Best Golf Betting Games: 43 Money Formats and Side Bets (and Growing)

Somebody in your group asks it on the first tee almost every week: “What are we playing for today?” Golf betting games are the answer. The formats that turn four hours of counting strokes into a round where every swing has a little weight behind it.

This guide covers every betting game worth a wager. The classics your grandfather taught you, the per-hole pot games that build all afternoon, the 2v2 team bets, the side action that rides on top of any format, and a couple of original Golf Games Hub formats you won’t find anywhere else.

Fourty-three money games (and growing), each with its own rules, stakes, and reasons to play.

Use the finder to filter by bet type, group size, and complexity and then scroll down for the full breakdown on every game.

The Betting Game Finder

Use the finder below to filter all 43 betting games by bet type, group size, and complexity. Plus a bonus 6 standard formats you can also throw a bet on. Search by name, tap the filters to narrow the list, and click any game for the full rules and strategy guide. Or keep scrolling for a more dense breakdown on every game.

The Classic Betting Games

Start here. These are the money games people actually mean when they say “golf betting games”. These are the formats every group should know and try before they try anything fancier.

Nassau

Players: 2–4 (4 ideal) · Team: Optional · Bet Type: Classic · Complexity: Simple · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

Nassau is the gold standard of golf betting. It breaks an 18-hole round into three separate bets? the front nine, the back nine, and the overall match. Typical stakes are $2, $5, or $10 a leg. A blow-up on the front never sinks the whole day, because the back nine is a fresh match and the overall keeps everyone engaged to the 18th.

Most serious groups layer in “presses” (automatic double-or-nothing side bets when a side goes two down) and junk bets for birdies and greenies. It’s the bet your dad played, his dad played, and the one your group will settle on more than any other.

ORIGINS

Born in 1900. Nassau traces to Nassau Country Club on Long Island, where members wanted a way to keep a lopsided match interesting. Three bets instead of one did it. A hundred-plus years later, nothing has replaced it.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Nassau Official Guide →

Skins

Players: 2–6 (4 ideal) · Team: Optional · Bet Type: Classic · Complexity: Simple · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

Skins is one of the most dramatic betting formats in golf. Every hole is worth a “skin” (a certain unit of money), and the lowest score wins it outright. Tie the hole and nobody wins. The skin then rolls forward and stacks with the next hole. By the back nine, after a few carryovers, a six-foot putt can be worth six skins with the whole group watching.

It works with or without handicaps, scales past a foursome, and rides happily on top of a Nassau as a side bet. Easiest format to explain on the first tee, hardest to walk away from.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Skins Official Guide →

Wolf

Players: 3–5 (4 ideal) · Team: Yes (rotating) · Bet Type: Classic · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Medium — use handicaps

Wolf is the original decide-in-real-time betting game. Each hole, one player is the Wolf. They tee off first, watch every other person drive, and after each one make an immediate call: take that player as a partner, or pass. Pass on everyone and they go Lone Wolf, taking on all three solo for a bigger payday.

The rotating partnership means nobody gets stuck with the same partner all day, and every tee shot matters because the Wolf is watching. It’s the most strategic money game in the rotation.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Wolf Official Guide →

Vegas

Players: 4 only · Team: Yes (2v2) · Bet Type: Classic · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Rough — scores compound fast

Vegas replaces simple hole by hole score with a little bit of math chaos. Two teams of two, but instead of adding partner scores you concatenate them into a two-digit number. Meaning, a 4 and a 5 becomes 45. Lowest combined number wins the hole, and the swings pile up fast.

One bad swing flips a winning hole into a disaster. Start with small stakes until you feel how fast the math moves.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Vegas Official Guide →

Per-Hole & Pot Games

These games put money on every hole or build a pot that grows all round. The pressure compounds — by the back nine, the stakes on a single putt can make your knees rattle.

Acey Deucey

Players: 3–6 (4 ideal) · Team: No · Bet Type: Pot · Per-Hole · Complexity: Simple · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

Acey Deucey settles two pots on every hole: one for the lowest score (the Ace) and one for the highest (the Deuce). The Ace collects from everyone and the Deuce pays everyone. Standard ratio is 2-to-1, with $2 Ace / $1 Deuce a common starting stake, and most groups roll unpaid pots forward and double them.

