Do you play better with $$$$ on the line?

[MPS67]

I play a lot of my rounds with just a few folks. One in particular is a pretty good player and shoots in the mid 80s most of the time. But when money is on the line, I swear he could beat a PGA pro. And I know that he's not sandbagging.

When there's a wager out there on your round, or even a shot, how does it effect your play?

Regards,

Mark

[Dent]

Never tried playing for money, Should try for maybe a dollar a hole and see how that works out. Maybe I can play better If I do it that way...

or I can play for monopoly money and pretend im playing for big cash.

[goblue107501]

Never really thought about it. I can say I am more focused when I play for money and that usually translates to a better score.

[Craig Mac]

Money usually doesn't influence my play, but then again I never gamble with more than I can afford to loose. My partners in those money matches get all worked up about the money, it's kind of funny actually.

[bruce]

My buddies always say about me,put a dollar on the game and bruce will crumble,We always play the par three's for money and i am fine,skins i'm fine but when i play my buddie for overall score i always lose by a shot or two,i have never beat him when we play for money,were the same handicap.

[MunkeyGolfer]

I play better but that is because I analyze my shots more and I usually don't have the "go for the green" attitude on the teebox.

[NM Golf]

It depends, it helps when we are playing for a few bucks ($50 or less) as I can afford to lose that. I played in a game once for more money than that and I didn't have any fun as all I worried about was not losing too much money. I didn't lose but I swore I would never do that again as I lucked out and didn't play well at all.

[clemsontiger]

I cannot play with money on the line. I have the tendecy to over think and not just play the game.

[Chief Broom]

I played with a group this past weekend and we played skins and I was surprised at just how much fun it was. We only played for fifty cents a hole apiece, but the skins format made it interesting. What happens is you begin carrying over holes and then everyone starts pulling for someone else to at least tie the hole so that you then have a chance on the next one. It was a lot of fun and we each only had $9 one the line (.50 cents a hole). This added a whole other dimension to the round. I wound up breaking even, so I was happy. I'll definelty be doing that again.

[DJYoshi]

we have a weekly Sunday skins game. I'm by far the worst one on the course. the other 3 are indexing at 3, 5 and 6.
when i play with them..i just let it all go b/c i know they're that much better than me. BUT when it comes to playing for $ with people that I think or know I should be wrecking..I tend to just tense up..over-analyze...
then my swing feels uncomfortable.. all from ONE poor drive or swing..i can let the entire round get to me

[Ben]

I wouldn't say I play better nor worse, but golf without money on the line has become a bit dull. I never thought I'd say that. We have a group of guys at my course and we always have something going, typically a $10 nasau with $2 dots (birdies, sandies, closest to pin). One day last week none of my guys were around, I went out to play on my own, and I was bored. Bring on the money game!

[Bump-n-MI]

but golf without money on the line has become a bit dull.

Ditto those sentiments. We typically play CTP, skins, and low front / back / totals so every shot means something. Lots of tourneys coming up so the money games will have to wait

[crazy4gawf]

It definitely makes me buckle down and focus more when there's money on the line & for the most part this is when I shoot my best scores. This is especially true when playing w/ golf acquaintances as opposed to playing w/ my personal friends. Wager w/ my personal friends will typically have the biggest loser @ maybe $5-$10/round but when betting w/ golf acquaintances the stakes are a lot higher. I feel a little more at ease at being somewhat aloof and anti social per se when there's a sizable amount of money on the line & as a result I focus more shot per shot. My typical rounds w/ my personal friends involves a lot of personal conversations, joking around, work talk and so it's a little harder to focus and shoot a good round.

[redi630]

I always play for a little money, even if it's only a $5 nasau, so my game goes through it's usually up and downs with money on the line.
This is the first year that I have been playing in tournaments and I have found that I concentrate better during one. I have played some of my best golf this year at tournaments.

[iacas]

I prefer golf with money on the line not because I play any better (though I don't play any worse) for the same reasons I prefer playing golf against someone in poor weather: I know they'll be thinking about it (the money, the weather) more than I will, and that's to my advantage.

That being said, I rarely play in money games, because I see no real incentive in playing for $5 nassaus. Big whoop. About the only thing I could see myself doing, as I did last year, was to have a running $5 nassau with someone. One or the other of us never got more up than $25.

[bogeyhitter25]

I've never played when there is money on the line. I think I might start screwing around with my friend's and placing about $5 on whoever has the best round. I'm 14, I need all the money I can get.

[Spence17]

I can honestly say that my game improves greatly. 3 or 4 strokes...which doesnt sound like a lot, but when you average 79 or 80, it makes a huge difference.

[Dub]

I play a lot of my rounds with just a few folks. One in particular is a pretty good player and shoots in the mid 80s most of the time. But when money is on the line, I swear he could beat a PGA pro. And I know that he's not sandbagging.

Up to a point, yes...it does help. The guys I used to play with would bet some and it'd help me considerably as long as the stakes weren't too high. We usually had 3 or more groups going off and all sorts of team bets running. Sometimes it'd get really crossed up and confusing as to who was betting who.....we had one player who kept up with it all....side bets galore. It was humerous back at the bar having a cold beer and sorting it all out....lots of smack talking and laughter...

Now....more fun to me would be to just run a dollar-a-hole or five dollar Nassau with someone who has simular handicap.