Golf Games Explained is exactly what it sounds like. You want to mix it up and try something new for once? Well, someone has to do the thankless work of playing different golf formats and telling you if it’s worth it. You can thank me later.
As a general rule, you should always have cash with you at the golf course, private courses especially. Between the potential of taking a caddie, placing a few bets on a match or tipping the caddiemaster and the shoe guy, chances are you are going to need it. And there’s nothing more embarrassing than losing a few bucks on the course—like $4, for example—and asking the person you have to pay, “Do you have Venmo?”
For the game “Banker,” which we’ll be explaining below, you’re going to need a bit more than $4, though. Might we suggest a stop at the ATM on your way over?
Here’s how to play.
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Number of players required: Three or more, but a minimum of three.
Best for: People who … yep, you guessed it, carry cash. Lots of it. Players who don’t mind dialing up the pressure to 11. Guys and gals who love live bets. Folks not afraid of a 1 vs. 3 challenge.
How to play: For starters, the group needs to agree on a minimum dollar amount and a maximum dollar amount to bet on each hole. The stakes can be as low or high as you want. Might we suggest $1 as the minimum and $5 as the maximum for your gang’s first foray into “Banker.” That way nobody is at each other’s throats by the ninth hole.
From there, it’s quite simple—choose a banker on the first tee. A member of the group who gets off to strong starts might volunteer or it could be randomized, perhaps by flipping a tee. Depending on how your feeling about your game, it could be a very good thing or a very bad thing to start as the banker. If there are four players in the group, the banker will tee off fourth and it will rotate each hole.
Once everyone tees off, the banker included, each player in the group can choose how much they’d like to play the banker for on that specific hole – between $1 and $5 as agreed upon on the first tee. This will open up three separate matches between each player and the banker, all for potentially different amounts. There is no “team” element here.
So the first hole might look like this:
Player D (the banker) vs. Player A: $5 bet
Player D vs. Player B: $2 bet
Player D vs. Player C: $1 bet
While you can obviously use net scoring, let’s assume it’s gross for this example – Player D makes bogey, Player A makes par, Player B and C make double bogey. After that hole, Player D would win his $2 and his $1 from Players B and C but would have lost $5 to Player A. Someone who is good at math should probably keep the tally on this for the entire day. As for who is the banker on the second hole, it would be Player A, who had the lowest score on hole No. 1.
In the event of a tie, the player who holed out first would become the banker on the following hole. The most fair way to handle this would be to always allow the person who is “away” to putt at their turn.
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Variations: The first variation is that you don’t have to set a maximum amount, just a minimum amount. In the above example, that would be $1. But with this added element, it’s the banker who can determine the maximum amount on each hole, and it can be whatever they want. They’d just have to call it out before everyone teed off – “OK guys, the max amount you can play me for is $20 on this hole,” for example.
You can also add presses to the mix in Banker, though you must press on the tee box. It can be after you hit but before the banker hits. So if you’re determined you are playing the banker for $10 and you pipe one down the middle, you can press the bet to $20. The banker can also press back after they’ve teed off, though they must press the entire group, not just the player who originally pressed them.
One other way to break a tie: the player who made the longest putt on the previous green becomes the banker. You can also carry over the $$ like you would in Skins if you’d like, which can certainly make the scorkeeper’s life more difficult. In other words, you can make this game as simple or as complicated as you’d like, depending on the vibe of the group.
If you have any golf games or variations of golf games we haven’t covered and you’d like to explain, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter/X @Cpowers14.
MORE GOLF GAMES EXPLAINED
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How to play ‘Skins’: A basic guide to one of golf’s best money games
What is ‘Swat’? How to play one of golf’s most fun betting games
How to play ‘Snake’: A basic guide to golf’s most toxic putting game
How to play ‘Wad’: The golf gambling game that rewards making putts
How to play ‘5-3-1’: A guide to the perfect game for when your fourth inevitably bails
How to play ‘Umbrella’: A guide to golf’s ultimate ‘side-action’ game
How to play ‘Pinehurst’: The alternate-shot game that isn’t quite alternate shot
How to play ‘Chicago’: A fun twist on the Stableford format
How to play ‘Hammer’: The match-play game where the money can add up quickly
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
