Six points on every hole — low ball, low total, closest in regulation, and the birdie. Sweep all six and it doubles to twelve.
Four things are up for grabs on every hole: the low individual ball, the low combined total, closest to the pin in regulation, and any birdie. Win them all and the hole doubles. It rewards teams that play well together instead of one hero.
Scotch — usually Six-Point Scotch, and known in some groups simply as umbrella — is the 2v2 game for people who think one point a hole isn't enough to argue about. Every hole puts six points on the table across four separate contests: 2 for the low ball, 2 for the low total, 1 for proximity, and 1 for the birdie. Win all six and the hole doubles to twelve — that's the umbrella, or the “umby,” and it's the shot of adrenaline the format is built around.
What makes Scotch good is that the four categories reward genuinely different skills. The low ball rewards one player's brilliance. The low total punishes a side that has one player brilliant and one player lost. Proximity rewards iron play specifically, and the birdie point can only be won the hard way. A team can lose the low ball and still win the hole, which is not true of most 2v2 games.
Worked example. Par 4. You make 3, your partner makes 5 — the other side makes 4 and 4. Low ball: your 3 wins, +2. Low total: 8 apiece, tied, no points. Proximity: their player stiffed it to six feet in regulation, +1 to them. Birdie: your 3 is a natural birdie, +1 to you. You take the hole 3–1 — and note that a tied low total is what cost you the umbrella.
The umbrella is the whole point. Six becomes twelve. Some groups go further and make the sweep worth triple, or make a sweep with an eagle worth the round. The birdie requirement is what keeps umbrellas rare: without a natural birdie, five points is your ceiling.
The hole-number variant. A widely played version scales the stakes: the points on each hole are worth the number of the hole you're playing. The 2nd is worth almost nothing, the 17th and 18th decide the match, and a late umbrella can erase an entire round. Excellent for groups that hate being out of it at the turn.
Presses. Standard and encouraged. A trailing side calls a press and the stakes double from that hole forward. That is the 2x form of a press, as opposed to the new bet a Nassau press starts. Automatic presses at a fixed deficit keep the arguing to a minimum.
Proximity rules to settle first. Does a ball on the green in regulation beat a ball that's stone dead but chipped on? Standard Scotch says proximity is only contested among balls that reached the green in regulation — if nobody hits it in regulation, the point is dead. Say it out loud on the first tee.
Wolf Scotch. A popular hybrid: run the Wolf rotation to pick teams each hole, then score that hole with the Scotch six. Teams change every hole and the point categories stay the same.
Net Scotch. With a handicap spread, take strokes by stroke index before scoring low ball and low total. Keep the birdie point natural, though — a net birdie point makes umbrellas far too common and cheapens the whole thing.
Scotch is scored in Duck Hook Pro. The pro or organizer sets up the game and keeps the card there, and Duck Hook Pro works out the result and the settle-up and shows it on a TV leaderboard. It isn’t in the free app yet.
See Duck Hook Pro Browse all 42 gamesScotch, usually played as Six-Point Scotch, is a 2-vs-2 game with six points available on every hole: 2 for the low ball, 2 for the low total, 1 for closest to the hole in regulation, and 1 for a natural birdie. A team that wins all six doubles them to twelve.
An umbrella — or 'umby' — is a sweep: one team winning all six points on a hole, which doubles the hole to twelve points. Because the birdie point requires a natural birdie, you cannot make an umbrella without one, which is what keeps them rare.
2 points for low ball, 2 points for low total, 1 point for proximity, and 1 point for the birdie. Any category that ends tied is simply not awarded, so most holes are decided somewhere between 2-1 and 5-0.
The proximity point is usually dead for that hole — it's contested only among balls that reached the green in regulation. Some groups instead give it to the ball closest after the regulation stroke regardless of where it finished, so agree on it before you tee off.
Yes. Take strokes by stroke index before comparing low ball and low total. Most groups keep the birdie point natural rather than net, because net birdies are common enough to make umbrellas routine.
A hybrid that uses the Wolf rotation to choose partners on each hole, then scores that hole with the Scotch six-point system. Teams change every hole, so the points categories stay constant while the alliances don't.
Same energy, different game. Everything below has a full rules guide of its own.
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