Golf side bets: fifteen games to price before the first tee

A side bet is a second game on top of the walk. You still hole out. The bet only cares about one fact: who three-putted, who got up and down from the sand, who was closest on a par 3, who holds a rabbit. The fact has to be visible. If the group cannot point at it, it is not ready to be worth money.

The unit on the worked card is $2, and each of the other players pays the winner. In a foursome that moves $6. A carried greenie worth two dots moves $12. Write "per player" or "one pot" before you start. They are different games that both get called two dollars.

These are player-versus-player bets. PvP gambling is the general form. The course is not the counterparty, and a sportsbook is not pricing your sandy. Sports betting here is a library of explainers. Adults 18+. Nothing on this page is a tip or legal advice. Friendly cash still depends on where you play.

Fifteen names can fill a card past what anyone meant to lose. The checklist is what keeps a $2 dot from sitting beside three other games you forgot were on.

Games one through four already have long rules of their own. The notes here are only the shape.

A Nassau is three match-play bets: front nine, back nine, and all 18. A press is another bet on the holes still left, usually when someone is 2 down. It sits beside the original.

A skins game pays the unique low score on a hole. A tie carries. The last hole needs a split, a playoff, or a dead carry, chosen in advance.

Wolf rotates a captain who takes a partner or goes alone. The hole is best ball. Lone costs more because one ball has to beat three.

Bingo bango bongo, on the course, puts three points on a hole: first on the green, closest once everyone is on, and first in the cup. Order of play is the game. A full round is 54 points.

The cash example later is none of these four. It is greenies, sandies, and the snake.

Game five is the snake. Three strokes with the putter, once the ball is on the green, is a three-putt. A chip from the fringe is not a putt. You take the snake from whoever had it. After 18, the holder pays each other player the unit. If nobody three-putts, nobody pays. Some groups pay every three-putt on the spot. This page uses the rolling version.

Game six, a sandy, is an up-and-down from a bunker for par or better. The ball has to have been in the bunker, and the score on the hole has to be par or better. Holing the bunker shot counts. A bunker shot, a chip, and two putts for bogey does not. This card counts any bunker, fairway or greenside. A group that wants greenside only should say so, or a fairway bunker will start a debate you already lost.

Game seven, a greenie, is closest to the hole on a par 3, with the tee shot on the green. This card's par 3s are holes 3, 7, 12, and 16, which is a layout for the example, not a real course's card. You must then make par or better or the greenie does not pay. It carries to the next par 3 and adds one. If the last par 3 fails validation, this card lets that greenie die. Hole 16 on the example validates, so the death rule is unused.

Game eight, dots, is the bundle. Each event you listed is one dot, worth the unit, paid by each other player. A dot that is not on the list is a compliment. The example's dots are greenies and sandies, plus the snake on its own line. Barkies can be dots. They are off until written down.

Peer to peer sports betting has the matching problem. The grade has to be knowable. "Closest" means a measurement once the balls are at rest, not a vote from the tee.

The rabbit moves to the player who just won a hole outright. A half leaves it where it was. The holder after 9 wins the front rabbit. The holder after 18 wins the back one. Each is paid by the other players at the unit. It stays unclaimed until someone wins a hole. That is game nine.

Sixes chops the round into holes 1–6, 7–12, and 13–18. Each block is its own match for one unit. That is game ten.

A hammer doubles the price of a hole. Say it before a swing. The others accept, and the hole is doubled, or the hammering player concedes the undoubled stake. An accepted hammer can be hammered back, so $2 becomes $4 and then $8. It is not on the dollar card below. That is game eleven.

Vegas turns a team into a two-digit number. The lower score is the tens digit. A 4 and a 5 is 45. The other team shoots 5 and 6, which is 56. The lower number wins the difference. This explanation caps the hole at $5, so the high team pays $5, not $11. A 10 or worse can be an automatic loss of the cap. Agree the cap or skip Vegas. That is game twelve.

A barkie is a ball that hits a tree and still makes par or better. It is a dot if you list it. Off the cash card. That is game thirteen.

A round robin is three matches at once: Ana with Ben against Cal with Dee, Ana with Cal against Ben with Dee, and Ana with Dee against Ben with Cal. At $2 a match, the worst case before any press is $6. A full Nassau on each pairing multiplies that. Price one version out loud. That is game fourteen.

An Arnie, the nickname groups use, is a par or better from off the fairway. List it or it pays nothing. It is not a tour total. That is game fifteen.

A 50-50 raffle pays a drawn ticket. These games pay a ball, a putt, or a hole.

Ana, Ben, Cal, and Dee. Dots are $2, paid by each of the other three. Par 3s are 3, 7, 12, and 16. The snake is $2 to each other player at the end, held by the last three-putt.

Hole 2, Ana sandies. Each other player pays her $2. Hole 3, Ben is closest and makes par. He takes one greenie. Hole 7, Ana is closest and makes bogey, so the greenie carries. Hole 9, Cal sandies. Hole 11, Ana sandies again. Hole 12, Cal is closest and pars. The hole is worth two greenies because of the carry, so each other player pays Cal $4. Hole 15, Ben is in a bunker and makes bogey. No sandy. Hole 16, Dee is closest and makes birdie, which is better than par, so the greenie pays. Hole 18, Dee sandies.

Three-putts, in order: Cal on 1, Ana on 5, Ben on 6, Dee on 14, Ana on 17. Ana still has the snake after 18. She pays $2 to Ben, $2 to Cal, and $2 to Dee.

Greenies move $6 plus $12 plus $6, which is $24. Four sandies move $6 each, which is $24. The snake moves $6. The card moves $54.

Nets: Ana is down $6. Ben is down $6. Cal is up $10. Dee is up $2. Those four numbers sum to zero. Ana's greenies cost $8, her two sandies paid $8, and the snake cost $6. Cal's greenies net $8, his sandies wash to zero, and the snake pays him $2. Dee's greenie and sandy wash against what she paid, and the snake leaves her up $2.

Add the face value of every game you turned on. The list of fifteen is a menu, not a requirement to play all of it.

• Write the names of the bets that are actually on. Silence means off.
• The unit and who pays it. This card is $2 from each other player.
• Greenie: on the green from the tee, then par or better, or it carries. Last par 3 dies if it fails.
• Sandy: any bunker, then par or better. Bogey from the sand is zero.
• Snake: rolling three-putt, holder after 18 pays. A chip is not a putt.
• Hammer, Vegas, and a round robin are separate prices. A Vegas cap is part of the bet.
• A ceiling for the day. The junk card moves $54 in total. A Nassau plus this junk plus a hammer is a different ceiling.
• The ceiling fits a gambling budget set before the round.
• Adults 18+. Responsible gambling is the stop if dots start getting added because someone is down.

Betting with friends online still needs a record. Mark the dot on the hole where it happened. A list rebuilt in the parking lot will miss the carry.

Golf side bets of this kind have no house. Cal's $10 and Dee's $2 come from Ana and Ben. A fee appears only when the group itself appoints someone to skim the card. This group did not.

Jackpot and Coinflip take 5% of the pot. Treat the dollars that moved as the equivalent pot. Five percent of one $6 dot is $0.30. Five percent of the double greenie's $12 is $0.60. Five percent of the round's $54 is $2.70. The foursome does not pay the $2.70. A pot of $54 would.

House edge is a share kept by the game. Coinflip keeps 5% of a two-player pot and then pays the rest to the winner of a hash. Roulette on this site is a 33-slot house game. Neither one records a three-putt.

PVPspinArena does not run these golf side bets, does not hold a snake, and does not pay a sandy. Adults 18+.