The Best Golf Betting Games for Your Group Size (2, 3, 4, 5 and More)
The right game depends on how many of you showed up. A nassau is perfect for four and pointless for three; wolf gets better with five; and nothing rescues an awkward threesome like Nines. Here’s the honest matchmaking, group size by group size.
Two players
Keep it simple — this is match play country.
- Match play — the classic. Win holes, go up, close it out 3&2. Add presses when someone goes down and it stays interesting to the last putt.
- A Nassau — three bets in one (front, back, overall), so one bad nine never kills the day.
Three players
The forgotten group size — most games assume four. Two great answers:
- Nines (5-3-1) — every hole is worth 9 points: 5 for low, 3 for middle, 1 for high. Nobody can hide, and the money’s decided by the whole day, not one press.
- Skins — win outright or the pot carries. Three players means fewer ties, which means fewer carryovers… mostly.
- Rabbit or Aces & Deuces stack neatly on top of either.
Four players
The full menu opens up.
- A team Nassau — 2v2 better ball, front/back/total, presses. The Saturday standard for a reason.
- Wolf — the rotating-captain game. Pick a partner after the drives or go lone against the field. Maximum tee-box trash talk per dollar.
- Vegas — pair your scores into a number (4 & 5 = 45) and pray nobody birdies against you. The flip is famous for a reason.
- Skins — everyone against everyone, carries and all.
Five or six players
Don’t split up — play games that scale.
- Wolf — honestly better with five: 2v3 partner holes, 1v4 lone wolf, and the rotation wraps every five holes. Many groups play it this way exclusively.
- Skins or Aces & Deuces — both work at any count, no teams required.
- Stableford or a quota game — points against your own target, so the 20-handicap and the 3 both have a real shot.
The bigger group — 8, 12, 60
Now you’re running an outing, not a game: draft teams (snake draft by handicap is the classic), set tee times, and let every foursome run its own side games off the same scorecard. That’s a weekly outing — one shared round, everyone betting inside it.
Stack them
The real move isn’t picking one game — it’s stacking them. A match with presses, a skins pot on top, a rabbit running underneath, and greenies riding on everything. Every game on this page comes off the same scorecard in Swilkin, settled to the penny with a receipt that ends the parking-lot argument.