Gambling on the golf course - what’s ur favorite game? (1 Viewer)

Goldfish

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golf season is in full swing now. I love to gamble on the course. So, I would love to hear about what games people are playing on the course? I will start as I have a couple great games - First, GOLF POKER since it is relevant To this forum. The only issue with this game is that everyone in the 4some needs to be at a similar skill level to make it fair.

Summary of the rules - 2 9 hole hands (cards to be distributed on the 19th hole while drinking). Play for whatever stakes u want (say 10 bucks per 9, 40 bucks in each pot). for each 9, u get a card for doing something good (Drive in the fairway, on the green in regulation, one putt or less, sandy, a par). U get 2 cards for a birdie or better (net birdie if stroking). U get a card taken away for a 3 putt, penalty or not finishing the hole. Depending on the skill level u can ease up on the things that get a card taken away (ie penalties and not finishing the hole). on the 19th hole u deal the number of cards everyone gets, best hand wins the pot For the 9 hole. We typically play the midnight version of flipping - flip until u beat the hi hand - more drama. we also add wild cards for even more drama. For the second 9, repeat.

lets hear what people are doing on the course?
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We use to play all of these:

Bingo Bango Bongo - A golf game, in which each round of play consists of points being awarded to the first player to land their ball on the green, the player whose ball is closest to the hole (after all of the balls are on the green), and the first player to hit their ball into the hole.

$10 Arnie’s - If you hit a tree, but your ball ends up on the fairway, everyone pays you. I guess Arnold Palmer was known for this. I don’t know.

$5 sand penalties
 
Most common game we play is dots. Usually $5 dots for skins, birdies, sandys, closest to pin.

My favorite game has no name(we just call it partners) probably best with more skilled golfers or at least would have to be adjusted for high handicappers. Both balls count every hole. If team A makes two pars on hole 1 (Par 4) their score Would be 44 team B makes par and bogey their score is 45 and they are down a point. Each point is $1. This game can have huge swings! Two birdies (33) against two bogeys (55) and the game changes quickly...
 
I haven't bet a lot on the golf course but I have played a game we called "Bad Ball" (I think it may go by another name too). For 4 players, you play 2v2. The way you play is after the first team hits both their tee shots, the other team gets to choose which ball they will play out the hole with - that is, the other team is choosing the "bad ball" for them to play out. Then the second team tees off and the first team chooses their ball to play out the hole. After the tee shot is just simple alternate shot for each team. The second shot is played by the player on the team whose ball was not chosen.

I can't find it but I remember reading (or maybe watching) Negreanu explain how he plays some sort of poker golf betting game. I could be wrong, but I think it was something like each player starts with the same "stack size" like $100, and then you can make bets on your shots. For example, "I bet $10 I will make this 15' putt". Anybody else remember this?
 
Most common game we play is dots. Usually $5 dots for skins, birdies, sandys, closest to pin.

My favorite game has no name(we just call it partners) probably best with more skilled golfers or at least would have to be adjusted for high handicappers. Both balls count every hole. If team A makes two pars on hole 1 (Par 4) their score Would be 44 team B makes par and bogey their score is 45 and they are down a point. Each point is $1. This game can have huge swings! Two birdies (33) against two bogeys (55) and the game changes quickly...
We play this game as well! I was saving this game for later. Haha. We call the game VEGAS. This is our favorite game BUT you are missing the best part of the game. as u know the low score always goes first To make up the team score. However, If the one team birdies the other teams score flips so if the other teams score was 46, it becomes 64! If a team double birdies the other teams score FLIPS AND DOUBLES so if they got at 46 it becomes a 128 (64 x2). the game is great because u can make a point any amount - we have played at all levels. vegas Is the best game.
 
Bingo Bango Bongo - A golf game, in which each round of play consists of points being awarded to the first player to land their ball on the green, the player whose ball is closest to the hole (after all of the balls are on the green), and the first player to hit their ball into the hole.

This one sounds like fun, but I think I could see some issues with the "first player to land their ball on the green". What if two players are very similar yards away from the green? Who hits first? Or is it like a race and you are both hitting at the same time? Just curious.
 
