Games We Play

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Team Games – of course you want somewhat balanced teams for any of these.

 Foursome Gross and Net Best Ball – gross and net, 1 net ball and 1 gross ball

 Foursome Net Best Ball – 2 net balls  

 Cha-Cha-Cha – 1 net best ball on the 1st hole, 2 best net balls on the 2nd hole, 3 best net balls on the 3rd hole, repeat in a 3 hole cycle.  Or you can do 3-2-1 instead of 1-2-3.  Sucker in the Bucket – this uses each person the same number of times with 3-somes but it can be used for 4-somes also. With a 3-some:  1st hole uses best net ball of the 3 players, 2nd hole uses best net ball of the 2 unused players, 3rd hole uses the remaining unused player ie the Sucker.  You must decide which ball to use before going to the next hole.  Repeat 3-hole cycle. 

Individual Games

 Match Against Par – each player is playing a match against the Scorecard.  Her opponent in this match (Scorecard) gets a par on every hole.  If your net on a hole is less than par you win and get +1, if your net on a hole is par you tie and get 0, if your net on a hole is more than par you lose and get -1.  Winning scores are usually close to zero.
This is a good way to get players used to match play without actually having to make brackets.  You can give Scorecard a name – personally I call her the Par Bitch since she never messes up a hole.  

 Par Points – You get 0 points for net bogie or worse, 1 point for each net par, 2 points for each net bogie and 3 points (or 5 if you wish) for each net eagle.   

 Train Wreck – scored like Par Points: 0 points for bogie or worse, 1 point for net par, 2 points for net birdie, 3/5 points for net eagle.  The catch is that if you have two zeros in a row you lose all of your points and start over at 0.  (Note:  Par Points tends to favor higher handicaps because really bad holes and kind of bad holes both get 0.  Train Wreck favors lower handicaps because they are usually steadier with less likelihood of having 2 zeros in a row.)  Pick 9 holes before you play, use half handicap – this can be any 9 holes but I like to require two par 3s, five par 4s and two par 5s.   

 Ts and Fs, half handicap – This is a 9 hole game using holes starting with T or F.  ie two, three, four, five, ten, … 

 ONES, half handicap – This is the other nine holes which start with O, N, E or S  Odd numbered holes, half handicap  Even numbered holes, half handicap 

Games within your group

 George – This is a putting game which rewards the longest 1-putt on each hole.  Chip ins don’t count – only 1-putts.  Everyone starts out with $1 (George) in the kitty.  If you have more than 2 putts on a green you must put a quarter in the George Kitty for each putt over 2.
George passes among players.  Whoever has it after 18 keeps all of the money. The player with the longest one-putt on the first green holds George.  If no one one putts #1 Geeorge waits.  When someone one putts give her the George.  If 2 players one-putt, the longest putter holds George.  Then on each subsequent hole whoever gets the longest one putt holds George.  
Keep passing George around as one putts happen and whoever has the dollars at the end gets to keep them.  This is fun because it doesn’t matter how good or bad your game is – if you can one putt you could win. 

 Closest to Pin – If you want to play closest to pins within your group everyone starts out with four quarters (or dollars or whatever).  Closest to the pin on the first par 3 gets a quarter from the other players.  If no one gets on the green the quarter carries over to the next Par .  Unearned quarters at the end mean you have saved money because neither you nor anyone else in your group got on the last Par 3 green.   (We’ve done this instead of including Closest to Pins in the group sweeps.  It makes winners in each group rather than one big winner on each hole.) 

 3’s - players earn points on each hole.  Low net on the hole gets 5 points, second low net gets 3 points, 3rd low net gets 1 point.  Ties split the points.  Example – if 2 players have net 4 and one has net 5 the 2 players tied with 4 split 5+3=8 points and get 4 points each.  Player 3 gets 1.  Or if all 3 tie they split the 5+3+1=9 points and each get 3.  Most points at the end of the day wins the pot.  You can have either a flat $ buy in or x$ for each point.