How to Play Skins in Golf

Skins is the most-played betting game in golf, and the rules fit on a napkin: win the hole outright, win the skin. Tie, and it carries over. The carryovers are where friendships are tested.

The basic rules

1. Every hole is worth one skin. Before the round, set what a skin is worth — $1 and $5 are the common stakes.
2. The player with the lowest score on the hole wins the skin — but only if they win outright.
3. If two or more players tie for low, nobody wins. The skin carries over, and the next hole is worth two.
4. Carryovers keep stacking until somebody wins a hole alone. At the end of the round, settle up based on skins won.

Carryovers: the whole point of skins

Carryovers turn quiet holes into showdowns. Tie holes 6 and 7, and suddenly the par-3 8th is worth three skins — and everyone on the tee knows it. The game's drama scales itself: the longer nobody wins, the bigger the next swing matters.

A real payout example

Four players, $2 per skin:

Alice finishes with 7 skins, Bob 4, Carlos 3, Dave 4 (he won a few quiet ones). At $2 a skin, the math at the end — who pays whom, exactly — is where most groups start squinting at the scorecard. (More on that below.)

Net skins: playing with handicaps

If your group's skill levels differ, play net skins: each player subtracts a stroke on the holes where their course handicap gives them one, and the lowest net score wins the skin. It keeps the 18-handicap golfer dangerous on every hole, which keeps the game honest and the trash talk flowing.

Common house rules to settle before the first tee

• Validation: some groups require the skin winner to par (or better) the next hole to "validate" the win. Brutal, optional.
• Final-hole ties: split the leftover pot, or cancel it. Decide in the parking lot before, not after.
• Whole-group pays vs. pot: either every player pays the winner per skin, or everyone antes into a pot up front. Same game, different bookkeeping.

Why groups argue about skins (and how to not)

Nobody argues about the rules — they argue about the ledger. Who tied on 7? Was 12 a carryover of two or three? Skins bookkeeping fails exactly when it matters: late in a round with stacked pots. That's the problem SideAction Saloon exists for — it tracks every skin and carryover live as you enter scores, and the round ends with one settlement screen: who owes who, in dollars. No napkin math.