Nassau Golf Bet: Rules, Presses, and How to Play

Quick answer: A Nassau is three bets in one round of golf: one on the front nine, one on the back nine, and one on the full 18. Each is its own match play contest, decided by holes won, and each is for the same stake. "$5 Nassau" means $5 on each bet, $15 in total. A press is an extra bet the losing side opens, for the same amount, that runs from the next hole to the end of that nine. Two players or two teams, gross or net with handicap strokes, and settle the three bets plus any presses on the 18th green.

In this post, WhysGuy will cover:

• The three bets and how each one runs on its own.
• Match play vs stroke play, and why match is the default.
• Presses: what one is, when you can call it, and how a press gets pressed.
• Handicaps, and where the strokes fall on the card.
• A worked 18-hole scorecard with three presses, hole by hole.
• A payout table at $2, $5 and $10 so the settling up takes a minute.
• House rules, how a Nassau compares to Wolf and skins, strategy, and common mistakes.

What Is a Nassau Bet?

The Nassau is the oldest and most common golf bet in the game, and it is popular for one reason: it gives a round three separate chances to matter. Lose the front nine badly and the back nine is a fresh start. Lose both and the overall was probably gone anyway, but you only lost three units, not a fortune.

The name comes from Nassau Country Club on Long Island, where the format was used for club matches in the early 1900s so that a heavy loss read as 3-0 instead of a lopsided margin. That is still the point. The Nassau caps how badly a bad day can go, and the press (below) is the pressure valve that lets a losing side fight back without raising the base stake.

Here is the quick reference. Everything below it is the detail.

The Three Bets: Front, Back, and Overall

The thing to get straight first is that the three bets are independent. They share the same holes but they do not share results.

• Front nine. Holes 1 through 9. Whoever wins more holes wins the front. Decided when you walk off the 9th green (or earlier, if one side is up more holes than remain).
• Back nine. Holes 10 through 18. A completely fresh match. It does not matter what happened on the front.
• Overall. All 18 holes as one match. This is the only bet the front and back both feed into, because every hole counts toward it.

A player can win the front, lose the back, and still take the overall, or lose both nines by a hole each and lose the overall by two. That happens a lot, and it is what makes the 18th hole worth something even when the back nine is already decided.

Each bet is worth the same. If you are playing a $10 Nassau, that is $10 on the front, $10 on the back, and $10 on the overall. Thirty dollars in play before anybody presses.

Match Play or Stroke Play?

Almost always match play. On each hole you compare scores: the lower score wins the hole, equal scores halve it. Keep a running tally of holes up or down, the same way a Ryder Cup match is scored, and the bet goes to whoever is up when the nine (or the 18) ends. A side that is up more holes than remain has already won, though most groups keep playing because the other two bets are still alive.

Match play is the default because it fits the Nassau's whole personality. One blow-up hole costs you one hole, not eight strokes. A double bogey on the 4th and a birdie on the 5th put you exactly where you started.

Stroke play Nassau exists: lowest total on the front wins the front, lowest on the back wins the back, lowest on 18 wins the overall. It is simpler to score, but a press makes almost no sense in stroke play, because a side that is six shots behind with four holes left has no realistic path back. If your group likes to press, play match. If it wants to just add up the card at the end, play stroke and skip the presses.

Presses: How They Work

A press is where the Nassau gets its reputation. It is a new bet, for the same stake as the original, that starts on the next hole and runs to the end of the nine you are playing. The original bet does not stop. Both run at the same time.

Say you are 2 down on the front after six holes. You press. From the 7th tee there are now two bets on the front nine:

• The original front bet, where you are 2 down with three to play.
• The press, a fresh match on holes 7, 8 and 9, all square to start.

Win two of the last three holes and you might lose the original by one and win the press by one. Money-wise that is a wash on the front, which is the whole idea. The press gives the losing side a way to get back to even without doubling the stake on everything.

The rules most groups play by:

1. A press is called by the side that is behind. You do not press when you are winning.
2. The usual trigger is 2 down. Some groups allow a press at any time you are behind, and some make it automatic at 2 down (see the house rules below). Two down is the convention because it is the point where the original bet is in real trouble.
3. A press runs to the end of the current nine. A front nine press ends on 9. A back nine press ends on 18. Presses do not carry across the turn.
4. A press can be pressed. If you go 2 down in a press, you can press the press. That opens a third bet from the next hole. This is how a $5 Nassau ends up with $40 in play by the 15th tee.
5. No press on 18 in most groups. A one-hole bet is a coin flip and it usually gets declined. Some groups allow it if both sides agree, and a few play an automatic press on 18 whenever the back is already decided. Settle it before you play.
6. The overall is rarely pressed. Some groups allow a press on the overall when a side is 2 down in it, running to 18. Most do not, because the back nine press does the same job.

