Golf games, explained.
The games your group already argues about: rules in plain English, the variants worth knowing, and how Swilkin scores every one of them off a single scorecard.
Skins
Any group
How a skins game works: beat everyone on a hole to win its skin, ties carry over, and each skin pays from every other golfer. With a free skins calculator.
🎯Nassau
Two sides
How a Nassau works: the front, the back, and the 18, on strokes or holes won, with presses and ties. Enter your card and the calculator settles it.
⚔️Match play
2 sides: any size
Hole-by-hole, up-and-down, closed out 3&2: how match play works, with handicaps, presses, and team better-ball matches.
🐺Wolf
4–6 players
How to play Wolf: the wolf rotates every hole and picks a partner after the drives or goes lone. Dots, blind wolf, and a calculator that settles the round.
🟢Dots & junk
Any group
The side action riding every hole: sandies, greenies, barkies, and the rest of the junk your group pays out for great (and lucky) shots.
📈Stableford & Quota
Any group
Score points, not strokes: standard and modified Stableford, custom point scales, and the quota game your league probably plays.
🎰Vegas
4 players (2 v 2)
How to play Vegas: pair your team’s two scores into one number, pay the difference, and flip the other number on a birdie. With a Vegas calculator.
9️⃣Nines (5-3-1)
3 players
The best game for a threesome: every hole is worth 9 points (5 for low, 3 for middle, 1 for high). Rules, tie splits, and payouts.
🎯Bingo Bango Bongo
3–4 players
Three points on every hole: first on the green, closest once everyone’s on, first in the cup. The great equalizer: short hitters win money.
🔨Hammer
2 sides: any size
Every hole has a price, and either side can double it mid-hole by throwing the hammer: accept and play on, or concede. The most adrenaline per dollar.
🐇Rabbit
Any group
Win a hole outright to grab the rabbit; hold it at the 9th and the 18th to get paid. A perfect low-stakes game for any group.
😖Trouble
Any group
The anti-junk game: water balls, OB, and lost balls each cost you a unit. Also called Disaster, Trash, or Garbage: the funniest game in golf.
🃏Aces & Deuces
3+ players
Every hole: low score collects from everyone, high score pays everyone. Simple, brutal, brilliant for 3–5 players.
🤝Scramble
Teams of 2–4
Everyone tees off, the team picks the best ball, and you all play from there. The friendliest format in golf: how it works, handicaps, and the variants.
👥Best ball (four-ball)
Teams of 2–4
Everyone plays their own ball; on each hole the team counts its best score, best two or all. Play it as a match, hole by hole, or as stroke play, added up.
🏌️Shamble
Teams of 2–4
Everyone tees off, the team takes the best drive, then each player plays their own ball in. The scramble-and-best-ball hybrid that lets side bets ride.
🔁Alternate shot (foursomes)
Teams of 2
Partners share one ball and take turns hitting it. Golf’s ultimate team test: foursomes rules, who tees off, and the greensomes variant.
Settled when you walk off 18.
Every game on the round lands on one screen: who you collect from, who you pay, and a Venmo or Cash App button beside each name. Teams, skins pots, and side bets alike.
Every game. One scorecard.
Run a match with presses, a skins pot, wolf dots, and a rabbit: all at once, all off the same scores, all settled to the penny.
Start playing. It’s free