The side games
Big Fairways scores nineteen golf games in the app today, and you can turn several of them on at once when you set up a round. The app keeps every point total on every hole and SettleUp shows who owes what at the end. Every game on this page has its rules and a demo round you can play through hole by hole.
Every game, with its rules and a demo round
Skins
2 or more
Low score wins the hole outright, and every other player pays you. Ties carry to the next hole (or die, your call). Net and gross skins are kept side by side.
Vegas
4 or 5
Two on two. Your two net scores make a two digit number, low ball first (a 4 and a 6 is 46). Low number wins the difference. Under par balls cancel and whatever is left over flips the other side’s number and multiplies the hole. The side that is down can press on any tee, one press a hole, which doubles the run in. Optional Mercy Strokes, off by default, give a side that falls more than 100 behind one extra stroke a hole on top of the handicap strokes everybody already gets. Five players play 2 v 3: the three count their best and their worst.
Hi/Lo new
exactly 4
Two teams of two. Two points a hole, one for the best ball and one for the worst. Win both and sweep a bonus. Ties halve the point, and it settles like a match: the side up on points collects the difference.
Snake new
2 or more
The three putt game, and there are no points in it. Three putt and the snake bag is yours, and it stays yours until somebody else three putts. Whoever is holding it at the turn buys the root beers for the group, the bag goes back in the grass, and whoever is holding it at the end buys again. Prefer one bag for all eighteen? Play it that way instead. Putts off the stat strip move it for you, or tap it in on the hole results.
Wolf
4 or 5
The Wolf rotates every hole. The Wolf watches the tee shots and takes a partner, or goes it alone for double. The player they pick can turn it down and go alone instead. Best ball or hi-lo.
Nassau
2 or more
Head to head. Three separate matches against each opponent: the Front 9, the Back 9 and the Overall 18, each worth the same points. Go 1 down and you choose what you are pressing: press the front, press the back or press the overall. Every press is a brand new match starting on the next hole, with its own points and its own line on the ledger.
Banker
3 or more
One player holds the bank and plays everybody else one on one for the points each of you put up. Low score takes the bank. Press the bank if you fancy it, and on 16 the player down the most takes the bank for the run in.
Junk
anybody
The little calls you make on the green: birdies, eagles, chippies, sandies, woodies, polies, nasties, and closest to the pin on every par 3. A point each. Tap them in on the hole results.
Match Play new
2 or more
Head to head, hole by hole. Win the hole, go 1 up. The app tracks the match, calls dormie the moment it happens (up by as many as are left), and closes it out the proper way: Alex wins 4&3. Halved on the 18th is a halved match.
Elevens new
2 or more
The eleven hole game most groups already know. Clock your best ten holes as you play and your last hole always counts, so your card is eleven holes and the other seven never get mentioned again. A clocked hole stays clocked. Start on 7 for a shotgun and your last hole is hole 6, so hole 6 is the one that always counts. Lowest net eleven wins. Midnight is the same game with one more hole in it.
Midnight new
2 or more
Clock your best 11 holes as you play. After every hole is scored you decide on the results screen whether it counts. Your last hole always counts, so it is your 11 clocked holes plus the last hole you play: twelve holes. Start on 7 for a shotgun and your last hole is hole 6, so hole 6 is the one that always counts. Lowest gross wins the gross pot, lowest net wins the net pot.
TILT new
2 or more
Every hole has a value and it starts at 1. A net par pays the hole and makes the next one worth 1 more. A net birdie pays double the hole and adds 2. A bogey costs you the hole and takes you off Tilt until you make another par. Pars build it, birdies collect it.
Train new
2 or more
One net par or better and you are on the train. From the next hole on, every hole pays Stableford points. Two net bogeys in a row throw you off, and so does one net double bogey. You keep every point you earned. Make another par and you are back on.
Mulligans new
2 or more
Your handicap strokes stop being net scores and turn into do overs. Wherever the card gives you a stroke you get to replay any shot on that hole, and two strokes on the hole is two replays. Nothing carries to the next tee. Your gross score is your score, so every game running that day goes gross with it. Turn it on at setup and it rides along with Train, TILT, Banker or Vegas.
Bingo Bango Bongo new
2 or more
Three points on every hole and not one of them cares what you shot. Bingo to the first ball on the green, Bango to the closest once everybody is on, Bongo to the first ball in the hole. Play it in order, hole everything out, and the player who hits first all day gets first crack at the Bingo. Played gross. The order of play is the handicap.