THE COUNTERINTUITIVE PART

Avoiding the Deuce beats chasing the Ace. Steady pars almost never make you the high scorer, so you rarely pay the Deuce and the Deuce owes the Ace bet on top of paying everyone. Conservative golf quietly wins this one.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Acey Deucey Official Guide →

The Bounty

Players: 3–4 · Team: No · Bet Type: Pot · Per-Hole · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

The Bounty is a Golf Games Hub original built on a rolling jackpot. Every hole has a bounty, usually $1, that goes to the lowest outright score. Tie the hole and nobody wins. The bounty rolls forward and doubles until somebody takes a hole clean.

On paper it’s simple. In practice, by the time you’re on hole 12 with $32 riding on a six-footer, everyone is locked in. Optional variants like the Birdie Multiplier and the Outlaw Rule crank the swings even higher.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the The Bounty Official Guide →

Bogey Tax

Players: 3–4 · Team: No · Bet Type: Pot · Per-Hole · Complexity: Simple · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

Bogey Tax is a Golf Games Hub original built around a punishment pot. Every net stroke over par on a hole costs you cash into the pot ($2 a stroke is the standard sting) and after 18 the lowest net total takes everything. Most games reward your best hole. Bogey Tax punishes your worst.

It hits hardest with a full foursome, where the pot grows fast. Pairs cleanly with Nassau or Skins, and the Birdie Rebate variation pulls money back from the pot for every birdie (feel free to adjust this to par).

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Bogey Tax Official Guide →

18 Chips

Players: 2–4 (1v1 core) · Team: No · Bet Type: Pot · Per-Hole · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, play it net

18 Chips is a betting game where the wager is a resource you manage all day. You hold eighteen chips numbered 1 through 18, and before each hole you secretly commit one. Win the hole on net and you collect the pot at your chip’s value. Every chip is used once.

The money does not ride on your swing so much as on your timing. A high chip on a hole you steal is a big payout, and the same chip wasted is money handed away. Most of the decision happens before you hit, which is what makes it play like poker with a scorecard. It runs 1v1 at its core but scales cleanly to 3 or 4 for a bigger pot. It is a Golf Games Hub Original.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the 18 Chips Official Guide →

Banker

Players: 3–5 (4 ideal) · Team: No (rotating banker) · Bet Type: Pot · Per-Hole · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

One player is the banker each hole, tees off last, and plays a separate cash match against everyone else. Low score wins each match. Bets press (double) after the drives, and the banker can press the whole bet back.

The banker badge passes to whoever goes low and holes out first, so the leverage chases the hot hand. Gross or net. It is the rare money game where the player out front has the most to lose.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Banker Official Guide →

Nines (5-3-1)

Players: 3 only · Team: No · Bet Type: Pot · Per-Hole · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

Nines is the best money game for a threesome. Nine points are up for grabs on every hole and always sum to nine: a clean 1-2-3 finish (no ties on the hole) splits them 5-3-1. Most points after 18 takes the pot, settled on the point differential between you and each opponent.

Win a hole by two strokes or more and you “blitz”. Meaning, you take all nine points, and the other two get zero. That single rule turns par 3s into the most volatile holes on the course and keeps a trailing player alive to the end.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Nines Official Guide →

The King’s Honors

Players: 3 only · Team: Yes (rotating King-vs-pair) · Bet Type: Pot · Per-Hole · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

The King’s Honors is a Golf Games Hub original built specifically for threesomes. The winner of every hole becomes the King — and on the next hole, plays solo against the other two paired up and playing best-ball. Win as the King, score double. Lose as the King, hand over the crown. Hole 1 is the Coronation — played as three solos, lowest score earns 1 point and becomes the first King for hole 2.

Holes 2 through 18 resolve three ways. King beats the pair’s best ball: King wins 2 points and holds the throne. Pair’s best ball beats the King: both pair members win 1 point each, and the lower scorer of the pair becomes the new King. King ties the pair’s best ball: King defends, wins 1 point, and holds the throne. Tiebreaker on ties between two pair members goes to whoever holed out first — a holed bunker shot or long putt settles the throne on the spot.

Per-point wagering is the standard structure — $1 per point is the friendly default, $5 if the group has stomach for it.

Read the full rules, the tiebreaker mechanics, and the variations in the The King’s Honors Official Guide →

Bundle

Players: 3–4 · Team: No · Bet Type: Pot · Per-Hole · Complexity: Simple · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

Bundle is a money game built around a single pot that never sits still. One wad of cash rides with whoever is playing the cleanest golf, and it jumps to the next player the moment the holder makes a double, three-putts, or finds trouble. Whoever holds it at 18 takes it all.

