Every format here is written the same way: the rules in plain language, one hole-by-hole example with real money in it, and the arguments the rules do not settle. Read one before Saturday and you will not be the man asking what a press costs on the fourteenth tee.
Three separate bets on one round — front nine, back nine, and the eighteen. Lose the front and you have lost a third of it, not the day. Includes what a press is and what it actually costs.
Eighteen separate bets, one a hole, and no way to be out of it. Tie the hole and the skin carries, which is how the sixteenth ends up worth four of them. The game groups fall back on when handicaps do not match.
Every hole turns into points against par and the highest total wins. One bad hole costs you a couple of points, not the match. Includes the standard table and Modified Stableford.
A different golfer is the Wolf on every tee, and he has to choose: take a partner off the drive he just watched, or go it alone against the other three for triple.
The answer to an odd group. Worst score on the hole is knocked out and the two left play for the pot — and with the Zombie rule on, the eliminated man can come back from the dead.
One golfer takes on the whole group, one bet at a time, and the role moves every hole. Both sides can double — and the banker, who tees off last, answers all three at once.
Each side’s two scores pair into a two-digit number and the low number wins the difference. A birdie flips the other team’s digits, which is how a hole gets expensive fast.
A one-round Ryder Cup. Six holes of fourball, six of foursomes, six of singles, four points on the table — and the singles decide it more often than not.
Six three-hole matches with the pairing rotating every third hole, so everyone partners everyone twice. The press only ever covers one or two holes.
Two against two with a new partner every match, each one scheduled for six holes. A match ends the moment it is decided, so the next pairing can start on the 5th tee as easily as the 7th.
Win a hole outright and you catch the rabbit; hold it to the end of the match and the pot is yours. Anyone winning a hole takes it off you.
The other answer to a threesome. Five points for the low score, three for second, one for third — so every hole pays exactly nine and second place is worth something. Par is 54.
A Nassau for a threesome. Everyone plays a separate match against each of the other two, and every hole counts in both.
Greenies, sandies, barkies: whatever the group agrees to pay for. Tap each one in on the hole and settle at the end.
The low score takes the honor and you score a point for every hole you hold it. A tie never takes it from the holder.
Your best score on every hole, across every round of the event. Each round is another chance at all eighteen, and the lowest card wins. Gross and net.
Forty balls to spend over eighteen holes. After every hole your group decides how many of its nets count, and the round has to land on exactly forty.
A four-man knockout in every group on day 1. The group winners play one more bracket for the title on day 2.
A championship for a golf trip. Every round is scored to par for its course, and your best rounds count towards a net title and a gross title.
Your group’s best nets count on every hole, and the number climbs through the round: one ball early, all four on the last.
Two scores count on every hole: the anchor’s, whatever it is, and the best net of the other three. The anchor rotates in an order the group sets on the first tee.
One ball per group, played in turn, no replacements. The last group still holding it wins.
Halved already scores all of these. The written rules are being added one at a time.
Met a word you did not know — dormie, carryover, stroke index? They are in the glossary.
A Nassau, a Skins game and three side bets at once. Halved keeps every game separate, applies the handicaps, and settles the lot before you reach the car park.