One more thing that trips up new players: a press is not a double. It does not change the original bet at all. It adds a second, separate one.

Handicaps in a Nassau

A Nassau between two players of similar ability works fine at gross. When it is not close, play it net.

Net match play works like this: take the difference between the two players' course handicaps, and the higher handicap gets that many strokes. The strokes fall on specific holes, set by the stroke index on the scorecard (the column that ranks the holes 1 through 18 by difficulty). A player getting 6 strokes takes one on each of the 6 hardest-ranked holes. On those holes, their net score is their gross score minus one, and the hole is decided on net.

The World Handicap System's recommended allowances:

• Singles match play: 100 percent of the difference. A 14 playing a 6 gets 8 strokes.
• Four-ball (best ball) match play: each player uses 90 percent of their own course handicap, then the strokes are taken off the lowest player so the low man plays at scratch.

Because the strokes fall by stroke index and not by nine, the front and back bets may not get the same number of strokes. A player getting 5 strokes might take 3 of them on the front and 2 on the back, depending on how the card ranks the holes. Most scorecards alternate odd and even stroke indexes between the nines so the split is close to even, but check it, because it changes which nine a press is worth calling on.

You need a course handicap for the tees you are playing, not just an index. Our free golf handicap calculator converts your index for the course and tees, and how to calculate your golf handicap walks through the formula if you want to see where the number comes from.

A Worked 18-Hole Scorecard

Here is a full gross match play Nassau between two players, A and B, at $5 a bet, with presses called when a side is 2 down. Status columns show who is up in each bet after the hole. "AS" is all square. Presses are numbered in the order they were opened.

A few things to notice.

The front. A went 2 up on the 3rd and B pressed straight away. B then won two of the next four holes, and the press was all square walking off the 9th, so it pushed. B lost the front bet but the press cost nothing, which is exactly what a press is for.

The back. B flipped the round with wins on 10 and 11, A pressed at 2 down, and A's press was 2 up by the 14th. B pressed the press. From the 15th tee there were four bets alive: the back, the overall, press 2 and press 3. B won the back and press 3 on 17, A won the overall and press 2 on 18. Two of those bets were decided by the last hole, on a back nine that was already over.

The overall was all square on the 17th tee and A's par on 18 won it. That is the bet that keeps the last hole alive when both nines are settled.

Under the "no press on 18" rule, A could not press the back after 17, which is correct: the back was already decided.

The Payout Table

Settle each bet on its own, then net them out. For the round above, six bets were in play: the three original bets and three presses. A won the front, the overall and press 2. B won the back and press 3. Press 1 pushed.

A won three bets and B won two, so A collects one unit. In a $5 Nassau, B hands A $5 and the round is settled. Notice that the presses doubled the money in play from $15 to $30, and the net result was the same one unit it would have been without them. That is typical. Presses raise the ceiling on a round far more often than they change who wins it.

Two variants change the arithmetic:

• Team Nassau (four-ball). Two-player teams, best ball on each hole. Each player pays or collects the team result, so a $5 team Nassau means each player on the losing side pays $5 to their opposite number. Same table, paid twice.
• Holes-up payout. Some groups pay per hole of margin instead of a flat stake per bet, so winning the front 2 up at $5 a hole pays $10. It makes big margins expensive, which is the opposite of the Nassau's original point. Know which one you are in.

House Rules and Variations

Every group tunes the Nassau a little. These are the versions you will run into:

• Automatic presses. Whenever a side goes 2 down in any bet, a press opens automatically on the next hole. Nobody has to call it, and nobody can decline it. This is the fastest way to end up with six or seven bets alive, so most groups that play automatics keep the base stake small.
• Press must be accepted. The side that is ahead can decline a press. Rare among regular groups, common in a match with strangers.
• Press any time you are behind. No 2-down requirement. Encourages pressing at 1 down on the 8th, which is a sharp play when your opponent has a hard hole coming.
• Overall press. A side 2 down in the overall can press it, running to 18. Adds a fourth line to the scorecard.
• Aloha or 18 press. An automatic press on 18 covering just that hole, played by groups who want the last hole to matter regardless. Usually for the same stake, sometimes double.
• Stroke play Nassau. Lowest total on each nine and on 18. No presses.
• Greenies, sandies, birdies. Side pots for closest to the pin on par 3s, up and down from a bunker, and birdies. Not part of the Nassau but almost always played alongside it.
• Two-down automatics with a cap. Automatic presses, but never more than one press alive per nine. Keeps the automatics from spiraling.

