so how often you put money on the line when golfing? :)

[ND Fan]

most of the time.

My favortite game is everybody throw in 20 and we 'll play 6-6-6 and skins. Nobody gets hurts and if you play well you make some nice coin.

[Scott_K]

I don't understand the deal about who goes first? I play with a couple of established groups where there is a small buy in and each foursome goes through the routine of establishing tee order for the first tee (after that it goes to honors). Why do you need to do that? I don't see where it matters one way or the other. I guess it's more a tradition thing than anything else.

I don't know why we do this or who started it. We don't play honors because we're not that formal. It's more for the older guys because they seriously can't remember who goes.

[Duffy]

Everytime I'm matched up with a 30 plus handicapper and we play scratch.

[plugged]

My favortite game is everybody throw in 20 and we 'll play 6-6-6 and skins

What is 6-6-6? Is that the devil's golf game?

[stickygreens]

Almost always. We mostly play "sixes" a game where you are partnered with everyone in your foursome for six holes. I'm sure you know it. $20 a man with $ 2 or 5 junk. I have played in a few drunken scrambles 4 vs 4 for $50 a man, playing as an eight-some. It is nice to have days when the course is closed to the membership cause I know most clubs wont allow an 8 some out there with 2 30-packs on a regular day lol.

[microcrayfish]

Pretty much never. Occasionally I'll throw a couple of dollars in for the club's closest to the pin that's run every Saturday but apart from that I never gamble on golf.

[David in FL]

Always.

Amounts vary, but a $10 match play Nassau is a favorite against a single opponent. Any number of different games in a group.

It's not really about the money. I'd rather win $10 from one of my golf buddies than find a $100 bill on the ground!

[Lefty-Golfer]

it's not really about the money. I'd rather win $10 from one of my golf buddies than find a $100 bill on the ground!

so true!!

[Stan MI]

For me it's not gambling, it's donating

[MiniMoe]

The only way to really get better it to play against people that can beat you. If that means donating for a while, it's worth it in the long run, because one of two things are going to happen. 1. you get tired of donating so you quite gambling and find anther group to play with, or 2) you get tired of donating and learn how to manage your game better so you can turn things around and start winning.

There is one guy in particular we play with and he donates most of the time. His swing is not very good, but he can move the ball and hit some decent shots. To this day he will not play smart. He always wants to hit driver even when he can't control it, and he more importantly, he lets it really bother him. Usually, one bad drive and his whole round is ruined. I've tried to give him some friendly advice, but he is hard headed and won't listen.. so as long as he keeps donating, I'll keep playing with him.

[ET-Taylor]

Every medal round there is a sweep so i normally put in a pound for that

[Westopherr]

i only do it on nice courses. probably once a month.

[finoky]

I play in the blitz every Saturday. They have captains that pick players to form their teams until all players are picked. Teams take the two lowest individual scores on each hole as their team score. They play front, back, and overall along with individual scats. Cost to enter is $20.

[JWL1957]

would love to hear some stories....

My buddies and I normally play team match play for 5 dollars each 9 and for drinks at the end of each 9. We have a blast.

[ilikefishes]

would love to hear some stories....

I play for $$$ as often as possible. I am a firm believer that all bets are "Won & Lost" on the first tee. If you make good bets and are confident in your abilities you can win a ton of money on the course. The key for me is to not set people up, but let them think more of their abilities, then they will choke. I also believe the "Pressure is self induced". By this I mean that the only pressure you can have is what you put on yourself. So don't make a bet you only have a small chance to win. Just like you would not make a shot that had a small percentage of success. Or maybe you would, but I have learned to get out of trouble then do the best I can from there.

[WUTiger]

I'll play for small stakes if others want to, but I don't need bets to have a good time.

The last 15 years or so, it seems people usually play for skins rather than the Nassau. (Nassau is $5 front, $5 back, and $5 overall; sometimes auto presses when 2 down). It's pretty well skins wherever I go. What are the rest of you finding?

[AceDunk]

Love to play skins and would do it every time if I had willing partners. Usually not, so maybe once every couple of weeks I can get a small stakes game together. Used to play pretty serious games before I moved that could really thicken or thin out the wallet.

[double_j]

We always play for money to keep everyone involved in the round no matter what their score looks like but never enough that someone would seriously be pissed about losing the maximum theoretical amount.

Usually $1 skins with strokes, carryovers, and validation for my normal 4 but we'll occasionally have a larger group throw $20 bucks per man into a pot at the start of a round and compare cards at the end. The pot gets split up by the number of players who win a hole outright. The nice thing with the pot skins is that with a group of 6 or more, you'll invariably need a birdie or better to win a hole and it makes for some interesting/fun golf - and generally you'll only have two or three winners per round so the payday can be decent.

Playing golf for some kind of stakes ranks a close second to playing with people who are much better than you in terms of things that will improve your game dramatically.