As a bet it is beautifully simple, no running tally, just one pot changing hands. It punishes the blow-up instead of rewarding the birdie, which keeps your streaky players and your steady players both in the hunt all day. Set a dollar figure on the Bundle, play your own ball, and try to be the one holding it when the cash pays out.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Bundle Official Guide →

The Heist

Players: 3–4 · Team: No · Bet Type: Pot · Per-Hole · Complexity: Simple · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, always net

The Heist is a Golf Games Hub Original money game for 3 to 4 players. Everyone starts with 20 points in a vault, and every hole the best net score robs the worst. The points convert to dollars at the end.

The signature bet is the triple: once per round, any player can declare THE HEIST on the tee and triple that hole’s stakes. It is the mechanic that keeps a lead from ever feeling safe, because the player in last can call it on a hole they own and swing the whole pot. Spend it wrong, on a hole you blow up, and you triple your own losses. Net scoring keeps mismatched groups fair.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the The Heist Official Guide →

Three Fingers

Players: 3–4 · Team: No · Bet Type: Pot · Per-Hole · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, play it net

Three Fingers is a per-hole wager with a bluff built in. On every tee, everyone throws a 1, 2, or 3, (rock paper scissors style) and that sets the stake, then you play each opponent head-to-head on net. The bolder player’s number is what is on the line for each 1v1 match. Beat them and you collect it. Lose and you pay it.

The betting tension is picking your spots. Throw a 3 into a hole you can win and it pays big, throw it into a hole you butcher and you hand it away. Everyone plays everyone, so a foursome is multiple little bets per hole. It is a Golf Games Hub Original for groups who want a money game that is not just another skins round.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Three Fingers Official Guide →

St. James Roll

Players: 3–4 · Team: No · Bet Type: Pot · Per-Hole · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

You bank a point for every opponent you beat on a hole, gross or net, and the most points after 18 collects. Everyone plays their own ball.

The hook is the Roll Call. Before they tee off, any player but the honor holder can double the hole’s points, which is how a quiet round turns into a bloodbath on the 16th. Settle pairwise at the end.

ORIGINS

Born on a buddy trip. St. James Roll started as a reader-submitted format for Golf Digest. It was dreamed up by a group at St. James Plantation in Southport, North Carolina. The Roll Call is what made it stick around.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the St. James Roll Official Guide →

Poker

Players: 2–4+ · Team: No · Bet Type: Pot · Per-Hole · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, luck evens it out

Poker is the betting game where the pot goes to the best hand, not the low score. You earn a playing card for every one-putt, birdie, sandie, and up-and-down, and at the end you build the best five-card hand from your stack. Best hand takes the money.

That single twist is what makes it a great mixed-group wager. A high-handicapper who catches a couple of lucky cards can beat a cleaner scorecard that earns a slew of cards, but all of them are worthless, so the bet stays live for everyone to the last hole. Ante into one pot, play your round, and let the cards decide. It runs best with a full foursome.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Poker Golf Official Guide →

Let It Ride

Players: 2–4+ · Team: No · Bet Type: Pot · Per-Hole · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

Let It Ride is the press-your-luck bet. Every hole pays points on net score, a bogey 5, a par 15, a birdie 30, an eagle 60, and after each hole you choose: bank what you earned or let it ride to double next hole. Ride a streak and it keeps doubling. Make a net double while riding and the whole streak goes to zero.

The money swings come from the doubling, so a single hot stretch can bury a player who banked safe all day. It settles in points you convert to dollars at the end, and it plays at full handicap so a mixed group stays even. The bet is really a bet against your own nerve.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Let It Ride Official Guide →

Split Sixes

Players: 3 only · Team: No · Bet Type: Pot · Per-Hole · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

Split Sixes is the sharper threesome game. Six points are distributed every hole on a 4-2-0 base. Low score takes four, middle takes two, last gets nothing. There are 108 points in play across the round. Ties split cleanly (3-3-0 for a tie up top, 4-1-1 for a tie at the bottom).

Because a blow-up only costs you that one hole, higher handicappers love it. The grind is real, though: third place pays both players above them, so consistency beats hero golf every time.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Split Sixes Official Guide →

2v2 & Team Betting Games

When you’ve got four and want to play partners for money, these are the formats. They reward a steady partner and punish a coat-tailer, so pick your teammate carefully.

If you need to settle handicap strokes first, run everyone through the free automatic golf handicap calculator, and if anyone’s arguing about their number, here’s how a golf handicap is calculated.

