One of the only things better than playing golf with your buddies is taking their money!! There are a million different betting games you can choose from, but I am going to focus on 4 specifically. The games I will be highlighting are Wolf, Vegas, Snake and Hammer. Let me start by stating that you should bet against players of your same skill level or close to it. There are ways to handicap the games so that if there is a disparaging difference in skill level it can still be fun and fair.
The first game I will cover is called Wolf. Wolf is one of the most popular betting games amongst golfers. It is easy to understand and lets you potentially be teammates with the entire 4 some. Essentially, one player is designated to be the Wolf before each hole. The Wolf then decides whether to hunt alone against his three opponents, or join in partnership with one of them. From there, the hole is won by the better ball score. Before the round commences, a batting order is established as to who will be teeing off from 1 to 4. So, player 1 tees off on the first hole, then Golfer 2 on the second and so on and so on. This means that the four players get a guaranteed four goes as the Wolf, with the player in last position usually afforded the right to be the Wolf for the final two holes. The Wolf will then decide before or after the tee shots whether he will play alone – as Lone Wolf – or play with one of the others. If the Wolf decides to hunt in a pack, then he is only allowed to choose a partner after that person has played their drive and before the next drive is taken. For example, on the 1st tee, the Wolf can choose to partner with Golfer 2 only up until the time that Golfer 3 takes their drive. Similarly, the Wolf can only choose Golfer 3’s drive up until the point that Golfer 4 tees off.
The next game I will be going over is Snake. Snake is a putting game that rewards the best putter in the group. You wanna make sure you don’t get “bite” by the end of the round holding the Snake. Snake is all about 3-putt avoidance – but if you do 3-putt, just make sure you aren’t the last member of your group to do it. The first golfer who 3-putts owns the Snake. He holds it until someone else 3-putts. Once a different golfer 3-putts, the Snake passes to that golfer. And this passing of the Snake continues every time someone else 3-putts. At the end of the round, the golfer left holding the Snake – the last golfer who 3-putted – owes each of the other three golfers the agreed-upon wager amount. The simplest way to bet the Snake game is to agree before the round on a single, static bet amount. Let’s say your group agrees the Snake bet is worth $1. That means at the end of the round, the loser – the golfer left holding the Snake – owes each of the other three golfers in the group $1 (the loser pays out $3 total in this example). There’s another way to bet Snake that I prefer that goes like this: The golfers agree on the starting bet amount, and then each time the Snake is passed that amount doubles. If the starting wager is $1, then it doubles to $2 the first time the Snake is passed, to $4 the third time, to $8 the fourth time, and so on. The amount can get very high very quick so make sure you aren’t the one getting bite. Come back next week for part 2!
2 OFF THE TEE 