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💰Skins golf game: rules, carryovers, and a skins calculator
In skins every hole is worth something, and you only win it by beating everybody on the hole. Tie and the skin rides to the next one. That is how a $2 game ends with five skins on one putt at the 17th.
Skins calculator ↓The rules
Each hole is worth one skin. The lowest score on the hole wins it, as long as nobody matches that score. If two golfers tie for low, nobody wins the hole, even if a third golfer shot worse.
With carryovers, a tied skin rides to the next hole, so that hole is worth two skins. The pile keeps growing until somebody wins a hole alone. Swilkin carries ties unless you turn carryovers off.
If the last hole ties, the skins riding on it go unpaid.
How a skin pays
Agree what one skin is worth. The golfer who wins a skin collects that amount from every other golfer in the game. Win a three-skin hole at $5 in a foursome and you collect $15 from each of the other three, $45 in all.
At the end, your money is what you won minus what you paid. In a $5 foursome, each skin you win is worth $15 to you, and each skin somebody else wins costs you $5.
| Golfers | A $5 skin pays | Each other pays |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | $10 | $5 |
| 4 | $15 | $5 |
| 5 | $20 | $5 |
| 6 | $25 | $5 |
Ties and pick-ups
A tie for low carries the skin. If your group plays without carryovers, a tie kills it instead and the next hole is worth one.
Pick up and you can’t win the hole, and you still pay whoever does. If the golfers who finished tie, the skin carries. A group can choose to count a pick-up as net double bogey instead.
A worked round
Ana, Ben, Cal, and Dee play $5 skins with carryovers. Here are their first six holes.
| Hole | Ana | Ben | Cal | Dee | Skins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | Tie, 1 rides |
| 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Ana wins 2 |
| 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | Tie, 1 rides |
| 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | Tie, 2 ride |
| 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | Cal wins 3 |
| 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | Tie, unpaid |
Ana’s two skins collect $10 from each of the other three. Cal’s three collect $15 from each. Ana finishes up $15, Cal up $35, and Ben and Dee each put in $25.
Play the same card without carryovers and holes 2 and 5 are worth one skin each. Ana and Cal finish up $10, and Ben and Dee each put in $10.
Variations
Swilkin plays each of these. Agree them before the first tee.
- Carryovers or dead holes: a tie either carries the skin or kills it.
- Gross or net. In net skins each golfer gets their strokes, so a high handicap can win a hole with a par.
- Any group size. More golfers make each skin worth more, since every other golfer pays it.
- Skins on top of a match: run a skins game beside your main bet off the same scorecard.
Skins calculator
Set your terms, enter the card, and it settles as you type. A blank on a hole somebody else finished counts as a pick-up.
Swilkin keeps the score and settles it while you play, and puts every bet on the receipt.
Start a round on SwilkinHow Swilkin runs it
Swilkin counts skins with carryovers, gross or net, and can run a skins game on top of your main match from the same scorecard. The settle screen shows which holes paid, who won each one and what it was worth after carries, and who pays whom.
Questions golfers ask
How do you work out skins payouts?
Take the skins you won times the value times the number of other golfers, then subtract the skins everyone else won times the value. The calculator above does it from your card.
Do skins carry over?
They do unless your group says otherwise. A tied hole carries its skin to the next hole. Play without carryovers and a tie kills the skin.
What happens to skins tied on the last hole?
They go unpaid. Nobody won them.
Should we play gross or net skins?
Gross rewards the low handicaps. Net gives everyone their strokes, so the whole group has a chance on every hole.
How many golfers can play skins?
Two or more. Swilkin scores skins for any group size, and the calculator takes up to eight.