Golf Betting Games: Wolf, Skins, Nassau, Vegas and More

Quick answer: The golf betting games most groups play are Wolf (rotating one-versus-three, the Wolf picks a partner after the tee shots or goes alone), Skins (one skin per hole to the outright low score, ties carry over), Nassau (three match-play bets in one round, front nine, back nine and overall, with presses) and Vegas (two-player teams, each hole scored as a two-digit number built from both scores, with a flip when someone makes birdie). Bingo Bango Bongo, Hammer and Snake are the common add-ons. Pick by group size first: Nassau and Skins for two or three, Wolf and Vegas for four, Skins or Bingo Bango Bongo for more. Then agree the unit, the handicap strokes and the house rules before anyone tees off.

In this post, WhysGuy will cover:

• A comparison table so you can pick a game on the first tee.
• Wolf, Skins and Nassau in short, with a link to the full guide for each.
• Vegas in full, including the flip rule and a worked nine-hole scorecard.
• Bingo Bango Bongo, Hammer and Snake, briefly.
• A payout table that shows what a $1 unit actually costs in each game.
• Which game fits which group, how handicaps work, and the mistakes that start arguments.

Golf Betting Games Compared

Every game below runs alongside a normal round. You still play your own ball and post your own score. The game just decides who buys the drinks.

If your group is playing a team event rather than a money game, that is a format question, not a betting one. Golf scramble rules covers the outing format and scramble vs best ball sorts out the two team formats everyone mixes up. Most of the games below sit on the best-ball side of that line: everyone plays their own ball.

Wolf

Wolf is the game that fixes fixed partners. One player, the Wolf, tees off first on each hole and then watches the other three hit in order. After each tee shot the Wolf can take that player as a partner, but the pick locks the moment the next player hits. Pass on all three and the Wolf plays the hole alone against the other three. Best ball against best ball decides the hole, and points are paid to the winning side: a partnered win pays the least, a lone wolf pays more, and a blind wolf (declared before anyone hits) pays the most.

The rotation gives everyone the same number of turns as the Wolf, and the common rule that the player with the fewest points is the Wolf on 17 and 18 builds a comeback into the last two holes.

The full points table for 3, 4 and 5 players, a worked 18-hole scorecard and the lone wolf strategy are in our Wolf golf game guide.

Skins

One skin on every hole. The lowest score wins it outright. If two or more players tie for low, nobody wins and the skin carries to the next hole, where two are now at stake. A quiet run of ties builds a pot, and one clean par can collect four holes' worth at once.

Two rules to settle before you start: whether a carried pot needs to be validated (winning the next hole outright, or halving it) and whether skins are played gross or net. Net skins with the full handicap difference is the version that keeps a 6 and an 18 in the same game.

The validation rules, net skins, a worked 18-hole scorecard and the payout are in our skins game guide.

Nassau

A Nassau is three separate bets in one round: the front nine, the back nine, and the overall eighteen. Each is its own match, and each is for the same amount. A "$5 Nassau" means $5 on each, so $15 is the most in play before any presses.

A press is a new bet, for the same amount, that starts on the next hole and runs to the end of that nine. The side that is behind usually calls it, most often when 2 down, and some groups make it automatic. Presses are how a $15 round turns into $30 or more, so the press rule is the one to agree before the first tee.

The press conventions, where the handicap strokes go, a worked scorecard with three presses and a payout table at $2, $5 and $10 are in our Nassau golf bet guide.

Vegas

Vegas is a two-versus-two game with fixed teams, and the reason people remember it is the scoring.

How a Vegas hole is scored

1. Both players on a team play the hole. Say A makes 4 and B makes 5.
2. Combine the two scores into one number, lower score first. A's 4 and B's 5 make 45. A 3 and a 6 make 36. A 5 and a 5 make 55.
3. Do the same for the other team. C makes 4, D makes 6: 46.
4. The difference is the points for the hole. 46 minus 45 is 1 point to team AB.
5. Run a single points total for the round. Points are worth a set amount each, and the team behind at the end pays the difference.

Because the lower score goes first, the low ball carries most of the weight. A team that makes 4 and 8 (48) is only three points worse than 4 and 5 (45). A team that makes 6 and 6 (66) is a long way behind either. Vegas rewards one good ball and punishes two bad ones.

The flip

The flip is where the swings come from. If a player makes a birdie (or better), the opposing team's number is reversed so the higher score goes first. A team that made 4 and 5 is normally 45. If an opponent birdied the hole, that team is now 54 for the hole. Against the birdie team's 35, the difference is 19 points instead of 10.

House rules vary on the details. Some groups only flip on a birdie against par, some also flip for an eagle on any hole and count it double, and some cap any single score at 9 so that a blow-up hole cannot produce a 410. Name your version on the first tee.

A worked nine-hole Vegas scorecard

Teams AB and CD. Points shown from AB's side, so a minus is CD ahead. Flip rule: a birdie flips the other team's number.

CD win the nine by 7 points. Look at what moved it: two birdies, A's on hole 4 and C's on hole 7, were worth 19 points each because of the flip, and D's 8 on hole 8 cost 13 on its own. The other six holes together were worth 24. That is the shape of every Vegas round, a few holes decide it, which is why the unit is usually smaller than you would use for skins. At a quarter a point this nine settles for $1.75 per player. At a dollar a point it is $7, and a full eighteen with a couple more flips can run several times that.

