What sort of money do you guys play for?

[IrishGolfer]

I was playing a few weeks ago with a guy that's a pretty decent player, as well as 2 other hacks (including father in law!!). On the first tee, he says "So what are we playing for? How about £5, £5 and £10". That's a £20 or close to $40 stake. I don't normally like playing for that sort of cash. But I really wanted to take this guy out. But the other two guys only wanted to play for the usual £1, £1, £1. So the guy sides up to me and says how about the two of us playing an individual match within our match for £10 as well.

I was OK about it but it changed the outlook of the game. I was really trying to beat him which I think affected my play. Turns out we halved the match on 18, but it got me thinking, any of you guys high rollers out there?

What's the typical wager in your regular fourball. Does money motivate or is it just the winning?

And don't get me started on that turkey......

[Bravo]

IG:

We may have discussed this last year...but here goes.

Sunday group - is all about team bets. We play Nassau with automatic presses. But, as with your group, our wager value is only $2. Birdies, sandies, etc are rewarded at $1 a piece. Last weekend, I played with a fellow with an 18 handicap and he failed to par a single hole. We were flummoxed fairly badly and only lost $11.

In these team bets, if we have a multiple of four, we will play Both two man Nassaus and four man - concurrently. You won't be surprised that I lost $11 on my two man bet - but won $10 on my four man. (I was glad that last guy showed up to round out the group at the last minute!)

Saturday group - is all about individual. The czar tries to get as big a group as possible. We often have 8-12 in the warmer seasons.

This group has a $10 Stableford bet, so you have a pool of $80 - $120. When there are 8 players, he pays 1-2 and when we have 12, he pays 1-2-3. I made a lot of $ in this group last summer when my handicap was dropping. In the span of one month, I made $130...but that is rare.

I usually come home with $10 - 12 less or more than what I left with.

[Loop]

You've got excellent memory Bravo.
Foursome types of play

IG, in a team foursome, we play 5-5-1.
The player with the lowest score on each 9 receives 5$ from the 2 players with the highest score.
Then we count 1$ for each point. On a hole, a team can win up to 4 points, so on 18 holes, there's a possibility of 72 points for EACH player of the winning team. Not counting that the losing team can make the "Press" which doubles every point on each hole... lol...
You see, you can win big, but you can also lose a lot (sometimes I lose 40$, sometimes I win 60$....). Last year, I've made it just about positive, so that was nice.

But money is motivating, because it increases the tension of play. So we all try to do our best, and not trying to let your partner down. At the end of the round, you can see some sad face when one loses big dough, but that's because the players played really poorly. When you lose money, but everyone played really well, money is just a bonus, and everyone are happy.
I agree with you that the mindset of winning can be distracting, but you can get used to it. Just look at it as money you'd throw in the trash. For me, I only focus about taking care of every shot I do (even though I suck), and don't care about the money.

[Bravo]

Originally Posted by Loop

IG, in a team foursome, we play 5-5-1.
The player with the lowest score on each 9 receives 5$ from the 2 players with the highest score.

I like your format - I think. But I don't understand all of it.

So in this part of your bet (individual) the player with the lowest score on the front receives $5 from the 2 players with the highest scores. The player in second place pays and receives nothing.

Then you do the same on the back side and on the overall 18. Am I correct?

[Loop]

Yup, you got it all correct.
On each 9, the player with the lowest score gets 10$ (because the 3rd and 4th pays 5$ each), and the second one doesn't get/lose anything.
We don't do overall 18, but if there are lots of foursome in our group, we make a pot. Everyone gives 1$, and the player with the lowest score on 18 holes (adjusted to the player's handicap) wins the pot.
Since we're a group of 4 to 6 foursome on weekends, it gets pretty interesting

[IrishGolfer]

I guess I'm trying to find the answer to a variation on the question. Is there a line that you don't cross when it comes to betting? I think mine would be £20 or $40 ish. I couldn't justify losing more than that in one round of golf.

I remeber caddying at Shinne**** and hearing stories about guys playing for $10K. That's just nuts!!

[Rockford35]

We play a sort of skins game. Each hole is worth a certain amount of coin, like a quarter to start. A bird doubles the holes value, an eagle makes it 4 times the stakes.

