Stop Doing Math at the Bar
Settle Up Golf tracks every bet on this page, calculates every payout, and tells you exactly who owes what — so you can focus on your game.
Every popular golf side game and betting format in one place. Compare them side-by-side, find the right one for your group, and stop arguing about who owes who at the bar.
Browse the full list, sorted by category. Tap any game to see full rules, scoring examples, and handicap details. Need a quick payout? Use the free Nassau, Skins, Wolf, Vegas, or Calcutta payout calculator.
| Game | Players | Complexity | Handicap-friendly | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nassau | 2–4 | Easy | Yes | Standard front/back/overall |
| Skins | 2–8 | Easy | Yes | Carryovers + drama |
| Wolf | 3–5 | Medium | Yes | Strategic foursome |
| Match Play | 2–4 | Easy | Yes | Hole-by-hole rivalry |
| Sixes (6-6-6) | 4 | Medium | Yes | Rotating partners |
| Vegas | 4 | Medium | Yes | Big swings, big stakes |
| Nines (5-3-1) | 3 | Medium | Yes | Threesomes only |
| Bingo Bango Bongo | 2–4 | Easy | Yes | Mixed-skill groups |
| Snake | 2–8 | Easy | N/A | 3-putt penalty side game |
| Stroke Play (with bets) | 2–8 | Easy | Yes | Lowest total wins |
| Stableford | 1–8 | Medium | Yes | Forgives bad holes |
| Best Ball | 4 | Easy | Yes | 2v2 team format |
| Shamble | 2–4 | Medium | Yes | Best drive, individual finish |
| Scramble | 2–4 | Easy | Yes | Charity events, all-skill |
| Calcutta | 4–80+ | Hard | Yes | Tournament auction pool |
| Ryder Cup / Team Cup | 8–24 | Hard | Yes | Multi-group team event |
| Multi-Day Tournament | 4–80+ | Hard | Yes | Cumulative scoring across rounds |
| Member-Member / Guest | 4–80+ | Medium | Yes | Pairs tournament format |
| Birdie Pool | 2–50+ | Medium | Yes | Season-long collect-18 |
| PGA Tour Pool | 2–50+ | Medium | N/A | Major championship draft |
| Blind Scoring | 3–4 | Easy | Yes | Missing player workaround |
These are wagers you layer on top of a normal round of golf. Pick one or stack two or three together.
The default golf bet. Three separate matches in one round: front 9, back 9, and overall 18. Each match is its own dollar amount. "Presses" let a losing side double the bet on the remaining holes. Works as straight stroke comparison or match play. Easy to track on paper, easier in an app.
Lowest score on a hole wins the skin (the pre-set dollar value). If two or more players tie for low, the skin carries over to the next hole, doubling — sometimes tripling — the stakes. The carryover dynamic keeps every hole alive and creates big swings late in the round.
Each hole, one player is the Wolf. After watching the others tee off, the Wolf either picks a partner for that hole or declares "Lone Wolf" and plays solo against the rest for double points. The Wolf role rotates each hole. Strategic, social, and the best foursome game ever invented.
Three points per hole, one for each: first ball on the green (Bingo), closest to the pin once everyone's on (Bango), first to hole out (Bongo). Order of play matters more than handicap — high-handicappers can compete because the points reward sequence not score.
A penalty-only side game. Three-putt and you're "holding the snake." You hold it until the next player three-putts. Whoever has the snake at the end of the round pays the agreed amount. Simple, brutal, and turns every green into a moment.
Formats where two or more players combine into a side and play against another side.
Hole-by-hole scoring. Win the hole, you go up one. The match ends when one side leads by more holes than remain. Can be played 1-vs-1 (singles), 2-vs-2 best ball, or as multiple paired matches in one group. The format that rewards aggressive play and forgives a single bad hole.
Two-person team where each player plays their own ball, but the team only counts the lower score on each hole. Often confused with Scramble (where the team picks one shot and everyone plays from there). Best Ball is more individual; Scramble is more collaborative.
