Need "Payout" Ideas for Newport Cup

At the Newport Cup (next week!), the eight contestants will throw in $50 and we'll have a bunch of prizes. The ones I've come up with so far are:

$50 = Blue Team MVP (most points)
$50 = Red Team MVP (most points)
$25 = Members of Winning Team (x4)

$25 Prizes
----------
Longest Putt
Closest to the Pin
Low Net
Low Gross
Most Holeouts (0 putts)


I'm looking for three more $25 prizes, but I'm stumped. They should be things that we can keep track of over five rounds of golf and, ideally, something that a higher handicapper might win (though I consider "low net" a higher-handicapper's prize) since four of the prizes there now are more likely for the better players (though weakly so in some cases).

With eight players, we'll be spread over two foursomes, so things like "Best Recovery Shot" or "Worst Par" probably won't work. Guys will have tape measures for the two measurement ones...

Not every round has a format that requires both players on each team in the foursome to hole out, so I have to be a little careful there when it comes to scoring prizes.

What else could we do? Any suggestions? I need three more.

Thanks for the suggestions. Just going to respond quickly to a few in order to shape future suggestions.

Unfortunately, we're probably all fairly particular about what kind of golf ball we have, and these are the the individual prizes, anyway. Plus, your idea wouldn't carry over five rounds of golf at different golf courses - the foursomes change every round.

Those don't strike me as things that the higher handicappers would have much of a chance of winning.

Can't really be played in the team format, with mixing foursomes and so on. It's not a bad game in a single foursome, but I don't think it works over five rounds of varying games (Southern Point, best ball, combined score, etc.). Plus, by the rules, you can't putt out if you are close to the hole or concede short short putts, because the 1/3 of the points is "first in."

Something as rare as "most chip-ins" (holeouts) is pretty easy to keep track of. Most people don't do it even once every few rounds. I suspect the winner will have a total of about 3 over 5 rounds.

"GIR" is a stat that you have keep religiously, every round, and again doesn't favor the higher handicappers at all. Though I suspect everyone will keep stats so they can enter them into Scorecard when they get home, putting added emphasis on it all and keeping tallies is boring. The five "set in stone" prizes don't require this somewhat mentally draining and boring task.

Just spitballing and brainstorming in my own thread. I'll just write whatever comes to mind and perhaps comment on it afterwards.

• Highest score (sure you could "cheat" to win that one, but who wants to take credit for an 11?). Possible...
• (Random thought: without getting into those subjective ones, like "Most Creative Shot" or whatever, it's tough to think of these!)
• Best Recovery - Largest shot differential from one hole to the next. Undecided whether this would be gross or net, but this one seems kind of fair. A high handicapper could make a 7 on a par five and if a par three is next, a 2. Or a lower handicapper could make a 7 and then a 2.
• Anti-MVP or "Biggest Loser" - Since we don't actually care who wins or loses, this would be a hard-luck prize that was awarded to the player who got the least number of points for the week. Anyone could win that given the variety of games we're playing.
• I could give every player a Caesar golf ball. Each player will have to use it on three holes of their choice: a par 3, 4, and 5. Their score with the Caesar counts as their score for the hole. Low cumulative score wins. This one removes skill because the ball is so frickin' stupid to play with. I'm undecided whether to let the player use a second ball as well (their actual ball) to count for their team total, leaving the Caesar as a "fifth" ball in the group. Maybe I'd allow that, and the first person to yell "Caesar" upon completion of a hole gets to be the only one to use the Caesar on the next hole. Lose the ball (water hazard or just plain lost) and you're DQed from this competition. I'm liking this idea right now, but I may change my mind. This one's similar to the colored ball one from above, but with a twist, so thanks for that suggestion.

Not if you don't pick up. And believe me, nobody's gonna get the high score at the Lower Course at the Peak.

It would be, but I don't think you read that post properly. I said that it's tough to come up with more prizes without getting into the subjective crap that would, indeed, require a vote. I want to avoid those kinds of things.

Higher handicappers tend to win skins games, so that might not be a bad one to have, indeed. And since I imagine most skins won't survive the foursome (making keeping track of them fairly easy), I think that one's a winner.

So now I need two more.

Currently, unless something else bumps one of the bottom two out, the eight are:

1. Longest Putt (all week)
2. Closest to the Pin (all week)
3. Low Net (any round)
4. Low Gross (any round)
5. Most Holeouts (0 putts, cumulative)
6. Skins (week-long winner)
7. Biggest Loser (least points)
8. Largest Recovery (bad hole followed by a good hole)