No Putts is the game for players who can’t putt. Play your round as normal, but keep track of the number of putts by each player. At the end of the round, subtract each player’s putts from their final score. Low player wins.

Only Putts is for those who can’t play from the field. Keep track of each player’s putts. Low putts for the round wins.

Both of these are good to play as a side game.

The object of this game is to make the best poker hand possible on each of your two nines. The one difference is that low scores trump higher ones. Thus, unlike regular poker, four fives beats four eights.

The nice thing about this game is that it can be played in groups with disparate abilities, since a player with a side of sixes will trump a player who shoots all pars on a course with three par-5s, three par-4s and three par-3s.

This game is not only fun, but it helps you develop your golfing creativity and your planning skills.

In Full Set, a player must use every club in the bag once before using any single club a second time. Putters are excluded.

Thus, if you tee off with the driver, you must use the other thirteen clubs in your bag before you get to use the driver again. You’ll need to plan well to avoid standing on the tee box of a monster par five with a nine iron in hand. The club shortage also will get you thinking about new ways to use unused clubs.

Players will need some sort of reminder to help keep track of which clubs were used. A bag of rubber bands is a good thing to have on hand—or some of those removable labels used to price items at garage sales.

Here’s a golf version of (American) football.

Before teeing off, randomly decide who starts the game with the ball. That player keeps the ball as long as he doesn’t turn over the ball on downs and doesn’t get intercepted.

A player turns over the ball on downs (punts) if he fails to make par on the hole (you can use handicaps for this). Following a punt, the ball belongs to the player who shot the lowest score on that hole. If two players tie for lowest, the ball belongs to the one who had the honors.

A player is intercepted if he makes par, but another player has a birdie (or better). The player with the bird intercepts and has the ball for the next hole. If two players have a birdie, the ball belongs to the one who had the honors.

Players score a point for every hole that they start and finish with possession of the ball.

Here’s an example. Player A starts with the ball and on the first hole, everyone makes a par. Player A keeps the ball and scores a point. On the second hole, A makes another par, but B gets a birdie. Player B now has the ball. After that, player B reels off five straight pars, and no one betters that, so he keeps the ball and scores five points. On the next hole, however, Player B makes a mistake and cards a bogey. Player A and C both had pars, but C had the honors, so C now has the ball. B doesn’t score a point since he didn’t finish the hole with possession (and C doesn’t score because he didn’t start with possession). Player C can score a point on the next hole if he doesn’t fumble or get intercepted.

The player with the most points at the end of the round wins the agreed upon bet. Payouts could be based on point differentials.

Three man best ball is a game for only those situations where you have two high handicappers grouped with a good player. Everyone plays their own ball, and the higher handicappers take their best ball against the better player.

As a low two digit handicapper, I’ve enjoyed this game from both perspectives. The single player really needs to step up his game to compete against the other two. The higher handicappers, on the other hand, can enjoy not being overmatched as individuals by the better player. A wayward shot or poor putt isn’t the end of the world.

The main caveat to this is that there should be a pretty clear difference in skill levels. I’ve played in a team of mid handicappers against a low single digit player, and as a mid handicapper against guys who generally struggle to break 100. A difference of just a couple of points won’t create an enjoyable afternoon.

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.