Hammer

Players: 2 or 4 · Team: Yes (2v2) · Bet Type: Team 2v2 · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Rough — bets compound fast

Hammer is a match-play betting game where any player can double the bet at any point in a hole — even with a shot in the air. Throw the Hammer and the opponent either accepts (and it doubles) or declines (and forfeits the current bet). The right to throw passes to whoever accepted, so a hole can be hammered and re-hammered until someone backs down.

Run it 2v2 with best-ball or aggregate scoring. A $1 base climbs to $32 after five accepted Hammers on a single hole, which is exactly why every group sets a per-hole cap on the first tee.

WORTH KNOWING

You’ve probably seen it on TV. The Birdie Doubles variation which is when the running bet auto-doubles on any birdie. This is the version featured on Netflix’s Full Swing. Great theater, fast money.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Hammer Official Guide →

Wingman

Players: 4 · Team: Yes (2v2) · Bet Type: Team 2v2 · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes — always net

Before each hole your team picks which partner’s net score counts, and each of you must carry exactly nine holes over the round. Low net wins the hole, ties carry, and 9 and 18 count double.

Two “wingman” passes let you switch to the other partner after a bad drive. It always plays net, so a mixed pair stays alive to the 18th.

GGH ORIGINAL

Built to kill the carry. Wingman is a Golf Games Hub original made to fix the team format where one player does all the work. The declaration and the two passes put every drive on the line.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Wingman Official Guide →

Best to Next

Players: 4 only (2v2) · Team: Yes (2v2) · Bet Type: Team 2v2 · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

Best to Next is a 2v2 team bet built on four-ball with the halve engineered out. You win the hole with your better ball, but when both teams’ low balls tie, the higher balls break it. A team that makes 5 and 5 beats a team that makes 5 and 7.

As a wager it settles more holes than straight better-ball, so the money actually moves instead of stalling on halves. Both partners stay in every hole, because all four scores count. It runs off the low handicap in the group, everyone playing their difference, and the guide recommends the 90% four-ball match allowance to keep a soft index from swinging too many holes. Set the per-hole stake and play it as a match.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Best to Next Official Guide →

Daytona

Players: 4 only · Team: Yes (2v2) · Bet Type: Team 2v2 · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Rough — scores compound fast

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Daytona

Players: 4 only · Team: Yes (2v2) · Bet Type: Team 2v2 · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Rough — scores compound fast

Daytona is Vegas with teeth. It starts out the same as Vegas where two teams of two pair each team’s two scores into a two-digit number instead of adding them: a 5 and a 6 becomes 56. The payout is the gap between the two team numbers times the agreed value, so keep it to a nickel or a quarter a point, because it escalates fast.

The twist that separates it from Vegas is par protection. If at least one partner makes par or better, the low score leads (a 4 and a 7 is 47). But if nobody on the team breaks par, the high score leads instead. That same 5 and 6 becomes 65, not 56. Failing to make par doesn’t just cost you strokes; it inflates your own number and blows the gap wide open. That’s the whole engine: one wreck on a hole, with no par to protect you, can swing the round.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Daytona Official Guide →

Low Ball High Ball

Players: 4 only (2v2) · Team: Yes (2v2) · Bet Type: Team 2v2 · Complexity: Simple · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

Low Ball-High Ball is a 2v2 bet with two points on every hole, one for the better low ball and one for the better high ball. All four players hole out their own ball, and both points carry a stake.

The high-ball point is what makes it a sharper wager than a plain better-ball bet. Your blow-up no longer hides behind your partner’s good score, so a single bad hole can hand the other side a free point. Nobody gets to check out, and the money stays in play on every hole. Most groups play it net with full strokes by stroke index, so set the handicaps before the first tee and put a figure on each of the two points.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Low Ball High Ball Official Guide →

Sixes

Players: 4 only · Team: Yes (2v2 rotating) · Bet Type: Team 2v2 · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Excellent — everyone partners with everyone

Sixes (also called Hollywood or Round Robin) divides an 18-hole round into three separate six-hole matches. Partners rotate every six holes so each golfer plays with — and against — every other golfer during the round. The standard rotation: holes 1-6 A & B vs. C & D, holes 7-12 A & C vs. B & D, holes 13-18 A & D vs. B & C. Each player plays their own ball throughout the hole. Team score is the lower of the two partners’ scores.

