The Ultimate Guide to
Golf Side Bets
Everything you need to know about golf betting games, stakes, and running side action with your crew.
What Are Golf Side Bets?
A golf side bet is any skill contest layered on top of your regular round. You and your group agree on a game format, set stakes before the first tee, and the scorecard determines who owes who at the end. No house, no rake, no third party taking a cut. Just golfers competing against each other for bragging rights and a few bucks.
Side bets have been part of golf for as long as the game has existed. The earliest Scottish matches were played for shillings. Today, every Saturday morning group, every weekend foursome, every buddy trip runs some version of a side game. It is the single best way to keep every hole interesting from the first tee to the eighteenth green.
The beauty of golf side bets is variety. Some formats reward consistency over eighteen holes. Others create drama on every single shot. Some work best head-to-head, others thrive in big groups. You can play one game per round, or stack three or four on top of each other so every swing has multiple things riding on it.
The most popular formats fall into a few categories:
- Per-hole games like skins, match play, and dots, where each hole is its own contest
- Cumulative games like Nassau, stroke play, and Stableford, where scores build over multiple holes
- Team games like Vegas, best ball, and Sixes, where partners share the outcome
- Rotating games like Wolf, where alliances shift from hole to hole
Why Side Bets Make Every Round Better
Here is the honest truth about a casual round of golf: by the twelfth hole, if you have already blown up on a few, it is hard to stay locked in. There is no comeback mechanism in plain stroke play. You are just grinding toward a number you already know will disappoint you.
Side bets fix that. When there is a skin carrying over from the last three holes and it is now worth $20, that five-footer for par on fifteen suddenly matters. When your Nassau press is live and you need to win two of the last three holes, every shot has stakes. When you are playing Wolf and you have to decide whether to go lone wolf against the field, your heart rate picks up.
Side bets also solve the skill gap problem. Handicap strokes let a 20-handicap compete against a scratch player on a level field. A well-run Nassau with automatic presses keeps the match tight even when someone gets hot early. And formats like Stableford reward good holes without punishing blow-ups, so higher-handicap players stay in the game.
Beyond the competition, side games create stories. The wolf call that backfired. The carryover skin that went six holes. The press that swung the entire Nassau. These are the moments people talk about at the bar afterward, and they are the reason your group texts all week about the next round.
Every Golf Side Bet Game, Explained
Below is every major format your group should know. Each one links to a full rules page with scoring examples, strategy, and exactly how to set it up in bagboy.
Skins
The most popular side game in golf. Each hole is worth one skin. The player with the outright lowest score on a hole wins the skin. If two or more players tie, the skin carries over to the next hole, increasing its value. An eighteen-hole skins game with carryovers can produce massive swings on a single hole.
Skins works for any group size from two to eight players. It is the easiest game to explain to a first-timer and creates the most dramatic individual moments of any format.
Read the full skins rules, scoring examples, and strategy →
Nassau
The backbone of golf side bets. A Nassau is three bets in one: one on the front nine, one on the back nine, and one on the overall eighteen. The standard format is match play within each segment, meaning you are competing hole by hole, not by total strokes.
What makes Nassau special is the press. When you are down by a set amount (usually two holes), you can press to start a new bet within the existing segment. Presses keep losing players engaged and can turn a blowout into a barn burner. Most groups also play auto-press rules so the action stays live no matter what.
Read the full Nassau rules, presses, and payout examples →
Wolf
The most strategic side game in golf. On each hole, a rotating "wolf" tees off last and decides, after watching each player hit, whether to pick a partner for that hole or go lone wolf against the other three. Lone wolf pays double if you win, but you are one against three.
Wolf rewards both golf skill and people-reading. Picking the right partner at the right time is half the game. It works best with exactly four players and creates more table talk than any other format.
Read the full Wolf rules, scoring, and strategy guide →
Match Play
The oldest and most direct form of golf competition. Two players (or two teams) go head to head, hole by hole. Win a hole and you go 1 up. Lose one and you go 1 down. The match ends when one side leads by more holes than remain. Match play changes everything about course management because you are playing the other person, not the course.
Read the full match play rules, formats, and scoring →
Vegas
A team game for exactly four players, split into two pairs. On each hole, each team combines their two scores into a two-digit number, with the lower score first. If one team shoots 4 and 5, their number is 45. The difference between the two teams' numbers is the point swing. The twist: if a team has a player make birdie, the other team's number gets flipped so the higher digit goes first, turning a 46 into a 64.
Read the full Vegas rules, scoring, and birdie flip examples →
Stroke Play
The simplest format: lowest total score wins. Most groups layer stroke play underneath other games as the "medal" bet. With handicap strokes applied, it levels the field for mixed-ability groups.
Stableford
A points-based system that rewards good holes without punishing disasters. Double bogey or worse scores zero points, bogey scores one, par scores two, birdie scores three, eagle scores four. Pick up when you are out of the hole and move on. Stableford is the best format for higher-handicap players and keeps rounds moving.
