Nassau, Skins, Wolf, Dots. Every foursome has its own language for the same handful of bets. Here's how each one actually works: the rules, the common variations, and how the money gets settled. No napkin math required.
The classic. Three bets in one: front 9, back 9, and overall 18, all played head-to-head. Add presses when someone falls behind and the stakes climb on their own.
Read the rules →Win a hole outright and you win the skin. Tie it and the skin carries to the next hole, stacking the pot. One bad hole, one birdie, and the whole round swings.
Read the rules →A new Wolf every hole. Watch the tee shots, pick a partner, or go it alone for double, triple, even quadruple the stakes. The most strategic game in the bag.
Read the rules →Sandies, greenies, barkies, polies. Little bets on the good shots, paid per dot. The running side game that turns a scrambly par into a small win.
Read the rules →Two against two. Best ball or both balls, one 18-hole match or three rotating 6-hole segments so everyone partners with everyone. Plays nine holes too: one 9-hole match at half handicaps, and if some of the group is only out for nine, the shared nine settles on its own.
Read the rules →Pool as many foursomes as you want into one team competition, with best balls counting across the groups for front, back and overall.
Read the rules →Closest tee shot to the flag on the par 3s. A simple, satisfying side bet that rewards the one good iron shot of the day.
Read the rules →Backgammon's doubling cube, on the golf course. Throw the hammer to double the bet. The other side either accepts the new stake or concedes the hole.
Read the rules →Three points on every hole: first on the green, closest once everyone's on, first in the cup. Rewards good order play over raw scoring. The friendliest dollar game in the bag.
Read the rules →The 3-putt cleanup bet. First to 3-putt picks up the snake. Each new 3-putt passes it along. Whoever's stuck holding it at 18 pays everyone else.
Read the rules →Score points by net-to-par instead of counting strokes. Standard or modified PGA-style values. A blow-up hole just scores zero, so it never wrecks the round.
Read the rules →A fixed pot of points every hole, split by where you finish: 9 for a threesome, 16 for a foursome, 25 for a fivesome. Low net takes the most, ties split, nobody's ever out of a hole.
Read the rules →Your own match against one other player, settled player to player. Run it inside your foursome or across the whole session, so you can carry a match against someone two groups ahead.
Read the rules →Golf's lottery ticket. Ace any hole and every opted-in player pays you. Settle it flat per player or scale it by the yardage of the hole you aced.
Read the rules →Every birdie doubles what the next one is worth, and only the last birdie of the day pays. An eagle jumps it two rungs. Start at five dollars and a hot afternoon gets silly in a hurry.
Read the rules →The match is gone with six to play, so start a new one right here over what is left. Any hole, any stake, as many as you both agree to. The old bet still settles on its own.
Read the rules →Everybody antes. Birdies, one-putts and long putts earn you playing cards all round, bad holes and three-putts pay into the pot, and at the end the best five-card hand takes the lot. Fill your hand early and everyone else starts paying for the privilege of watching you.
Read the rules →Two teams of two. Your scores pair into a number instead of adding, lowest first, and the lower number wins by the margin. Then birdies flip the other team's number into the stratosphere.
Read the rules →FLOG tracks every one of these, across your whole foursome, hole by hole, settled the second you walk off 18.