Most groups play each six-hole segment as its own match — team wins a hole by posting the lower better-ball score, halves on a tie, and wins the segment by winning more holes. Each segment carries its own wager, so the round produces three independent results and three separate payouts. The day winner is either whoever wins two of three segments or each segment stands as its own result. Settle that on the first tee.

Read the full rotation, the variations, and the strategy in the Sixes Official Guide →

Low Ball Low Total

Players: 4 only (2v2) · Team: Yes (2v2) · Bet Type: Team 2v2 · Complexity: Simple · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Good

Low Ball Low Total puts two points up on every hole. One goes to the team with the lowest single score (low ball), one to the team with the lowest combined total (low total). That second point is the whole game. Your partner’s blow-up actually counts, so nobody gets to check out.

Most groups play $1–$2 per point, with birdie doublers and carryovers as common add-ons. If your foursome likes Four-Ball but wants more accountability, this is the upgrade.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Low Ball Low Total Official Guide →

Umbrella (Six-Point Scotch)

Players: 4 (4 ideal) · Team: Yes (2v2) · Bet Type: Team 2v2 · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Medium, with handicaps

Two teams chase five points a hole, low ball, low total, two greens in regulation, and a birdie. Each point is worth the hole number, so the back nine carries the real money.

Sweep all five while the other side scores zero and it is an “umbrella,” which doubles the hole value. Ties wash. Gross by default, net to keep it fair across handicaps.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Umbrella Official Guide →

Tug of War (Three-Point Game)

Players: 4 · Team: Yes (2v2) · Bet Type: Team 2v2 · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

Three points a hole, low ball, high ball, and a natural birdie, pull a single marker along an imaginary 3-2-1-0-1-2-3 line. First team to drag it three spots their way wins the match and the losers pay three points. Then partners re-draw.

Every time the score crosses zero, the value per point climbs, so a back-and-forth match keeps getting pricier. Gross or net.

BEHIND THE NAME

The three-point game, rebranded. It started in Florida as “the three-point game.” Tug of War is the name that traveled, and the rising “Mongolia line” (the 0 crossing mechanic) stake is why nobody coasts.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Tug of War Official Guide →

Gruesomes

Players: 4 only (2v2) · Team: Yes (2v2) · Bet Type: Team 2v2 · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Medium — partner-dependent

Gruesomes (also called Bloodsomes) is Greensomes with a sadistic twist: your OPPONENT picks which of your two tee shots the team has to play, usually the worst one. Both partners tee off, the opposing team chooses your drive, and the partner whose drive was NOT chosen plays the second shot. Alternate shot from there. Almost always played match play — match play fits this format because a disaster hole only costs you that one hole.

For wagering, run it as a straight 18-hole match or a Nassau (front 9, back 9, overall). Handicap allowance isn’t standardized — Foursomes method (50% sum) or Greensomes method (60% low + 40% high) are both common. Plenty of casual groups play it straight up.

Read the full rules, the handicap conventions, and the variations in the Gruesomes Official Guide →

Golf Side Bets & Junk

Side bets ride on top of whatever you’re already playing. No extra scorekeeping, no setup — just more action. Stack one or two of these on a Nassau and every shot suddenly has a extra-layer bet riding on it.

Snake

Players: 2–4 (4 ideal) · Team: No · Bet Type: Side Bet · Complexity: Simple · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes — anyone can three-putt

Snake is the three-putt hot potato. First player to three-putt picks up the Snake. Every new three-putt passes it along. Whoever’s holding it when the last putt drops on 18 pays the group. It makes every four-footer you’d normally tap in feel like it costs something.

The doubling variant is where it bites, too. The value doubles every time the Snake changes hands. Some groups hang an actual rubber snake on the current holder’s bag. Highly recommended.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Snake Official Guide →

Rabbit

Players: 3–4 · Team: No · Bet Type: Side Bet · Complexity: Simple · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes, with handicaps

Rabbit is a side bet that rides on top of your main game. You catch the rabbit by winning a hole outright, and you cash it only if you are still holding it when the front nine ends and again when the back nine ends. Anyone else winning a hole sets it loose.