Hybrid. All players tee off, the team picks the best drive, then each plays their own ball from there for the rest of the hole. Combines the pressure-relief of a shared tee shot with the individual skill of a stroke-play approach.
Foursome only. Three 6-hole segments, partners rotate every six holes so every player teams with every other player for one segment. Best ball within each segment. The game everyone plays with everyone — no one gets stuck losing all day.
Two pairs combine their hole scores into a 2-digit number (lower first). Lowest team number wins the hole. Birdies flip the opponent's number — turning a 45 into a 54 — which is where the "Vegas" name comes from. Big swings, big stakes, instant blowouts.
Threesome only. Each hole has 9 points to award based on score: 5 to lowest, 3 to middle, 1 to highest. Ties split points (4-4-1 if two tie for low, 3-3-3 if all three tie). The cleanest competitive format for three players.
Three formats, side by side. Use this comparison if your group is debating which to play for a tournament round, charity event, or just a regular Saturday morning.
Multi-group event structures with leaderboards and prize pools.
Players or teams are auctioned off before the tournament. The auction proceeds become the prize pool, paid out by finishing position. Bidders compete to find undervalued teams. The most exciting tournament betting format in golf — and the one that needs an app to track properly.
Two teams compete across multiple rounds and matchup types — singles, foursomes, four-ball. Points awarded per match win. The format used by the actual Ryder Cup and adapted endlessly for club events, member-guest weekends, and friend-group trips.
How to score, seed, and run a tournament across two, three, or four rounds. Cumulative scoring, daily side games, handicap consistency across courses, and how to layer a Day-1-seeded Calcutta on top.
The two pairs-format club events that anchor every season. How they're scored, how pairings handle handicap differences, and how to combine pair best-ball with skins or a Calcutta for the full member-guest experience.
Games that run across many rounds, not just one.
Members pay an entry fee to chase one birdie on every hole at one home course over the season. First to collect all 18 wins the pot. If no one finishes, the highest count at the deadline wins. Net or gross scoring options.
Run a pool around a major championship or weekly tour event — draft a team of pros, survive a cut, or pick winners straight up. Standard payout structures, draft formats, and how to handle weather delays and WDs.
The math underneath every betting game.
Index vs course handicap vs playing handicap, how strokes apply to the hardest holes, and how handicaps adjust net scoring in Nassau, skins, match play, and team formats. Read this first if you're new to net betting.
Points per hole instead of total strokes — bogey 1, par 2, birdie 3, eagle 5. The format that rewards risk-taking and limits the damage of one blowup hole. Used in tournaments, year-long pools, and as a side-game scoring layer.
The default scoring method — count every shot, lowest total wins. How to layer side bets, presses, and team formats on top of plain stroke play.
What to do when a player drops out mid-round, doesn't show up, or you're playing as a threesome but need a fourth ghost score. Net par is the standard convention.
Three questions to ask before the round:
Most groups end up running two or three games at once: a Nassau for the structural bet, Skins for hole-by-hole drama, and maybe a side Wolf or Snake for fun. Tracking three simultaneous games on paper is where it falls apart at the bar — that's the problem Settle Up Golf was built to solve.
Nassau. It's been the standard golf bet for over 100 years because it splits one round into three competitions (front 9, back 9, total 18), which keeps everyone interested even after a bad nine. Skins is a close second.
Vegas creates the biggest swings — birdies flip the opponent's number, so a single hole can multiply the bet 10x. Wolf with the Lone Wolf option doubles points on the captain's call. Calcutta makes the auction itself the high-stakes moment.
Total each player's wins and losses across all bets, then net the totals. With three or four games running, this is where pen-and-paper falls apart. Apps that track every bet automatically — like Settle Up Golf — calculate the net at the end and show exactly who pays whom.
Casual social betting between friends is legal in most U.S. states under "social gambling" exemptions. Calcuttas and large pools enter a gray area in some jurisdictions — always check your state and local laws and never advertise pools as public events. Apps that track scoring and payouts (without processing money) are universally legal.
Settle Up Golf tracks every bet on this page, calculates every payout, and tells you exactly who owes what — so you can focus on your game.