S, if you win with a par, everyone owes you a quarter. If you win with a bird, it's 50 cents. An eagle makes it a buck.

However, if you carry over 3 holes and win with a bird, it works like this:

25 cents + 25 cents + 25 cents +25 cents for that winning hole = 1 buck, but it's doubled so everyone owes you 2 bucks.

This format allows basically anyone to win. There's no clear cut winning way.

Most of the time, we come off the 18th with someone winning 15 bucks. Which goes towards a pitcher of suds.

I wouldn't play for more than 20 bucks a round. Why pay more for golf than you have to? Plus, the guys I play with are 18+ handicappers (most of them) and they'd just outright lose. That's not being arrogant, just honest.

R35

[DaveE]

We're pretty cheap I guess. We play skins with carryovers for .50 or sometimes a $1.00. There are also side bets of $1 or $2 for front, back and total.

The worst day I've had was a $14.00 loss but normally no one loses more than $5.00.

The only time I find myself thinking about the money is when the skins have carried for five or six holes. A couple of weeks ago I was playing like crap but the other guys kept tying up the holes until we had carried the first seven holes.

So on #8, a 195 yd. par 3 I hit the first good shot of the day to 15' for an easy par and eight skins. My friends beat me on total so even then nobody loses much.

[Loop]

Originally Posted by rockford35

Plus, the guys I play with are 18+ handicappers (most of them) and they'd just outright lose. That's not being arrogant, just honest.

Did you give them a handicap? Last year at 14 hdcp, I had to give 10 points to a 24 handicapper, so that evens the thing out, especially since it's easier for high handicapper to go lower. So on half of the most difficult holes, if I make birdie and the other guy makes par, we're even.

Some guy from another group bet something like 500$... That's pretty big, but there are always some gamblers on the course.

[Bravo]

IG - the most I would wager on a regular bet would be $10...

Now our traveling group (once a year) is an exception. We have a $120 "entry fee" for the entire three day tournament. This covers the multitude of bets I have described before....we probably have about 8-10 total bets in this format.

I think if I bet an amount on weekends that is above $10 - it can make me take it too seriously...

[Rockford35]

The guys weren't interested in handicaps. Most of them play par, par, triple, double, par, ect....so they have the skills to pay the bills, just not consistently.

I think we've only had one match where the tables were wiped. I cleaned up pretty well that day, but it all ends up at the 19th hole with beers, so ultimately, i'm not buying a second Cayenne or anything off my winnings.

R35

[The master]

ME and a few others all put in £5 each and the person with the most skins takes £15, so big stakes for us.

IG what sort of money we playing for???????

Also how do you like the fact that I'm 20 yards longer than last time muhaaaaaa.....

[bdcrowe]

Originally Posted by rockford35

We play a sort of skins game. Each hole is worth a certain amount of coin, like a quarter to start. A bird doubles the holes value, an eagle makes it 4 times the stakes.

S, if you win with a par, everyone owes you a quarter. If you win with a bird, it's 50 cents. An eagle makes it a buck.

However, if you carry over 3 holes and win with a bird, it works like this:

25 cents + 25 cents + 25 cents +25 cents for that winning hole = 1 buck, but it's doubled so everyone owes you 2 bucks.

This format allows basically anyone to win. There's no clear cut winning way.

Most of the time, we come off the 18th with someone winning 15 bucks. Which goes towards a pitcher of suds.

I wouldn't play for more than 20 bucks a round. Why pay more for golf than you have to? Plus, the guys I play with are 18+ handicappers (most of them) and they'd just outright lose. That's not being arrogant, just honest.

R35

Arrogant bastard..

And IG, if you place a bet with TM after the turkey incident, shame on you.

[Silver]

I play for squat. It makes my games that much more relaxed. Although one friend and I will occasionally play a Closest to the Pin for a bevvy after the round.

[nsherman2006]

well i play in 5 skins matches that cost 5 bucks for 9 holes, so i play for $25 a week, and i probably ended about $200 up this year. All the guys at the club griped during the week about how i must cheat to get my handicap down so quickly, then on weekends they complained i sandbagged. Weird, huh?