Split Sixes is a game for three players with six points available on each hole. Scoring is as follows:

Winner of the hole = 4 points
Tie For win = 3 points each with no second place points.
Second Place Alone = 2 points
Tie For Second = 1 point each

Everyone is good at something. Here’s a golf game that takes advantage of that. Before the game, make a list of accomplishments for which players receive points. Here are a few examples:

Fairway hit
One putt
Green in regulation
Hole out from bunker
Hole out from fairway
Up and Down

and so on.

During the round, each player totals their points as they meet the various criteria. Player with the most points at the end of the round collects.

Fans of MLB’s American League can try the Designated Putter rule. Used in team games, or in a golf outing scramble format, one player is the designated putter. He doesn’t hit, but once the ball is on the green, he’s the only one allowed to putt.

The designated putter should be rotated on every hole.

Here’s a game you can play with your group while waiting for your tee time (at our league there’s a LOT of waiting for tee times). Pick a spot just off the practice green and have each player chip at the hole. Each round, the player furthest from the hole is eliminated. Last man standing wins the pot.

Of course, make sure chipping is allowed onto the green before playing. It is at our league’s course, but not at some of the other places I play.

Known by various names, Chasing Par is an elimination game played as a side bet with full handicaps. Players in this game simply attempt to be the last to fail to make par. That player collects the agreed amount from the other players.

American Foursomes, also known as Chapman or Pinehurst Foursomes, is a variant of the alternate shot format.

In this two man team game, each player tees off on every hole, then plays his partner’s ball on the second shot. For the third shot, the best ball is chosen and is played by its owner. The other is picked up. Play then proceeds with a single ball as with an alternate shot game: the fourth shot belongs to the team member who didn’t play the third and so on.

Chapman is named for US and British Amateur winner Dick Chapman, who developed the handicap system used for this game: 60% of the A Players’s handicap is added to 40% of the B Player’s.

George, George, George of the Jungle
Strong As He Can Be
Watch Out For That Tree!!

In George of the Jungle, each player agrees to pay an amount to the others each time he hits a tree.

This can be very expensive on the tree lined fairways of Northern Michigan.