Stableford new
anybody
Points instead of strokes. A net bogey pays 1, a net par 2, a net birdie 3, a net eagle 4, an albatross 5. A net double bogey or worse pays nothing at all, so there is no reason to hole out a bad one: pick it up and walk to the next tee. Most points wins. This is the table printed in Rule 21.1 of the Rules of Golf, and the app keeps every total live on the board.
Hammer new
2 or more
Every hole starts at one point, and at any moment while the hole is still alive either side can throw the Hammer. The other side has two answers. Take it on, and the hole doubles and the right to throw comes straight back to you. Turn it down, and the hole ends there and you hand over what it was worth a second before the throw. One on one or two on two, and the app prints the number on every button so nobody is doing arithmetic on a tee box.
Nines new
exactly 3
Three players and nine points on every hole. Low net takes 5, the middle takes 3, the high takes 1. A tie splits the places it covers, so two sharing low is 4 and 4, and all three level is 3 and 3 and 3. The round always adds up to 162, which means the card can never be wrong and nobody has to keep a total in their head.
Ghost Round new
anybody, even on your own
Play a real round that a real professional shot on this very course, hole by hole. They are off a plus handicap, you are off yours, and you get the difference. It is the one game on the list that works when nobody else can get out, and it is the only opponent who never has a bad day.
In the app now. Turn it on when you set up a round.
Gridiron Golf new
4 or more
Two on two, played like a football game. Your two net scores make one number, low ball first, and the difference between the two sides is the points you won the hole by. Every point marches the ball three yards on offense and pushes it one yard back on defense. Your side's shots under par add up and the other side's come off the top: one step doubles your yards, two triples them, three quadruples them. Reach their 35 and the field goal is good for three. Reach the end zone and it is six, seven or eight. Lose the hole and you punt, and they run it back at you. Nine and eighteen are worth double.
Which golf game should you play?
Pick by the size of your group and what you want the round to feel like. Every game below is scored automatically by Big Fairways, and each one has its own page with the full rules and a demo round you can click through.
Open the game picker to choose by group size and the kind of round you want, or read our ranking of the best golf games.
| Game | Players | How you win | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skins | 2 or more | Win a hole outright | Big groups, because ties carry and the pot builds |
| Vegas | 4 or 5 | Lower two digit team number | Two on two with big swings |
| Hi/Lo | exactly 4 | Better best ball and better worst ball | A foursome with mismatched handicaps |
| Snake | 2 or more | No points. Do not be holding the bag at the turn or the end | Adding pressure to short putts |
| Wolf | 4 or 5 | Pick the right partner off the tee | Groups who want a decision on every tee |
| Nassau | 2 or more | Win the front, the back or the eighteen | Head to head matches, with presses |
| Banker | 3 or more | Beat the banker one on one | One player against the field, hole by hole |
| Junk | anybody | Call sandies, woodies and greenies | Running alongside any other game |
| Match Play | 2 or more | Win more holes than your opponent | Head to head, where a blow up costs one hole |
| Elevens | 2 or more | Best 10 holes plus your last one | The eleven hole game most players already know |
| Midnight | 2 or more | Best 11 holes plus your last one | Rounds where two bad holes should not count |
| Mulligans | 2 or more | Spend your strokes as do overs, then win on gross | Mixed handicaps who would rather hit it again than do the arithmetic |
| TILT | 2 or more | String pars together, then cash a birdie | Mixed handicaps, no partners needed |
| Train | 2 or more | Get aboard and never bogey twice | Rewarding the player who keeps it in play |
| Bingo Bango Bongo | 2 to 4 | First on, closest, first in | Mixed ability groups, played gross |
| Stableford | anybody | Most points, not fewest strokes | Any group, and the one game where picking up costs you nothing |
| Hammer | 2 or more | Double the hole while it is being played | Groups who talk, and the last three holes of a match |
| Nines | exactly 3 | Most of the nine points a hole | A threeball, where the round always adds to 162 |
| Ghost Round | anybody | Beat the card a professional shot here | Playing on your own, or a group wanting one more opponent |
| Gridiron Golf | 4 or more | March the ball down the field and score | Groups who want a scoreboard instead of a ledger |
Running an event rather than a fourball? The tournament side scores quota, scramble and best ball as well, and it counts Stableford the same way the scorecard app does.
Set up a round and play oneTell us your game
Every group has one the rest of us have never heard of. Tell us how it works and we will build it into the app and put it on this page.
Got it. Thank you.
If we build it, you will see it on this page, and we will let you know.
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