9 Great Games for your Group

When playing casual rounds with Arnold Palmer, Nicklaus declared “We always play for something.” “We never play for much money,” joked Palmer, “because I don’t want to hurt him!” Tiger was the biggest bettor of all!

The truth is, every pro has something riding on the casual rounds. A $5 Nassau. $2.00 a stroke. $3.00 a hole. Even bragging rights. It doesn’t matter what it is as long as it’s something. Why? Because it puts the focus on the real nature of golf, or any game for that matter, competition. Having a “stake” in the game makes you play more strategically, has you take into account the risk/reward factor on every shot, and forces you to play one ball, as it lies. It also injects “nerves” into the game, something the pros deal with in every tournament. Plus, it’s just more fun.

Put aside good old stroke play and try one of these out on your next 18.

1) Nassau (with or w/o automatic “two-downs”)

We’ll start with the classic and most common: the Nassau. You have three bets, front (9), back (9) and overall (18). You can play a Nassau one-on-one, or two-on-two (cart versus cart). It’s scored as in match play, the side winning the most amount of holes for each nine and all 18 wins. Most Nassaus are $2-$2-$2, or $5-$5-$5. I believe Michael Jordan lost $1.2 Million in a Nassau that must have been $400,000-$400,000-$400,000!

A variation has each team adding their scores together on each hole with the lowest total winning the hole.

Many players, however, play automatic two-downs, which means there’s a press (e.g. a new $5 bet ) each time a side gets two holes down. The “press portion” of the Nassau applies to the remaining holes only.

Nassaus can also be played 2-players versus one-player.

2) Nines (5-3-1)

Nines is the perfect game for threesomes.

Here, each hole is worth a total of nine points (each point worth a monetary figure). The amount of points you get for a hole is determined by what position you finish in: 1st, 2nd, or 3rd for that hole.

For example, on a par 4, one player scores a 3 (birdie), another makes 4 (par) and the third makes 5 (bogie). The player with the birdie gets 5 points, the par gets 3 and the bogey 1. That adds up to 9.

If all three players make par, each player gets three points. Again, adding to 9.

If one player makes birdie and the other two pars, then the player with the birdie is awarded 5 points with the other two getting 2 points each (the average of the remaining points). 9 points in total.

You must establish the dollar value for every point at the start. Let’s say you make each point $1. That would be $9 per hole and $162 for all 18. Each player would then put in one-third, or $54, to the money pool before tee off.

Because the points can really add up if one player is having an exceptionally good (or bad) day, try making each point worth $0.25 or $0.50.

3) Skins

From 1983 to 2008, the Skins game was the most popular non-tour golf event on T.V. And didn’t it seem like Fred Couples won it every year?!

The Skins game is great, especially if you like tension that keeps mounting. Want to see how well your nerves hold up under pressure, then Skins is your game.

First, establish the money value for each hole. For example, $10. Win the hole, win the money. But here’s the kicker, you have to beat every player on that hole, if any 2 player tie, the money gets carried over to the next hole, which would then be worth $20. And so on. Theoretically, the final hole could be worth $180 (18 x $10) if no player has won a previous hole out right (no ties).

The unique part of Skins is that a player who’s had 12 blow-up holes in a row can still pick up big bucks on carry over holes if he/she has a well timed birdie on a hole where the others make par.

At the start of the round, assign a monetary value to each hole. Again, we’ll use $10. That would make a total of $180, for all 18. Then divide the $180 by the number of players. In a foursome, each player would put in $45 to the pool.

4) BINGO-BANGO-BONGO

This game is ideal when you have a group of players all with different skill levels. Here, you have three different “accomplishments:”

• Bingo – the first player to reach the green, no matter how many shots it takes.
• Bango – the closest to the pin after everyone has reached the green.
• Bongo – the first one in the hole.

Each one of the “accomplishments” is worth one point, with a total of three points per hole. Handicaps do not come into play here.

Interestingly, a higher handicap player with a good short game can do quite well. Consider, in a foursome the three big hitters all reach the green in two. The closest is 15 feet from the hole. The shorter hitter, chipping from 10 feet off the green, land it 3 feet from the hole. This “shorter hitter” is now likely to pick up two out of the three points for the hole (Bango, and Bongo).

At the beginning of the round establish the money value of each “accomplishment.” We’ll use $1, as an example.

Each hole worth $3 making the total for 18 holes worth $54. At the start of the round, divide the $54 by the number of players in the group, and put the money in the “pool” to be divided up at the end of the round.

5) SNAKE

This is a great putting game. You can play it as the only game, or combine it with another game such as the Nassau.

Here’s how Snake works. Each time a player three-putts, that person winds up with the snake. The object here is to not be holding the Snake after the final hole.

If you do end up with the snake, you have to pay a dollar amount for each 3-putt made that day, including your own.

One variation is to increase the amount of each successive 3-putt during the round. For example, if the first 3-putt was worth $2, the second one would be worth $3, and so on.

If you really want to play for high stakes, make the increase in value geometric, so the fist 3-putt is worth $2, the second $4, the third $8, etc.

We suggest you combine Snakes with Nassau, so it prevents one player from intentionally missing the green on the approach shot, so he can chip and, at most, 2-putt.

6) ROUND ROBIN (COD)

This is used to “equalize” potentially un-equal pairings.

Round Robin is played with foursomes. It’s is a match-play game where you change partners (carts, opposites, drivers) each six holes for three separate bets. You can play any team format — better ball, alternate shot or even scramble. A variation is to switch every two holes.

7) WOLF, LONE WOLF & PIG

Here’s another classic game. It goes by many names. It’s great because you can play it with three or four players.

There are lots of variations to this, but here’s how the standard Wolf is played.

Each player takes a turns being the “wolf” on a hole. You can play with the wolf teeing off first or last.

The Wolf gets to pick a partner after he or she sees the tee shot of each player. Some people require the wolf to make a decision on a partner immediately after that player’s tee shot. The gamble there is, will the remaining player(s) hit a better tee shot.

Now, let’s say the Wolf, after seeing all the tee shots, wants to pick no partner at all. Suddenly, the Wolf becomes a Lone Wolf), and the bet doubles for that hole.

It gets better. If the wolf decides beforehand to go it alone – that is, before seeing any of the other players’ shots, he’s now called Pig, and the bet is quadrupled! This often happens near the end of a round when a player is desperate to get even.

8) STABLEFORD

People love this because, in classic scoring, you never get penalized for blow-up holes.

Here’s how it’s scored:

• Bogey – 1 point
• Par – 2 points
• Birdie – 4 points
• Eagle – 8 points for an eagle

A variation some play is to subtract points for double bogeys, but it sort of goes against the nature of Stableford, where the emphasis is on rewarding the positive, not penalizing the negative.

9) LAS VEGAS

In Las Vegas, you split your foursome into two teams that compete against each other. But instead of better ball or combined scores, the team takes the two scores and combines the digits to make the lowest possible number.

Here’s an example. Lets say on a hole your make a 4 and your partner makes a 5. The score for that hole is 45 (not 54). If the other team makes two 5s, that score is 55 and the first team just won 10 points.

A word of caution. It’s very easy to get way down (or up) in this format, so keep the monetary value of points at a reasonable level.

Hint: It’s advantageous to spread birdies and eagles apart between players on the same team, so that you get the maximum benefit from the 18 holes.