A 2v2 team game where each team's two scores combine into a two-digit "Vegas number." Birdies and dominant performances flip the losing team's number, blowing out the delta. High swings, high entertainment.
Your team’s two scores combine into one number, low ball first: a 4 and a 6 is 46. The difference between the two teams’ numbers is what you win. Make a birdie and the losing team’s number gets flipped — their 68 becomes an 86, and the hole gets very expensive.
Vegas is a 2v2 team format where each team's individual scores on a hole are combined into a two-digit number — low digit first, high digit second. The lower number is subtracted from the higher, and that difference is the team's points won (or lost) on the hole. The fun starts with the flip rule: a birdie or a dominant solo score by the winning team reverses the losing team's digits, turning a small delta into a huge one.
Forming the Vegas number. The two teammates' scores are concatenated low-to-high. Scores of 3 and 5 always become 35, never 53. A team that scores 4 and 4 has the number 44. If any player's score is missing, the hole isn't scored — Duck Hook waits until both teams have complete pairs before the hole pays anything.
The flip rule (two triggers). The losing team's Vegas number is reversed (e.g. 56 becomes 65) when either of these is true on a hole:
A hole that satisfies both triggers still flips only once. After the flip, the delta is calculated using the new (reversed) losing-team number, then multiplied by the unit cost.
Worked example with the new trigger. Par 4. Team A scores 4 and 4 (number: 44). Team B scores 5 and 5 (number: 55). No birdie was made — but Team A's player who shot 4 beat both Team B players who each shot 5. The flip fires: Team B's number reverses to 55 (no change in this case because both digits match), but in a more typical scenario where Team B scored 5 and 7, their number would flip from 57 to 75 and the delta would jump from 13 to 31.
Money math. For each hole, money awarded equals delta × unit cost × 2. The doubling reflects the 2v2 nature: each player on the winning team collects from the corresponding player on the losing team, so total money flowing equals double the per-pair amount.
Gross or net. Vegas runs cleanly on either gross or net scores. With handicaps enabled, hole scores are first reduced by each player's handicap strokes, then formed into Vegas numbers. The flip's birdie trigger always uses the gross score against par — a "net birdie" doesn't flip.
USGA or relative handicaps. Set the handicap method when creating the game. USGA is the default.
Set a cap if you're worried about runaway losses. Vegas swings are large — a single hole with a flip can be 30+ points. Agree on a maximum unit cost or per-hole cap before you tee off.
Presses and side bets. Getting buried? The app scores a 2x press: every point from the next unscored hole is worth double, for both teams. It also tracks side bets like closest to the pin and long drive on top, and settles them with the rest of the round.
Set up a vegas game in about thirty seconds, hand out the code, and let everybody watch it play out.
Same energy, different game. Everything below has a full rules guide of its own.
Duck Hook Golf