The money is in the timing, not the total. You can win more holes than anyone and still collect nothing, because all that matters is possession at the turn and the finish. Grab it early and you protect. Chase it late and you need an outright win when it counts. It adds a running side wager to any foursome or threesome with zero extra math.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Rabbit Official Guide →

Wad

Players: 2–4 (best with 3 or 4) · Team: No · Bet Type: Pot · Side Bet · Complexity: Simple · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Excellent — putting clutch wins

Wad is a putting side-bet that rewards made putts. Every time you roll in your first putt on the green from outside a set distance (flagstick length, or anything past six feet), a fixed amount drops into the pot. $2 a putt standard. Birdies double it. Chip-ins from off the green count. The pot builds across the round, and only one player walks with it: whoever makes the last qualifying putt of the round collects the full pot from every other player separately. A $26 pot in a foursome pays $78.

It’s the feel-good cousin of Snake — Snake punishes the choke, Wad pays the clutch. Closing rule: over the last three holes, a qualifying putt only counts for the win if it’s for net par or better. A 10-footer for double bogey on 18 doesn’t take it unless you’re getting a stroke.

Read the full rules, the per-putt math, and the multiplier variations in the Wad Official Guide →

Murphys

Players: 2–4 · Team: No · Bet Type: Side Bet · Complexity: Simple · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Neutral — short game wins

Murphys puts your short game on public trial. Before you chip from off the green, you announce it: “I’m getting up and down.” Make the chip-and-putt, collect from everyone. Miss, pay up. It layers on top of any format without a single piece of extra scorekeeping.

BEHIND THE NAME

Named for a real one. Murphys is named after PGA Tour winner and broadcaster Bob Murphy, one of the best short-game players of his era. If you save par from 30 yards while everyone else hacks, this is how you get paid for it.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Murphys Official Guide →

Flaps

Players: 2–4 · Team: No · Bet Type: Side Bet · Complexity: Simple · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Neutral — short game wins

Flaps is the gutsiest side bet in golf. You’re off the green with a chip or pitch. You make contact, and while the ball is still in the air you can call “flap”, effectively wagering you’ll hole the next putt and finish the up-and-down. Get it right, you collect from everyone. Wrong, you pay out the same.

The twist: any other player can double the bet before the ball finishes its first bounce. That’s two seconds to read your own shot with the whole group watching and waiting to double. No scorekeeping necessary. It rides on top of any format.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Flaps Official Guide →

Low Putts

Players: 2–4 · Team: No · Bet Type: Side Bet · Complexity: Simple · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes — putting is the great equalizer

Low Putts is the simplest side bet there is. Count only your putts for the round. Fewest total wins. No ball-striking, no handicaps, no running math. Just who played the flat stick best for 18 holes.

It’s the great equalizer, because a 20-handicap can out-putt a scratch on any given day. Perfect bolt-on when someone in the group claims they’re the best putter.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Low Putts Official Guide →

Dots

Players: 2–4 · Team: No · Bet Type: Side Bet · Complexity: Medium · Mixed Skill Level Friendly? Yes — you build the menu

Dots — also called Junk, Garbage, or Trash — is the most customizable bet on the list. Before the round, your group agrees on a menu of “dot events,” each worth a set value: birdies, sandies, chip-ins, greenies, longest drive in the fairway. Some groups add negative dots for three-putts and OB. We have a full menu for you to choose from in our official guide.

Because it rewards moments instead of cumulative score, Dots keeps everyone engaged even after a blow-up hole. Plays solo or stacked on top of a Nassau.

Read the full rules, variations, and strategy in the Dots Official Guide →

Standard Formats With a Betting Option

These aren’t betting games in the gambling sense. They are more traditional scoring formats. But groups attach money to them all the time, usually per point or per match, and they’re some of the fairest ways to wager across a wide skill gap.

HEADS UP

Add handicaps before you add money. Played gross, most of these hand the scratch golfer a free win. Played net, they turn into a genuinely even bet. Settle the strokes first.

• Match Play — Hole-by-hole, win or lose one at a time. The cleanest format to bet as a straight match.
• Stroke Play — Count every shot. The base most betting games sit on top of. Bet it straight up with handicaps.
• Stableford — Points by score relative to par, blow-ups capped. The PGA Tour runs a modified version at the Barracuda Championship.
• Quota — Each player chases a personal target off their handicap. A scratch and a 24 get an even match.
• Chicago — A quota variant that starts everyone in a points hole. Levels handicaps and bets cleanly.
• Bingo Bango Bongo — Three points a hole that don’t favor the better player, so a per-point wager stays fair.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

Most groups play the same one or two betting games every week because it’s what someone taught them a decade ago. You’re now sitting on thirty-two.

Pick one that sounds fun, agree on the stakes before the first tee, and run it this weekend. Small money keeps it friendly and keeps everybody honest. Bet a little. Pay attention a lot.