Golf side game
How to play Nassau
For 2 to 6 players, one on one, or two teams of two in a foursome.
How it works
Three bets in one: the front 9, the back 9 and the full 18. Each is match play: the lower score wins a hole, and whoever has won more holes when the nine (or the 18) is over wins that bet. Winning 1 up pays the same as 5 up. A bet that ends level is a push.
Who plays whom
- Everyone vs everyone: each pair of players has its own Nassau, so four players make six of them.
- Teams, 2 v 2: on each hole the better score on each team counts, and each player on the winning team collects the stake from a player on the other.
The money
A stake for each bet, set separately for the front 9, the back 9 and overall ($5 each to start), plus any presses.
Presses
- A press is a new bet for the same stake, from the next hole to the end of that nine.
- Automatic presses start one whenever a side goes down by the number of holes set in setup (2 to start), and a press can be pressed again the same way.
- Also press the overall bet: presses on the 18 as well as each nine.
- A press can start on the 9th or 18th: with this off, a press needs at least two holes left.
- Anyone who is down can also press by hand from the score screen, before teeing off on the next hole.
Handicaps
Net (the default): in each match everyone plays off a share of their handicap (the allowance: 100% one on one, 90% in teams, to start), and the lowest gives strokes to the rest, on the hardest holes by the Hcp row. Gross: no strokes.
Example
Ann against Bo, $5 on each bet. Ann wins the front 9 1 up and the back 9 is halved, so Ann is 1 up over the 18: she wins the front and the overall, $10, and the back is a push. Had either of them gone 2 down on a nine, an automatic press would have started a new $5 bet from the next hole.
This is how Putt for Dough plays it; setup changes the amounts. Free, with no account: one phone keeps score, everyone follows the money live, and settling up is a tap.
More games
- Skins For 2 to 6 players.
- Banker For 2 to 6 players.
- Wolf For a foursome.
- Vegas For a foursome, in two teams of two.
- Stroke play For 2 to 6 players.
- Stableford For 2 to 6 players.
- Dots For 2 to 6 players, on top of any game.
- Birdies For 2 to 6 players, on top of any game.
- Sixes For a foursome. Also called Round Robin or Hollywood.
- Bingo Bango Bongo For 2 to 6 players.
- Low ball / high ball For a foursome, in two teams of two.
- Nines For a threesome. Also called 5-3-1.
- Team skins For a foursome, in two teams of two.
- Team stroke play For a foursome, in two teams of two.