Nines (Nine-Point Game)
Nine points are available on every hole, divided among three players. The low score gets five points, middle gets three, high gets one. If two players tie for low, they split eight points (four each) and the high player gets one. If all three tie, each gets three. After eighteen holes, the point difference between players determines the payout. Nines is designed specifically for threesomes and is the best betting game when you have exactly three players.
Sixes (Round Robin)
A format for exactly four players that rotates partners every six holes. You play holes 1-6 with one partner, 7-12 with another, and 13-18 with the third. Each six-hole segment is its own match. It guarantees everyone plays with and against everyone, and it is the fairest four-player team format over eighteen holes.
Birdies
A simple side pot: every time someone makes a birdie (or better), every other player in the group pays them a set amount. Eagle pays double. Clean, simple, and it stacks on top of any other game without complicating things.
Dots (Trash / Junk / Garbage)
A collection of bonus-point side bets that run alongside your main game. Common dots include greenies (closest to the pin on par 3s), sandies (up-and-down from a bunker), barkies (hitting a tree and still making par), and poleys (one-putt). Each dot has a set value, and they settle up separately from the main game.
Read the full dots rules and point categories →
Quick Picks: Best Games by Situation
| Situation | Best Game | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 2 players | Nassau + Skins | Nassau gives you the head-to-head match; skins adds hole-by-hole action |
| 3 players | Nines + Skins | Nines is purpose-built for threesomes; skins layers on individual drama |
| 4 players (competitive) | Wolf | The best four-player game ever designed. Strategy, alliances, and lone wolf swings. |
| 4 players (social) | Nassau + Dots | Easy to follow, constant small wins, everyone stays engaged |
| 4 players (teams) | Vegas | Team format with the birdie flip mechanic — wild point swings |
| 5-6 players | Skins | Skins scales to any group size. More players = more ties = bigger carryovers |
| 8+ players (tournament) | Skins + Stableford | Skins for drama, Stableford for the overall leaderboard |
| Easiest to learn | Skins | Low score wins the hole. Ties carry. That is the entire rulebook. |
| Most action | Wolf + Dots | Wolf for the strategic drama, dots for bonus points on every shot |
| High-handicap friendly | Stableford | Pick up and move on. No blow-up holes, no embarrassment. |
For a detailed breakdown by group size, including how to set up each game and recommended stakes, see our complete group-size guide.
Setting Stakes the Right Way
The point of stakes is not to win big. It is to make each shot matter. The best stakes are high enough that a three-putt stings but low enough that nobody is stressed about the money. A good rule of thumb: your maximum possible loss for the day should be about the same as a sleeve of Pro V1s.
Here are typical stake levels for common games:
| Game | Casual | Standard | Spicy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skins | $1/skin | $5/skin | $10-20/skin |
| Nassau | $2-2-2 | $5-5-5 | $10-10-10 |
| Wolf | $1/point | $2/point | $5/point |
| Vegas | $0.10/point | $0.25/point | $1/point |
| Dots | $0.50/dot | $1/dot | $2/dot |
| Birdies | $1 | $2 | $5 |
Tip: Agree on stakes before the first tee, not on the third hole after someone has already birdied two. Set it in bagboy when you create the round and everyone sees the stakes before accepting the invite.
Handicaps and Keeping It Fair
The biggest mistake groups make with side bets is ignoring handicaps. If a 5-handicap and a 20-handicap play a straight-up Nassau, the 5 is going to win the vast majority of the time. That is not a skill contest; it is a donation.
Proper handicap strokes level the field. In match play formats like Nassau, the difference in course handicaps determines how many strokes the higher-handicap player receives, and on which holes (based on the stroke index). In stroke play and Stableford, each player's net score reflects their handicap. In skins, you can play gross skins (no strokes) or net skins (strokes applied), depending on how competitive your group is.
bagboy handles all of this automatically. Enter your Handicap Index on your profile, and the app calculates course handicaps for the tees you are playing. Every game format applies strokes correctly. You never have to do math on the tee box.
How bagboy Runs Your Side Bets
Keeping track of multiple side bets on paper is a nightmare. Who pressed on fourteen? What is the carryover skin worth? Did Marcus get a sandy on eleven? By the sixteenth hole, nobody agrees on the numbers.
bagboy eliminates all of that. Here is how it works:
- Create a round. Pick the course, the tees, and invite your group.
- Choose your games. Skins, Nassau, Wolf, match play — pick as many as you want. Set the stakes for each.
- Play golf. One person keeps the scorecard on their phone. Everyone else follows it live on theirs.
- See results hole by hole. After each hole is scored, bagboy instantly updates every side bet: who won the skin, where the Nassau stands, what the Wolf payout is.
- Settle up. When the round is final, bagboy shows exactly who owes who and how much. Tap to open Venmo with the amount filled in.
bagboy never touches your money. It is a scorekeeper and a calculator. It tells you who owes who. You and your group handle the actual payments however you want — Venmo, cash, beer at the bar.
The app handles handicap strokes in every game, tracks carryovers in skins, manages presses in Nassau, runs the wolf rotation, and calculates Vegas point spreads. No paper, no arguments, no arithmetic on the drive home.
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