
- 1 point if a team member scores a birdie
By the fifth hole, all those accomplishments would be worth 5 points each. By the ninth hole, 9 points apiece. And so on and so forth.
Now, should one team ‘sweep’ all of the categories, the point total gets doubled, which is called an “umbrella”, hence the game’s name. On the first hole, if a team swept the categories and won all five points, it would double and they’d win 10. On the fifth hole, if one team swept all five categories for 25 points, they’d win 50 points.
To determine a winner, the group can decide at the very start if they’d like to assign a dollar amount to each point and pay out the difference at the end, or the group could agree to a set amount that everyone contributes to the pot and the team with the most Umbrella points at the end wins the pot.
Variations: You can play Umbrella with or without handicaps. With handicaps, a player who is getting a shot on a par 4 who makes a 4-for-3 would technically be making a ‘birdie’, earning one of the points. As for whether you’d count that same player hitting the green in three shots as a ‘green in regulation’, that’s something you’d have to discuss with the group before teeing it up. You can also add more specific accomplishments like longest drives, nearest-the-pin on par 3s or sand saves.
Hammer
Looking to spice up your normal matchplay game? There is a very simple, not-so-complicated way to do that. It’s time to learn about “Hammer”, the side game where the stakes can get very high, very quickly. If “Hammer” is on the agenda, we suggest a pit stop at the ATM on your way to the course.
Number of players required: Two or four.
Best for: 1 vs 1 or 2 vs 2 matches. Players who like to dial up the pressure early and often. Golfers who like to get in each other’s heads.
How to play: Hammer is about as simple as it gets. For starters, it’s basic matchplay, but you and your opponent or opponents first need to decide on how much each hole will be worth, as each hole is a separate match. Let’s call it $1 for now.
Once the match starts, either player can “hammer” the other at any point, which doubles the bet. The idea is to hammer your opponent when they may be in a spot of bother and you feel like you have a better chance of winning the hole. So, if Player A tees off first and pipes one down the middle, then Player B pulls one into the left rough, behind a tree, it would be in Player A’s best interest to hammer Player B, making the first hole now worth $2. The “hammer” now alternates to Player B if they’d like. Player A cannot hammer Player B twice in a row. Say Player B hits a hero shot from the left rough onto the green, they can hammer Player A back, making the hole now worth $4. Player B can also opt not to use it until the next hole, or the hole after that. It’s Player Bs to use until further notice. Once the match reaches the next hole, that hole is now worth $1 again.
Variations: Above is the most basic explanation of the “Hammer” game, but here we’ll explain the myriad variations that you must decide on before teeing it up. The first order of business – if a hole is halved, does the bet carry over to the next hole, like it would in Skins? That’s something that needs to be agreed upon beforehand, and most commonly it would be. So if Player A hammers Player B on the first hole ($1 bet is now $2), and Player B hammers back at some point ($2 bet now $4), and they both halve with pars, the $4 would carry over to the second hole, making that hole worth $5. Should a hammer be employed on that hole, that hole would then be worth $10. If that hole is won, the third hole bet would reset to $1.
Normally, the “hammers” are automatic, but those who enter the game with some trepidation can make “accepting the hammer” optional.
Perhaps the most fun and strategic element you can add is the “air hammer”, meaning that in order to use the hammer, you must yell out “hammer” when your opponent’s ball is in the air. Instead of having the luxury of seeing exactly where your opponent’s ball comes to rest and hammering based off that, you must do it after they’ve struck their shot and before it hits the ground. In this scenario, you may yell out hammer when your opponent’s ball is headed towards a bunker, pond or out-of-bounds, only to watch it land past the bunker or the water or get knocked back out to the fairway off a tree. This makes players use the hammer much more wisely. This also goes for putts, too, an added wrinkle on full display in a season-one episode of Netflix’s “Full Swing” featuring a hammer match between Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. In their match, any birdie made also doubled the bet.
Banker
For the game “Banker”, we suggest stopping at an ATM on your way to the course.
Number of players required: Three or more, but a minimum of three.
Best for: People who… yep, you guessed it, carry cash. Lots of it. Players who don’t mind dialling up the pressure to 11. Guys and girls who love live bets. Golfers not afraid of a 1 vs 3 challenge.
