The 10 Best Golf Betting Games, Ranked
Every foursome has a money game — the question is whether it's the right one for your group. Here are the ten best golf betting games, ranked by how much fun they generate per dollar at stake, with a straight answer on who each one is for.
How we ranked them
Three things make a golf betting game great: drama (do the stakes build as the round goes on?), fairness (can everyone in the group actually win?), and simplicity on the course (can you track it without a spreadsheet?). The classics rank high because they nail the first two — even when the bookkeeping gets ugly. That part's solvable.
1.Skins
Win the hole outright, win the skin; tie and it carries over. Carryovers are the greatest drama engine in golf — three skins riding on a par-3 turns a quiet Tuesday round into a standoff. Works at any skill level with net scoring. Play $1–$5 a skin. Full Skins rules →
2.Nassau
Three bets in one — front nine, back nine, overall — so a lost front doesn't kill the day. Presses let the trailing side double down and get back in it, which is why the "$2 Nassau" has survived a century. Full Nassau rules →
3.Wolf
The Wolf tees off first, watches everyone else's drive, then picks a partner — or goes Lone Wolf, one against the field for double the money. Alliances shift every hole. The most social, most talked-about game on this list. Full Wolf rules →
4.Vegas
Partners' scores combine into a two-digit number (4 and 5 makes 45), low team wins the difference in points — and a birdie flips the losers' number the wrong way. A 10-point hole is routine, so play for dimes until you know what you're doing. Full Vegas rules →
5.Banker
The hot hand becomes the Banker and bets every other player individually; presses and press-backs can quadruple a matchup. Rewards nerve as much as ball-striking. Full Banker rules →
6.Hammer
Best-ball where either team can "throw the hammer" mid-hole to double the pot — the other side folds and pays, or matches and plays on. The bluffing game. Pots escalate; start small. Full Hammer rules →
7.Nines
Nine points a hole split 5–3–1. The best game ever designed for three players, full stop. If your fourth cancels, this is the answer — more in our guide to golf games for 3 players. Full Nines rules →
8.Bingo Bango Bongo
Points for first on the green, closest to the pin, first in the hole. Order of play does the handicapping for you — the 20-handicap wins holes against the club champ. Best pick when skill levels are all over the map. Full Bingo Bango Bongo rules →
9.DOTS
Dots for fairways, greens, sand saves, one-putts, birdies. You're really playing the course, then settling dot-for-dot — so nobody's out of it after a blow-up hole. Full DOTS rules →
10.Match Play
Hole-by-hole, straight up — Singles, Fourball, Foursomes, or Bloodsome, where your opponents choose which of your drives you play. Add presses and a friendly 1v1 becomes a rivalry. Full Match Play rules →
Honorable mentions
Wolf Scotch (Wolf with 8-point scoring and a pot-doubling Blitz), Landmines (penalty points for hazards — brutal, beloved), Sixes (partners rotate every six holes so you team with everyone), and the par-3 bolt-ons — Greenies, Sandies, Closest to the Pin — that most groups stack on top of a main game.
Picking stakes that keep it fun
The right stake is one nobody has to think about on the tee. For linear games (Skins, DOTS, Nines) $1–$5 a unit is standard. For multiplier games (Vegas, Hammer, Banker with presses) cut that by 10× to start — the multiplication provides the drama on its own. And agree on the house rules before the first tee: validation, final-hole carryovers, whether the pot or each player pays.
The bookkeeping problem
Every game on this list has the same failure mode: nobody can reconstruct the ledger on the 18th green. Was 12 a two-skin carryover or three? Did Ben's press double before or after the hammer? SideAction Saloon exists for exactly this — it runs any of these games (several at once, if that's your group) from a single score entry, and ends the round with one settlement screen: who owes who, in dollars. Four games — Skins, Nassau, Sixes and DOTS — are free, forever.
SideAction Saloon — The Side Game AppEvery game on this list, tracked live. We do the math, you handle the trash talk.