Vegas strategy in two lines

Protect the low ball. If your partner is already in the fairway with a short iron in, the other player's job is to make a stress-free bogey, not chase a birdie into trouble. And on the holes where an opponent is looking at a birdie putt, the second ball on your team matters more than usual, because a flip turns your 47 into a 74.

Three More Games Worth Knowing

Bingo Bango Bongo

Three points on every hole, and none of them go to the low score. Bingo is the first ball on the green. Bango is closest to the pin once every ball is on the green. Bongo is the first ball in the hole. Points pay at a set unit at the end.

The catch is that the order of play has to be strict, farthest from the hole first, or the game breaks. A short hitter who is away can land the green first for a bingo while the long hitter waits. That is the point: it is the best money game for a group with a wide spread of ability, because the high handicapper can win points without ever winning a hole. It is also slow, so it suits an empty course more than a Saturday morning.

Hammer

Hammer is not a game on its own. It is a doubling rule you bolt onto a match, a skins hole, or a Vegas hole. At any moment a side can call "hammer", which doubles the bet on the hole. The other side either accepts, and plays on for double, or declines and forfeits the hole at the current value. The side that accepted can then hammer back later on the same hole to double it again.

It rewards nerve as much as golf. Hammer off the tee when your drive is in play and theirs is not; decline when you are in the trees with a wedge-only escape. Groups that play hammer usually agree a cap per hole, because three hammers on one par 4 turns a $2 game into a $16 hole.

Snake

Snake is a putting side bet. Whoever three-putts first takes the snake. The next player to three-putt takes it off them. Whoever is holding the snake when the round ends pays, either a flat amount to each player or an amount that grows with every three-putt during the round. The escalating version is the one that produces the six-footer on 18 that nobody wants to hit.

The Payout Table

The number in the game's name is a unit, not a total, and the unit means something different in each game. This is what a $1 unit is in play for, and the most one hole can cost you. Foursome assumed.

Read the Vegas row twice. It is the reason Vegas is played at a quarter when the same group plays skins at a dollar.

Which Game for Your Group?

• Two players. Nassau, with the press rule agreed. Skins head to head if you want something simpler, with Hammer on top if you want it sharper.
• Three players. Wolf works with three (the Wolf takes one partner or goes alone), and Skins is a natural three-ball game. Bingo Bango Bongo also plays well with three.
• Four players. Wolf if the group wants the teams to change every hole. Vegas if the teams are set and the group is close in ability. A four-ball Nassau (better ball, match play) if you want the quietest version.
• Five or more. Skins, played net. Wolf has a five-player version but the leftover holes need a rule. Bingo Bango Bongo scales too, but the pace gets slow.
• A wide handicap spread. Bingo Bango Bongo, net skins, or net Wolf. Avoid Vegas at gross; the low ball rule means the strongest team wins almost every hole.
• A company outing or a big group. That is a scramble, not a money game. See golf scramble rules.

Handicaps in Golf Betting Games

Almost every game above can be played net, and should be if the group is not within a few shots of each other. The usual method is to subtract the lowest course handicap in the group from everyone else's and give each player that many strokes, taken on the hardest holes by stroke index. A 14 playing a 6 gets 8 strokes, on the 8 hardest handicap holes. Some groups play a percentage of the difference in team games, because a best-ball format already helps the higher handicap.

Two things trip groups up. First, you need a course handicap for the tees you are playing, not your index. Our free golf handicap calculator does the conversion, and how to calculate your golf handicap walks through where the number comes from. Second, know which holes each player strokes on before the game starts. In Wolf a partner who gets a shot on the hole is worth more than their drive suggests, and in skins a stroke hole is where a high handicapper takes a skin off a par.

Common Mistakes

• Not naming the unit. "Five dollar Nassau" and "five dollar Vegas" are very different rounds. Say what the unit is and what it applies to.
• Skipping the house rules. Validation in skins, the press rule in a Nassau, the flip and the cap in Vegas, the blind wolf limit in Wolf. Each one changes the money. Confirm before the first tee shot.
• Playing Vegas at gross with a wide spread. The low ball carries the number, so the better team wins nearly every hole. Play net or pick another game.
• Loose order of play in Bingo Bango Bongo. If the farthest player does not hit first, the bingo and bango points are meaningless.
• Using an index instead of a course handicap. Strokes come from the course handicap for the tees you are playing. Run it through the handicap calculator first.
• Keeping it in your head. Four players, two games and a press is more arithmetic than anyone wants to carry for four hours. Write it on the card or keep it in the app.

Keep the Round and the Bets in One Place

The WhyGolf app has a bet-tracking scorecard alongside its GPS, so the group's game and everyone's own round can sit on the same phone. Wolf is built into the bet-tracking scorecard already. For skins, a Nassau or Vegas, use the scorecard to keep every player's hole-by-hole scores and settle from the card at the end instead of a napkin. The GPS covers the yardages on the holes where the money is riding on a par, and the round still posts to your handicap.

Key Takeaways

• Four games cover most groups. Wolf (rotating teams), Skins (carryovers), Nassau (three match-play bets plus presses) and Vegas (two-digit team scores with a flip).
• Pick by group size. Nassau or Skins for two, Wolf or Vegas for four, net Skins or Bingo Bango Bongo for five or more or a wide handicap spread.
• The unit is not the total. A $1 Vegas point and a $1 skin are different money. Check the payout table before you agree a stake.
• Handicaps make the games fair. Course handicap, not index, and know the stroke holes before you start.
• Keep score somewhere other than your head. The WhyGolf app has a bet-tracking scorecard and GPS, and Wolf is built in.