As with every side game, the rule is not which variant is right. It is that everyone is playing the same one before the first tee shot.

Nassau vs Wolf vs Skins vs Scramble

Golfers lump these together as "games," but they answer different questions.

• Nassau is a two-sided match play bet, split into front, back and overall, with presses as the pressure valve. It is the bet for two players or two fixed pairs who want a full 18 holes of head-to-head.
• Wolf is for a foursome where the teams change every hole. The Wolf tees off first and picks a partner after seeing the drives, or goes alone. Points, not matches.
• Skins is individual and hole by hole: one skin per hole, lowest score wins it outright, ties carry over. Works with any number of players and needs no partner.
• Scramble is a team format, not a bet: one ball per team from the best shot. It is what charity outings play. Best ball, where everyone plays their own ball and the team takes the low score, is the format a team Nassau actually runs on. We break the two apart in scramble vs best ball.

If you have two players, play a Nassau. Four players who want shifting alliances, Wolf. Any number who want zero explanation, skins. A team day where nobody's bad shots count, scramble.

Strategy: When to Press

The press is the only real decision in a Nassau, so it pays to think about it before you are 2 down and annoyed.

• Press when the holes ahead suit you. A press is a fresh match on the remaining holes of the nine. If you are 2 down after the 4th and holes 5 through 9 include the par 5 you always birdie and a par 3 your opponent hates, press. If the hard holes are the ones coming, the press just doubles your exposure to them.
• Count the stroke holes. In a net Nassau, look at where the remaining strokes fall. Pressing into three holes where you get shots is a very different bet from pressing into three where you give them.
• Press early on the nine, not late. A press called at 2 down with five holes left is a real match. A press called at 2 down with two holes left needs you to win both just to break even on the pair of bets.
• When you are ahead, play the original bet. The side that is up does not press, and it should not chase the press either. Halving holes wins the original. Let the trailing player take the risks.
• Do not press to save face. The Nassau already limits the damage. A press that is really just frustration is how a $5 Nassau becomes a $40 afternoon.

The same logic works in reverse. If your opponent presses into a run of holes that favor you, that press is a gift. Take it.

Common Mistakes

• Not settling the press rule on the first tee. Optional at 2 down, automatic at 2 down, or any time behind are three different games, and "I thought we were playing automatics" is the most common argument in golf betting.
• Treating a press as a double. A press adds a new bet. It does not change the original. Both are paid separately.
• Carrying a press across the turn. Front nine presses end on 9. Full stop. The back nine starts clean.
• Pressing on the 18th. A one-hole bet is a coin flip, and most groups do not allow it. If yours does, decide it before the round, not on the 18th tee.
• Playing net without a course handicap. An index is not a course handicap. Run it through the handicap calculator for the tees you are playing before you set strokes.
• Keeping four bets in your head. By the 15th tee in the scorecard above there were four matches alive with different starting holes. Write it down or let the app keep the card.

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 instead of a napkin and a rangefinder. Wolf is built into the bet-tracking scorecard already. For a Nassau, use the scorecard to keep every player's hole-by-hole scores, and the front, back and overall matches fall straight out of that card. The GPS covers the yardages on the holes where a press is riding on a par.

The rest of the round comes with it: shot tracking and strokes gained analytics on your own ball, and GHIN posting so the round counts toward your handicap. Play the Nassau for the money and still come away with the data on where your game is leaking strokes.

Key Takeaways

• Three bets, one round. Front nine, back nine, overall 18. Same stake on each, and each is its own match.
• Match play by default. Low score wins the hole, ties halve it, most holes wins the bet. A blow-up costs one hole, not eight shots.
• A press is a new bet, not a double. Called by the side that is behind, usually at 2 down, and it runs to the end of that nine. Presses can be pressed.
• Settle three things on the first tee. The stake, the press rule, and the handicap strokes from a real course handicap.
• Press into holes that suit you, early in the nine. Late presses and frustration presses are how the round gets expensive.