[Scott Furlong]

Has anyone heard of a game called Flip?  It is played within your foursome, left tee balls vs. right tee balls or inside tee balls vs. outside tee balls on each hole.   On par 3's it's closest to the hole vs. furthest from the hole.  
The 1st hole starts at $1 and any team can call flip at any time after the tee balls are hit.  Flip makes it go to $2, flip again it goes to $4, flip again it goes to $8, etc. and no team can flip two times in a row it must be flipped back to you before you can flip again.
Better ball wins the hole.  Left tee ball team beats right tee ball team after 3 flips and wins $8 per person.  Mark 8 next to the two names.  
John – 8
Scott – 8
Larry  - 0
Bill – 0
If that was the dollar amount on 18 Larry would owe John and Scott $8 each and same with Bill.
Hole #2 – the guy furthest in the hole ($) sets the bet $1 to whatever they are down.  So with the example above he can make the hole $1 -$8.  Tee off order is richest to poorest so the guy in the hole can steer his drive to get the desired teammate.  The hole starts out at $8.  If a flip is called it would go to $16, etc.  After each hole add the dollar amount to each winning player.  
If a team does not take the flip they lose the hole and the winning team is awarded the dollar amount before they tried to flip.
If it’s a tie there are no carryovers.  
Great game but if you have an aggressive guy in the hole it can get dangerous.  Just imagine a scorecard that looks like this on 18 tee box.
John - $120
Scott - $110
Larry - $100
Bill - $20
Dumbass Bill is down $100 to John and makes the hole worth $100.  Someone is getting hurt and it’s probably going to be Bill.  We set our max bet at $10 or $20 so nobody gets hurt.  All the action heats up on the back 9 unless someone is having a bad day and bad partners.  Hopefully that not to confusing but is the best game I’ve played and a ton of people are playing it in Virginia.  

[Anthony Fowler]

There is a very fun one-on-one game that I call "hammer."  I know that I didn't think up the game, but I don't remember where I learned it.

Flip a coin on the first tee for the hammer.  Whoever has the hammer can keep it as long as he wants, and once he uses it, the hammer passes to the other player.  The hammer is used to give your opponent the option of doubling the value of the current hole or conceding the hole on the spot (just like a bet or raise in poker).  

As an example, say that Phil and Tiger (2 fictitious characters) are playing the game for $1/hole and Tiger has the hammer on the first tee.  After Phil drives it into the trees, Tiger uses the hammer and Phil (confident as always) accepts and the hole is worth $2.  Phil then hits a heroic shot out of the trees 15 feet from the hole, and declares "hammer."  Tiger accepts and the hole is worth $4.  Tiger then hits his approach to 10 feet and uses his hammer for the 2nd time, and Phil accepts to raise the hole to $8.  Phil makes his birdie and declares hammer again.  Now Tiger has to decide if he wants to give up his $8 on the hole or hit the putt and risk losing $16.

This is actually the kind of thing that happens all the time with the game, so it becomes very fun when the 2 competitors are well matched.  

[PCCraig]

I refused to pay the crook - a pretty well-known one at that - but it certainly ended a friendship ... it was the only time I've never paid somebody in my life.

Would he be presumed innocent? 

[Sean_A]

Jesus H Christ Schmidt... I had enough trouble following Sean A's "bits".

We used to play worst-ball two-man ambrose (scramble as the US calls it) at home, with each team nominating which of the two balls the other team had to play after each shot. Nothing makes you learn to hit good recoveries better than that!

I always knew Aussies were maths challenged. 

I do like Bogey comps, but instead of a 4somes use Greensomes.  It is a much better strategy game and for some reason it is rarely played. 

I also like bits and when on holiday the Snake.  Basically, everytime someone 3 putts the snake is passed to him.  For each 3 putt a set value of money is nominated.  Whoever holds the snake at the end of the game owes the others for all the 3 putts.  The same can be done for water (if they don't get up and down for at least a par) - Life Saver and of course for bunkers (same as Life Savers) - the Shovel. 

I have played bingo bango bongo, but like all these golf mixed with card like themes, the money can get quickly out of hand and it often comes down to one or two good shots for who wins the money - not very clever.

Ciao

[Jaeger Kovich]

None of you big spenders play Vages? you can make some huge money playing Vages. its a points game for a foursome.

2 person teams.
Same teams all the through.
Each stroke is 1 point. (1 point can be $.25, $1, $5...)
You take each players score on the individual hole, and put them together to make the lowest 2 digit score. example (I make 4, you make 5, we have 45).
Birdies flip your opponents score. ex (I make bird. Other team makes a 4 and 6, they have 64)
Max points is 8 per hole.

[Ken Moum]

In this town, if you step to the 1st tee and somebody suggests a roll/reroll wolf scotch game, fake an injury warming up and get the hell out of there!

The worst one of those I ever saw was when my 20-handicap buddy decided to pick up with three guys on the first tee. He likes to gamble, and is real newbie re. golf games--he knew this group liked to gamble and wanted a sample.  I had just had breakfast with him, and wandered out to hear what they game would be.

The group was a +2, his 6 handi father and another guy about the same.

The game?

Wolf at 50% handicap.

