The scorecard decides the main game. A side bet is everything else: five bucks on who’s closest at the 7th, a long drive on 12, the longest putt of the day. Here are fourteen of them, and how the money works.
Everyone who’s in puts up the same stake. Whoever does the thing best takes the pot. Tie and you split it. If nobody does it at all, nobody pays. The only rule that needs agreeing before anyone hits is what counts.
The winner takes the pot, so they finish up the pot less their own stake. Everyone else is down their stake.
| The bet | What happened | Who gets what |
|---|---|---|
| $5 each, four in | Alex is closest | Alex is up $15. The other three are down $5 each. |
| $5 each, three in | Alex and Dana tie | They split the $15 pot: up $2.50 each. Sam is down $5. |
| $5 each, four in | Nobody hits the green | The bet is off. Nobody pays. |
| $10 each, two in | Sam out-drives Dana | Sam is up $10 and Dana is down $10. The other two in the group aren’t involved. |
| Bet | Where | The rule |
|---|---|---|
| Closest to the pin | A par 3 | Nearest the hole among balls that finish on the green. Miss the green and you’re out, however close you are. |
| Long drive | One hole | Farthest drive that finishes in the fairway. The rough doesn’t count, and neither does the next fairway over. |
| Longest putt | One hole, or the whole round | Longest putt holed. Pace it off, and agree beforehand whether the fringe counts. |
| Straightest drive | One hole | Drive finishing nearest the centre line of the fairway. The one for the group with a short hitter. |
| Closest in two | One hole | Nearest the hole after two shots on a par 4, or three on a par 5. |
| Closest to the target | One hole | Nearest a marker the group agrees on before anyone hits: the 150 stake, a sprinkler head, the cart. |
| Poison | One tee, or the round | On the tee, hit both tee markers with your ball, then knock the others out. Last one in wins. |
| Putting contest | The practice green | One putt each. Holed wins, otherwise closest. |
| Chipping contest | The practice green | One chip each. Holed wins, otherwise closest. |
| Beat the stick | A par 3 | Name one golfer as the stick. Everyone who finishes inside them wins. More than one winner is normal. |
| One-club hole | One hole | Low score on a hole played with a single club, putting included. |
| Opposite-hand hole | One hole | Low score on a hole played wrong-handed. |
| Hole-in-one pot | The round | An ace takes the pot. If nobody makes one, nobody pays. |
| Custom | Anything | Name the bet yourselves. First birdie, last one in the water, whoever’s cart gets to the turn first. |
What counts. Closest to the pin means on the green. Long drive means in the fairway. Say so on the tee, because the argument after a 310-yard drive into the first cut is not one you win.
What happens when nobody qualifies. The clean answer is that the bet is off and nobody pays. Some groups carry the pot to the next par 3. If yours does, make the next bet bigger.
Ties. Split the pot. Nobody is walking back to the 7th green with a tape measure.
Who measures. Somebody who isn’t in the bet, if there is one. Otherwise the two closest pace it off together.
Who’s in. Before the shot, not after it. A side bet you join once you’ve seen your ball finish is not a side bet.
Closest to the pin on the 7th. Four golfers, $5 each, so a $20 pot. Two hit the green. Alex is eight feet away and Dana is twelve. Alex takes the pot and is up $15.
A long drive nobody wins. Three in at $10 on the 12th. One drive finds the right rough, one the trees, and one never gets off the tee box. No drive finished in the fairway, so the bet is off and all three keep their $10.
Beat the stick. Sam is the low handicap, so Sam is the stick on the 15th, $5 each with four in. Alex and Dana both finish inside Sam. They split the $20 pot: up $5 each. Sam and the fourth golfer are down $5 each.
On top of skins. The group is playing $5 skins. Alex is down $20 on skins and up $15 on the closest-to-the-pin bet. Alex owes $5 for the round, in one payment, not a $20 one going out and a $15 one coming back.
Open Side bets on your round and add one in a few taps. The app doesn’t measure anything: you tell it who won.
Three different ways to have more than one thing riding on a round, and groups use the words interchangeably.
| What it is | What decides it | |
|---|---|---|
| Side bet | One pot, won once: closest to the pin, long drive. | Something the scorecard doesn’t record. Somebody says who won. |
| Side game | A second full game on the same round, such as a Nassau on top of skins. | The same scores, scored a second way. |
| Press | A new bet, or a double, inside a game that’s already running. | The scores from the next hole on. |
In the app all three end up in one place: a single settle-up for the round, netted so each golfer pays or collects once.
A side bet is a pot between some or all of the golfers in a round, decided by something other than the main game: who was closest to the pin on a par 3, who hit the longest drive, who holed the longest putt. Everyone who is in puts up the same stake, and the winner takes the pot.
The pot is the stake times the number of golfers in it. The winner takes the pot, so they finish up the pot less their own stake, and everyone else is down their stake. At $5 with four golfers in, the winner is up $15 and the other three are down $5 each.
They split the pot. At $5 with three in, two winners split $15: each gets $7.50 back on a $5 stake, so each is up $2.50, and the third golfer is down $5.
The bet is off and nobody pays. In Duck Hook Golf the pot does not carry over to the next hole. If your group plays carryovers, add a new bet on the next par 3 for a bigger stake.
No. A side bet is between whoever wants in. Two golfers in a foursome can have a long drive bet between themselves, and it settles with everything else in the round.
Yes. Open Side bets on the round, pick the bet, pick who is in, set the stake per golfer, and pick the winner when it is decided. The app does not measure anything: it takes your word for who won. The money is added to the round’s settle-up and the bet is listed in the results email.
Yes. Ending the round does not close its side bets. You have 24 hours to pick a winner, so the longest putt can be argued out in the bar. A bet with no winner after that pays nobody.
Each of these has a full rules guide of its own.
Duck Hook Golf