Wolf golf game: pick a partner, go lone, and settle the card

A wolf golf game needs four players and a price written down before the first tee. It is a series of one-hole matches. The teams change every hole because the wolf chooses them after seeing drives. Nobody is married to a partner for the round.

The hole uses best ball. Each player finishes their own ball. A side of two counts the lower of its two scores. A lone wolf counts their own score against the single best score among the other three. The money comes from the other players. PvP gambling is the wider name for that kind of contest. The course keeps nothing unless the group has agreed to a fee.

Sports betting on this site is a set of explainers, and this page is the arithmetic, not a tip and not legal advice. The other golf cards on this shelf are skins, a Nassau, side bets, and bingo bango bongo. Adults 18+. Cash games between friends still depend on local law.

Say the agreement on the first tee. The version below is one complete card. Other clubs use other multipliers. If you want those, write them down before anyone hits.

Freeze a tee order for the whole round. Honors do not change it. In this card the order is Ana, Ben, Cal, Dee, and it repeats. The wolf is the player who tees off first on that hole. Hole 1 is Ana, hole 2 is Ben, hole 3 is Cal, hole 4 is Dee, hole 5 is Ana again. Ana and Ben are wolf on five holes. Cal and Dee are wolf on four. That is what 18 divided by 4 leaves over. Next time you play, start the order with Ben so the extra holes move.

The wolf hits first. After each of the other three drives, the wolf says "take" or "pass" before the next player tees off. Take means that player is the partner for the hole, the teams are set, and the choice cannot be reopened. Pass means that drive is gone forever. The wolf may not come back to it after seeing a better one.

Pass all three and the wolf is lone: one ball against the best ball of the other three. The wolf may also declare lone before anyone else hits. That is the same 1-versus-3 match at the same double price. A house rule sometimes called a blind or a pig pays a third step up for an early declaration. This card leaves that third step off.

A divorce rule, where the chosen partner may refuse and send the wolf out alone, is also off. The partner who is picked plays on that side.

Best ball is the lower score, not the sum. Ana makes 6 and her partner makes 4. That side is a 4. The other side makes 5 and 5. That side is a 5. The 4 wins. If both sides' best balls are 4, the hole pushes and nobody pays.

The price on this card:

• Partner hole: each loser pays $2 to each winner. Two losers and two winners means each winner is up $4 and each loser is down $4. Eight dollars move.
• Lone-wolf hole: the stake is $4 a head. If the wolf's score beats the best of the three, each of the three pays the wolf $4. The wolf is up $12. If the wolf ties that best ball, it is a push. If the wolf loses, the wolf pays $4 to each of the three.

One partner hole, so the unit is obvious. Ana is wolf and takes Cal. Ana 6, Cal 4, Ben 5, Dee 5. Ana and Cal are a 4. Ben and Dee are a 5. Ben pays $2 to Ana and $2 to Cal. Dee does the same. One lone hole. Ana is alone and makes 6. Cal makes 4. Ana pays Cal $4, Ben $4, and Dee $4.

Gross scores, no strokes. If you want handicap holes, name them before the round and apply each stroke before you compare best balls. Peer to peer sports betting turns on the same habit: the settlement rule exists before the event, because the counterparty is a person.

Ana, Ben, Cal, and Dee play 18 holes on that agreement. Three holes are enough to see the decisions. The table is the whole card. The number of dollars is what the losers hand the winners. A push moves nothing.

Hole 1. Ana is wolf and finds the fairway. Ben's drive is the one she wants, so she takes Ben before Cal hits. Cal and Dee are the other side. Best ball on Ana and Ben is 4. Best ball on Cal and Dee is 5. Cal and Dee each pay $2 to Ana and $2 to Ben.

Hole 2. Ben is wolf. He passes Ana, passes Cal, and passes Dee. He is lone. Ben makes 4. The best of the other three is 5. Ana, Cal, and Dee each pay Ben $4.

Hole 5. Ana is wolf again, passes all three, and is lone. She makes 6. Cal makes 4. Ana pays $4 to Ben, $4 to Cal, and $4 to Dee.

The other holes are scored the same way. "With" means a partner was taken. "Lone" means 1 versus 3. "Field" means the other three beat the lone wolf.

Ten decisive partner holes move $8 each, which is $80. Five lone holes move $12 each, which is $60. Three holes push. The card moves $140.

Ana is down $12. Ben is up $20. Cal is up $12. Dee is down $20. Those four nets sum to zero. Add them on the back of the card before anyone opens a wallet.

Read this on the first tee. A blank line means that bet is off.

• Four names, and the tee order, including who leads next week so five wolf holes do not stick to the same two players.
• Partner price and lone price. This card is $2 and $4. A blind triple is off unless the card says it is on.
• Best ball, gross, and a push when the best balls match. Say what a conceded hole counts as.
• Whether a picked partner may refuse. This card says no.
• Who marks the wolf, the partner, and the two best balls before the group leaves the green.
• A ceiling: the most one player can lose today. Lone holes are $12 a hole. Five of them, all lost, are $60 before any partner holes.
• The stake sits inside a gambling budget chosen before the round, not after hole 17.
• Adults 18+. If the card starts to feel like chasing, stop adding bets. Responsible gambling is the limit, including a game that is "only a few dollars."

The pick is the only decision that waits for a drive, and it waits under the rule above.

Most friendly wolves are gross, because a stroke on the wrong hole changes who the wolf should have picked. If you play net, list the holes that get a stroke and apply it before best ball. The list is the agreement. Do not invent a course rating beside the green.

A player who is out of a hole may concede it. That concession is a loss for the side. Picking up with no concession leaves the best ball unknown. Finish the ball or concede it.

Keep one card. Mark the wolf, the partner or the word "lone," and the winning side. Betting with friends online gets messy when the only record is a chat message after the result. Write the hole before you leave the green.

A 50-50 raffle pays a drawn ticket. A wolf hole pays a best-ball result. Settle the card you wrote. A captain told the teams before the round is a different game. The wolf golf game is the pick, made in order, with a pass that sticks.

This foursome has no house. The $140 moves from losers to winners. A fee appears only if the group agreed that someone would skim the card. They did not.

Jackpot and Coinflip on PVPspinArena take 5% of the pot. An equivalent pot is the pile of dollars a hole actually moved. Five percent of $8 is $0.40. Five percent of $12 is $0.60. Five percent of $140 is $7. The golfers here do not pay that $7. A pot of the same dollars would.

House edge is the share a game keeps. A fee on a pot is that share, taken up front. Coinflip is a hashed 50/50 between two players, and the fee comes off the pot. Roulette on this site is a 33-slot house game. The wheel is the counterparty. A wolf is a person who just watched three drives.

PVPspinArena does not book a wolf golf game and does not pay a best ball. Adults 18+.