Every first putt you hole puts money in the pot. Whoever makes the last one walks off with the wad.
Make your first putt on a hole and you add to the wad. It builds all round and it all goes to one golfer: whoever holes the last first putt that counts, and over the final three holes only a putt for net par or better counts. Eighteen holes of buildup, one winner, zero fairness.
Wad is a putting game with one rule that makes it different from everything else on this site: the score doesn't matter. A thirty-five-footer for par and a ten-footer for a triple bogey are worth exactly the same thing — as long as it's your first putt on the green. Every time somebody holes one, money goes into the pot. The pot grows all afternoon. And whoever holes the last eligible putt of the round takes all of it.
That structure produces something no scoring game can: it keeps the player who is having a miserable round completely, genuinely invested. You can be nine over through fourteen and still be the most dangerous person in the group, because your forty-footer for double bogey on 18 is worth the same as anyone's birdie putt. Wad rides alongside your main game and costs nothing to run beyond somebody remembering the number.
Worked example. $2 Wad, foursome. Through 15 holes the group has holed 11 eligible putts, two of them for birdie — that's 13 units, so $26 in the pot. On the 16th, Jo rolls in a twenty-footer for net bogey: it feeds the pot but, under the closing-hole rule, it can't win it. On the 17th, Sam holes a first putt for net par — now Sam is holding the wad. On the 18th, nobody else holes a first putt for net par or better. Sam collects the whole $30-odd.
Why the closing-hole rule exists. Without it, Wad hands the pot to whoever happened to hole a tap-in for quadruple bogey on the last green, which nobody enjoys. Requiring net par or better over the final three holes means the pot gets won by a real putt.
Adjust the qualifying stretch. Three holes is standard; some groups make it the final two, and some make it only the 18th. The shorter the stretch, the more likely the pot rolls to a single dramatic putt at the end.
What if nobody qualifies? Settle this before you play. The two common answers: the pot carries to the next round the group plays together, or it gets split evenly among everyone who holed an eligible putt during the round. Carrying it over is more fun and creates a genuinely large wad by the third week.
Distance minimums. Some groups require an eligible putt to be from outside the flagstick — a rough three-foot minimum — so tap-ins after a good approach don't feed the pot. It rewards the long putt and stops the pot from filling on gimmes.
Eagle rules. If a birdie doubles, most groups make an eagle quadruple. It almost never comes up, and it's excellent when it does.
Chip-ins. Standard Wad is a putting game, so a hole-out from off the green isn't eligible. Groups that want to reward it usually pay a separate flat bonus rather than letting it feed or take the wad.
Wad 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 gamesWad is a putting side game. Every time a player holes their first putt on a green, an agreed amount goes into a communal pot. The pot grows through the round, and the player who makes the last eligible putt takes all of it.
Only your first putt on the putting surface, and only when you hole it. The score it's for doesn't matter — a ten-footer for a triple bogey feeds the pot exactly like a thirty-footer for par. If you two-putt, the second one is worth nothing.
Two dollars per eligible putt is the standard unit, doubled when the putt is holed for a birdie. Groups that want a bigger pot usually raise the unit rather than loosening the eligibility rules.
The rules tighten. Over the closing three holes an eligible putt must be for net par or better to win the pot. Without that restriction the wad would routinely be won by a tap-in for a big number on the 18th.
That's a house rule to settle in advance. Most groups either carry the pot over to the next round they play together, or split it among everyone who holed an eligible putt during the round. Carrying it over builds a serious wad within a few weeks.
Not in the standard game — Wad is a putting contest, so a hole-out from off the green isn't a first putt on the surface. Groups that want to reward chip-ins normally pay a separate flat bonus instead.
Same energy, different game. Everything below has a full rules guide of its own.
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