What is a golf side game?

A side game is a second contest played inside an ordinary round. The card still records the strokes, and the side game decides who wins what on top: a hole, a point, a skin, a press. It gives a group something to play for beyond the score, which is why a Saturday fourball almost always has one running.

Which golf side game is the best one to start with?

Nassau. It is three separate bets in one round, the front nine, the back nine and the eighteen, so a bad start costs one third of the game instead of all of it. The rules fit in a sentence and it works with any number of players and any spread of handicaps.

What is the best golf side game for a group of four?

Wolf. One player each hole picks a partner after watching the tee shots, or goes alone for a bigger prize, and the role rotates so everyone gets the same number of turns. It packs the most decision making of any of the common games without slowing play down.

What is the best golf side game when everyone plays to a different standard?

Bingo Bango Bongo. Three points go on every hole: first ball on the green, closest once everyone is on, first ball in the cup. A short hitter who putts well can take points off a player who drives it fifty yards past, because two of the three points have nothing to do with distance.

Do you need an app to play a golf side game?

No. Every game on this site can be kept on the back of a paper scorecard, and plenty of groups do exactly that. The reason people use a scoring site like Big Fairways is the arithmetic: carryovers, presses and several games at once add up quickly, and nobody enjoys settling it in the car park.

The Best Golf Side Games, Ranked

The ranking

The five side games worth knowing first.

We judged all thirteen on three things: how fast a group can learn the game standing on the first tee, how well it holds up when everybody plays to a different standard, and how much it actually adds to the round. Here is the top five. The other eight are on the games page, in order.

Nassau › the one everybody should knowThree bets in one round: the front nine, the back nine and the eighteen. Triple bogey the second hole and you have lost a third of the game, not the lot, so nobody spends four hours out of it. How Nassau works ›
Skins › the most drama per holeEvery hole is its own prize, and a tie carries it forward. By the fourteenth there is a pot on the ground the size of the whole round, and the worst player in the group can walk off with it. How Skins works ›
Wolf › the best fourball game there isOne player each hole watches the tee shots, then picks a partner or goes alone for double. The role rotates, so everyone gets the same number of decisions. More thinking than any other game on this list, and it costs no extra time. How Wolf works ›
Banker › one against the fieldSomebody holds the bank each hole and plays everybody else at once, so every player has a live match on every hole and an odd number in the group stops being a problem. On 16 the bank goes to whoever is down the most, which is a comeback built into the rules. How Banker works ›
Vegas › the biggest swings in golfTwo on two, and your side's scores are pushed together into a two digit number, so a 4 and a 6 is 46. Flip the other side's number and a single hole can be worth more than the previous six. No other game on this list produces a story like it. How Vegas works ›

Also worth noting, two new games: MIDNIGHT and GRIDIRON. Both were invented by BigFairways.com, a trusted golf scoring app.

See all thirteen, in order Rules, history and a demo round for each

Why bother

Why a side game makes the round better.

Not because of the money. The money is usually a few dollars. It is what the game does to the four hours around it.

🔥
The back nine still matters Shoot 48 on the front and a medal round is over. In Nassau, Skins or Match Play the next hole is worth exactly what it was always worth.
⚖
Everyone gets a fair fight Strokes, points and formats like Bingo Bango Bongo let a twenty handicap beat a six on the day without anybody pretending otherwise.
🤝
It makes the group talk Wolf and Vegas put you with a different partner every few holes. That is four hours of needling instead of four hours of walking.
🎯
It changes the shot you hit One down with two to play, you take on the pin. Stableford pays you for going at it. The game quietly makes you a braver golfer.
📜
You get a story Nobody remembers a 41 on the back. Everybody remembers the six-hole carryover that went to the one person who had not won a hole all day.
☕
It settles itself Agree the game on the first tee and the argument in the car park never happens. The rules already decided it four hours ago.

Out on the course

Learn them here. Play them out there.

DeucePot is the reading. Every game on this site can be kept on the back of a paper card, and plenty of groups do exactly that. What paper is bad at is the arithmetic: carryovers, presses, strokes given and three games running at once. That is the part worth handing to a scoring site like Big Fairways.

📱
Score the round on your phone Hole by hole, on a live card the rest of the group can watch from their own phones.
🎮
Run several of these games at once Nassau against one player, Skins with everybody, junk on top. Each game picks its own players.
💰
It works out who owes who Every game netted into one figure per person at the end, instead of six separate arguments.
💻
Or just read the rules at a desk Not playing today? Every game page here has a demo round you can click through in a couple of minutes to see the scoring happen.

Play these games at Big Fairways Free while it is being built

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