Golf is fun. But competing while golfing — for a beer, an Andrew Jackson, car slips, heck for anything — makes the game that much more fun. Here are our top 5 favorites:
1. Nassau – A Nassau is basically broken up into three bets, the low front nine score, low back nine score, and low total score. This is the go-to game for a Mano-a-Mano, one-on-one, “Let’s go!” game with a friend. Bet $5 and the most you can lose (and win) is $15.
2. Wolf (or Lone Wolf) – Here’s how it works – First, let’s focus on how the order of play is decided.
The ‘Wolf’ is always the last player to tee off. The teeing order rotates on every hole so that each player becomes the Wolf once every four holes (if you’re playing in a foursome).
Once each player hits their tee shot, the Wolf decides whether or not to take any of the players on their team for the hole. If not, the Wolf plays the hole as the ‘Lone Wolf’ — in which case the objective is to beat the three other players with the lowest score on the hole. Every hole is played as a best ball with only the best score of each team being used.
- If the Wolf chose a partner and they win the hole, they each receive 2 points
- If the non-Wolf partners win the hole, they get 3 points
- If the Lone Wolf beats all the other players, they receive 4 points
- If the Lone Wolf gets beat by any player in the group, everyone in the group except the Lone Wolf receives 1 point.
3. Skins – Assign a dollar amount to each hole. Each player in the group contributes a predetermined amount for the “kitty” on each of the holes. The lowest score on each hole wins the skin. Should one or more players tie a hole, the skin carries over. Whoever wins the next hole outright wins the skin for that hole as well as any skins that carried over.
4. Best Ball – This is one of the most popular games to play. You’ll need two-person teams, and at least two teams. Each player plays out his or her own golf ball. At the end of the hole, the lowest score recorded by the team is used toward the team tally, while the higher score is thrown out. Simple and fun. Best Ball is one of the two primary team formats used in the Ryder Cup/President’s Cup/Solheim Cup.
5. Sixes – In a foursome, you rotate a playing partner every six holes. At the end of 18 holes, the other three players in your group will have been your partner for six holes. You can use any scoring format in sixes and each six-hole stretch is a separate bet. Basically, you could lose one of your six-hole matches, but if you win the other two, you come out ahead at the end of 18 holes.
There are plenty more golf games we could mention but these are some of our favorites. So next time you’re teeing it up, give one of these a shot, you’ll be glad you did.