This one sounds like fun, but I think I could see some issues with the "first player to land their ball on the green". What if two players are very similar yards away from the green? Who hits first? Or is it like a race and you are both hitting at the same time? Just curious.
Away hits first. There is strategy. You play this when you don’t care about your scores. :D
 
This one sounds like fun, but I think I could see some issues with the "first player to land their ball on the green". What if two players are very similar yards away from the green? Who hits first? Or is it like a race and you are both hitting at the same time? Just curious.

edit: @Saoliver beat me to it
The player who is furthest away is always up next. If they are similar you just have to decide who is “out” and go from there.





One of the things we like to do is gamble on putts. My group of friends is pretty far apart in terms of skill so playing straight up strokes or something is not going to work, we’ll keep track of putts along with score and low number of putts wins. It makes it fun because if you’re ball isn’t tracking to be close you start yelling for it to get off the green so you don’t have to have a long putt. It’s glorious when your buddies ball juuuuust sneaks onto the green by an inch or two and you are about the same distance away but a few inches off the green. :D


We also for a few years played or own scramble league where we would play a foursome every week and rotate partners every 9 holes. Winning team would get a point and we kept track all summer. We would play a regular scramble round until we got to the green and then both players would have to putt from that spot and both play their ball out until everybody was holed. It made the course par meaningless because at the very least if you were on the green it was a minimum of two putts to get in (both players hit their own ball from the same spot and both sink it), but that way we could play scramble but also have everybody betting for putts. We made the rule that if one ball was on the green you had to take that one, again it made it fun when one guy would hit into the green and be just off fifteen feet from the hole but then his partner hits and puts it on the green 60’ away. Lol people think you are crazy when you are yelling for a ball to get off the green.
 
1st tee shot of the day, the shortest distance ball buys the 1st round of beer at the halfway house and on #10 we do it again.
 
Not typically a gambler on the course (medium handicap golfer) but when I want to spice it up i usually go with one of the following (I order from most frequent to least frequent)

1. Closest to the pin on each par 3 ($5 per Man per hole) and longest drive (must be in the fairway) on each of for four pre-selected par 4s or 5s (Also $5 per man per hole)

2. $10 Nassau (usually when playing in a twosome)-No presses

3. $40 skins game (pretty rare to play this - maybe once or twice a season)
Pricing per man/per hole
$1 per hole 1-6
$2 per hole 7-12
$3 per hole 13, 14, 15
$4 per hole 16 and 17
$5 for hole 18
 
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$1/hole skins (All holes weight equally and it carries over for ties)
$5 best front, best back, and best overall score
$5 closest to the hole in all par 3’s.

Sometimes it’s only 4 of us, and sometimes we get 8 players in 2 groups. There’s also the occasional side bet between players in the group. Mostly done to keep the game interesting between us hacks lol.
 
3 putt poker is an awesome game with a bunch of people.
 
Nassau every wednesday
Press 2 down at anytime begins new match
We also play poker
Each player starts with $10 in and 5 cards
Lost ball, sand, water, 3 putt extra dollar in pot.
1 putt, birdie, extra card,
We deal 5 cards to all than extras. Turn over 1 at a time winner takes all, best 5
 
Betting on golf is the craziest thing. It always baffled me how a guy could never make a freaking putt to tie a hole and make a skin carryover, but if he had a put5 to win the dough, the mf never missed. Also sweating some $16 putt after just betting $500 on a football game seemed too bizarre. Don’t let me start with betting golf. I can’t sit there and root for people to miss putts....it’s unnatural. Rant over, sorry . Contest coming though !
 
Beer-a-hole. Shotgun style. Is there another way to golf?
 
Just received this email from my local golf shop.
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"VEGAS GOLF
Available in a 12 or 19-piece version, the Vegas Golf poker chip game is the No.1 selling golf game worldwide.

Does it take you more than one shot to get out of the sand trap? You’ll get the ‘Grave Digger’ chip. Are you the furthest away from the pin on a par-3? You’ll get the ‘Beer’ chip, meaning it’s your round the next time the beer cart comes by!"

https://blog.golftown.com/en/golf-tips/great-golf-games-for-beginners/
 

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