My friend lucked out because one of the 6s played bad and quite after nine, cancelling the game.

He got a lot smarter about golf betting that day.

[Ken Moum]

Nobody who hasn't made at least 3 birdies in a round in more than a year should ever get themselves into a scotch game with anybody who has.

Good point. My brother used to play it in Arizona for $1 a point with a bunch of low handicapper and they finally had to make the press once a nine, for one hole.

Like you said, if guys get to pressing to get even they can dig a hell of a hole.

I play with a friend who tends to get POed and give up on a round if things don't go his way, so I started playing a $2 nassau with two-down automatics with him. If he quits, I get his money.

K

[Bill_McBride]

Jesus H Christ Schmidt... I had enough trouble following Sean A's "bits".

We used to play worst-ball two-man ambrose (scramble as the US calls it) at home, with each team nominating which of the two balls the other team had to play after each shot. Nothing makes you learn to hit good recoveries better than that!

I also like bits and when on holiday the Snake.  Basically, everytime someone 3 putts the snake is passed to him.  For each 3 putt a set value of money is nominated.  Whoever holds the snake at the end of the game owes the others for all the 3 putts. 

I have a buddy in Madison, Wisconsin who actually has a rubber snake he hangs on his bag and gives to the 3-putter if there is a snake game on.  The snake's name is Ty Sphincter.  He made another one for me (it's a rubber snake with a clip for the bag) and said its name was Lou.

[Phil McDade]

Jesus H Christ Schmidt... I had enough trouble following Sean A's "bits".

We used to play worst-ball two-man ambrose (scramble as the US calls it) at home, with each team nominating which of the two balls the other team had to play after each shot. Nothing makes you learn to hit good recoveries better than that!

I also like bits and when on holiday the Snake.  Basically, everytime someone 3 putts the snake is passed to him.  For each 3 putt a set value of money is nominated.  Whoever holds the snake at the end of the game owes the others for all the 3 putts. 

I have a buddy in Madison, Wisconsin who actually has a rubber snake he hangs on his bag and gives to the 3-putter if there is a snake game on.  The snake's name is Ty Sphincter.  He made another one for me (it's a rubber snake with a clip for the bag) and said its name was Lou.

Bill:

Does your buddy in Madison play at Blackhawk? Shivas considers it the best scotch-game course in the country -- a funky course full of odd-length, half-par holes, esp. on the back nine.

[Bill_McBride]

Jesus H Christ Schmidt... I had enough trouble following Sean A's "bits".

We used to play worst-ball two-man ambrose (scramble as the US calls it) at home, with each team nominating which of the two balls the other team had to play after each shot. Nothing makes you learn to hit good recoveries better than that!

I also like bits and when on holiday the Snake.  Basically, everytime someone 3 putts the snake is passed to him.  For each 3 putt a set value of money is nominated.  Whoever holds the snake at the end of the game owes the others for all the 3 putts. 

I have a buddy in Madison, Wisconsin who actually has a rubber snake he hangs on his bag and gives to the 3-putter if there is a snake game on.  The snake's name is Ty Sphincter.  He made another one for me (it's a rubber snake with a clip for the bag) and said its name was Lou.

Bill:

Does your buddy in Madison play at Blackhawk? Shivas considers it the best scotch-game course in the country -- a funky course full of odd-length, half-par holes, esp. on the back nine.

No, John Weier, crazy old buddy, lives on and belongs to Cherokee, where Steve Stricker's father-in-law runs things.

[Bill_McBride]

Cherokee is a shitty scotch game course. They have cold beer and great carts, of course, cuz' the Tiz's run the joint. Cherokee is and always be famous for the official naming of the Rock N' Roll Light Show....

As I recall from two rounds up there 10-12 years ago, it's also perpetually soggy with wetlands on both sides of some of the fairways.  Not your F&F maintenance meld.   

[Phil McDade]

Cherokee is wet in the driest of summers.

Its low-budget cousin is just a few blocks down the road -- the Bridges -- a course with jets flying overhead landing and taking off at the nearby airport. Built entirely around wetlands, just like Cherokee.

[JSPayne]

To stray away from all the "points" and "gambling" games.....

Two formats that I really enjoyed playing that made me look at a course a little differently that can be fun to play on occassion...

Red, White and Blue (or whatever color your tee boxes are) - Basically, choose 6 holes to play from the blue tees, 6 from the white and 6 from the red. Or vary it if you have more sets of tees. This is good to play at a course you play often, and as some sort of competition, as the whole fun is the strategy in trying to pick which tees will give you the most advantage on which holes. Also interesting to see how different players pick, perceiving the different advantages (i.e. short hitter choosing forward tees on par 5 to reach in two, while a long hitter will wait and pick a short par 4 to move up on to try and drive the green)

Tin Cup - Made this up in college (though I'm sure I'm not the first), to play 9 or 18 with ONLY your seven-iron. Just like in the movie when Coster breaks every club but his seven and then finishes out the round even par (or so he claims). It's fun to see how simple and insignificant the tee shot feels on most holes "laying up" with a seven, but the game around the green has to get very creative. Additional bonus: it's the easiest way to walk the course, no bag to lug around! Just grab the seven and go. And yes, you have to use it for putting too.

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