How to play: For starters, the group needs to agree on a minimum dollar amount and a maximum dollar amount to bet on each hole. The stakes can be as low or high as you want. Might we suggest $1 as the minimum and $5 as the maximum for your gang’s first foray into “Banker”. That way nobody is at each other’s throats by the ninth hole.
From there, it’s quite simple – choose a banker on the first tee. A member of the group who gets off to strong starts might volunteer or it could be randomised, perhaps by flipping a tee. Depending on how you’re feeling about your game, it could be a very good thing or a very bad thing to start as the banker. If there are four players in the group, the banker will tee off fourth and it will rotate each hole.
Once everyone tees off, the banker included, each player in the group can choose how much they’d like to play the banker for on that specific hole – between $1 and $5 as agreed upon on the first tee. This will open up three separate matches between each player and the banker, all for potentially different amounts. There is no “team” element here.
So the first hole might look like this:
Player D (the banker) vs Player A: $5 bet
Player D vs Player B: $2 bet
Player D vs Player C: $1 bet
While you can obviously use net scoring, let’s assume it’s gross for this example – Player D makes bogey, Player A makes par, Players B and C make double-bogey. After that hole, Player D would win his $2 and his $1 from Players B and C but would have lost $5 to Player A. Someone who is good at maths should probably keep the tally on this for the entire day. As for who is the banker on the second hole, it would be Player A, who had the lowest score on the first hole.
In the event of a tie, the player who holed out first would become the banker on the next hole. The fairest way to handle this would be to always allow the person who is “away” to putt at their turn.
Variations: The first variation is that you don’t have to set a maximum amount, just a minimum amount. In the above example, that would be $1. But with this added element, it’s the banker who can determine the maximum amount on each hole, and it can be whatever they want. They’d just have to call it out before everyone teed off – “OK guys, the max amount you can play me for is $20 on this hole,” for example.
You can also add presses to the mix in Banker, though you must press on the tee. It can be after you hit but before the banker hits. So if you’re determined you are playing the banker for $10 and you pipe one down the middle, you can press the bet to $20. The banker can also press back after they’ve teed off, though they must press the entire group, not just the player who originally pressed them.
One other way to break a tie: the player who made the longest putt on the previous green becomes the banker. You can also carry over the money like you would in Skins, which can certainly make the scorekeeper’s life more difficult. In other words, you can make this game as simple or as complicated as you like.
5-3-1
First up is a game called “5-3-1” (or “9-point”).
Number of players required: Exactly three.
Best for: People who just can’t find a fourth. Players who don’t treat score like life and death. Golfers of all skill levels who want action on every single hole. Those who can quickly get over one or two bad holes.
How to play: 5-3-1, or as some call it, 9-point, means that each hole is worth a total of nine points. The first thing you agree to on the first tee is how much each of those points is going to be worth. Let’s say it’s $1. You can play this game with or without handicaps. Each hole is its own nine-point match, or game, that way you are never out of it and a few good holes in a row can be huge.
The breakdown: if player A makes a 4 on the first hole, player B makes a 5 and player C makes a 7, player A receives five points, player B three points and player C one point (hence, 5-3-1). The only time it gets semi-complicated is if two players tie. In that scenario, if player A and player B make a 4 on a hole, and player C makes a 5, player A and B receive four points each, while player C receives one. If player A makes 4 on the next hole, while player B and C make 5s, player A receives five points while player B and C receive two each. In the event all three players tie a hole, they all receive three points.
Repeat this process on every hole and keep a point tally on the scorecard. At the very end, the person who came in last place has to pay the difference in point total/dollar amount to both the first and second-place finishers.
Variations: There’s a “casino” variation of 5-3-1, and we’d imagine some friendships end with this component added in: the person in last place decides the point value on the tee for holes 16, 17 and 18.
Another variation rewards an outstanding hole. So, say player A scores a 3 while players B and C do no better than a 5, then player A receives all nine points (because they won the hole by two strokes or more). An amend to this variation requires a three-shot ‘win’ for all nine points to go to the best score.
Yet another variation calls for each player to nominate a double-point hole on the tee (this can be done either once or twice within the round). All points accrued on double holes get, well, doubled for a total of 18 points instead of nine.
For more playing formats to try, visit australiangolfdigest.com.au/?s=how+to+play