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Good games for a 3 some??

Puttin4Bird

Puttin4Bird

Say what again mf'er!
Joined
Feb 26, 2009
Messages
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Location
Sioux Falls, SD
Handicap
3.5 GHIN
I'm always looking to broaden my horizons and learn some new games to play on the course to you know, make things a little more interesting. Whether it's quarters or dollars or whatever I love to have a little something riding on the outcome. Nothing that'll change lives, but just something to keep us honest.

I've got tons of games to play with a 4 some, but what do you guys play when there are just 3? I've played 9 point which awards 5 points to the low score, 3 points to 2nd and 1 point to the low guy on each hole. But one thing that is always the situation when I play with 3 is there is usually 1 or maybe 2 in the group that are a fair amount better than the 3rd and it's not really fair to rake that poor SOB for points on every hole. One answer to that is 9 point with handicaps and bumps for the higher cap players, but what else is being played?

So let's hear some games boys and girls....help me find a new game for 3 somes!
 
Play 6 holes with each player best ball score, last six on your own. Same game you probably play with 4 at times, but you get to bring it home on your own.
 
When we have 3, we play individual games between the 3 of us. Usually a nassau for the front, back and total. Presses allowed at any point played out to the end of the original bet. Handicap if its agreed upon.
 
Great suggestions guys, I like that idea of 6 holes with each guy and 6 holes alone. Problem with that is if 1 of the 3 is a good bit higher in terms of handicap. Otherwise I like it! Canadan you call it nines? Same game, we just call it 9 point but yeah with handicap involved and bumps it would be pretty fair. I like the idea of a Nassau too but I always get confused when talking presses and stuff. Rule of thumb for me....once it gets confusing I stop liking it.
 
Puttin4Bird said:
Great suggestions guys, I like that idea of 6 holes with each guy and 6 holes alone. Problem with that is if 1 of the 3 is a good bit higher in terms of handicap. Otherwise I like it! Canadan you call it nines? Same game, we just call it 9 point but yeah with handicap involved and bumps it would be pretty fair. I like the idea of a Nassau too but I always get confused when talking presses and stuff. Rule of thumb for me....once it gets confusing I stop liking it.
Click to expand...

Maybe handicap that last 6 hole stretch
 
Puttin4Bird said:
Great suggestions guys, I like that idea of 6 holes with each guy and 6 holes alone. Problem with that is if 1 of the 3 is a good bit higher in terms of handicap. Otherwise I like it! Canadan you call it nines? Same game, we just call it 9 point but yeah with handicap involved and bumps it would be pretty fair. I like the idea of a Nassau too but I always get confused when talking presses and stuff. Rule of thumb for me....once it gets confusing I stop liking it.
Click to expand...

Can always play without the presses. It's just a shorthand double or nothing anyway.
 
EaglevsFalcon said:
Can always play without the presses. It's just a shorthand double or nothing anyway.
Click to expand...
True! I wish I understood the presses a bit more, I mean it should be pretty simple right?

A $2 nassau is worth $2 on the front, $2 on the back and $2 overall right? How do you throw a press in there then?
 
Animals

Gorilla = OB
Snake = 3 putt
Camel = sand
Duck = water

The last person to be each animal after 9 and again after 18 owes the other players the designated amount.
 
Sorry, just added it.

When we play Animals we often also play a KP game (must 2 putt to win it) to add a positive game to the mix. This also makes a missed KP interesting because the player loses his KP win and becomes the Snake.
 
tequila4kapp said:
Animals

Gorilla = OB
Snake = 3 putt
Camel = sand
Duck = water

The last person to be each animal after 9 and again after 18 owes the other players the designated amount.
Click to expand...
Ah.....I like it! We've played various games and always had a snake out there. I love that one. Love the others too, thanks!
 
Puttin4Bird said:
True! I wish I understood the presses a bit more, I mean it should be pretty simple right?

A $2 nassau is worth $2 on the front, $2 on the back and $2 overall right? How do you throw a press in there then?
Click to expand...

Right. Say you re on 6 tee and down 3 holes. You re likely to lose the front 9 bet so you press the last 4 holes of the front as a new $2 bet so holes 6-9 become a new match play game.
 
Enjoyed the greeny bet we had yesterday. Made the par 3s more fun and interesting and also had a little pressure to get a gir w/o 3 putting, even though it was only for $1
 
EaglevsFalcon said:
Right. Say you re on 6 tee and down 3 holes. You re likely to lose the front 9 bet so you press the last 4 holes of the front as a new $2 bet so holes 6-9 become a new match play game.
Click to expand...
That makes sense, thanks buddy.
 
Last time I played with 3 and we had one guy who was like a 23 handicap as opposed to the 14 for myself and another guy we just gave him 9 strokes for the toughest 9 holes. I don't know the name of the game but basically lowest score wins the hole and if there's any ties it just carries over until someone wins a hole and then they win that hole plus the ones that were ties before it making the stakes higher as it goes. We each put $20 in the pot, We valued each hole as a $1. The other $2 went to a clost the pin on one of the par 3s. You stood to lose $20 but could come home $36 richer. Giving the guy his HC kept him interested through the entire round. We saw the ties carry over 3-4 holes at a time making the next hole and the next hole and so on more important.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Puttin4Bird said:
I'm always looking to broaden my horizons and learn some new games to play on the course to you know, make things a little more interesting. Whether it's quarters or dollars or whatever I love to have a little something riding on the outcome. Nothing that'll change lives, but just something to keep us honest.

I've got tons of games to play with a 4 some, but what do you guys play when there are just 3? I've played 9 point which awards 5 points to the low score, 3 points to 2nd and 1 point to the low guy on each hole. But one thing that is always the situation when I play with 3 is there is usually 1 or maybe 2 in the group that are a fair amount better than the 3rd and it's not really fair to rake that poor SOB for points on every hole. One answer to that is 9 point with handicaps and bumps for the higher cap players, but what else is being played?

So let's hear some games boys and girls....help me find a new game for 3 somes!
Click to expand...

We play 9s all the time. We just give strokes to the worst guy on a few holes. If he's an 18 handicap and our lowest guy is a 5, we give him strokes on 13 holes. Me being a 12, I will get strokes on 7 holes.
 
I've always liked fairways and greens. Basically, whoever hits the most of those wins, apart from the actual score. Points or money can be assigned any way you want.
 
3 man wolf?
 
I like to play for a little $ too, it makes the day more interesting. Usually we have more than three but here is what we do if only three in a group, we like to play individual matches vs the other two player with handicaps applied. One group plays $1 or $2 per hole with a chance to get-even at nine and eighteen, the other group plays net score at $1 per shot. Some of the guys play different tees and we adjust for that according to rule 3-5 of the GHIN manual. Some of the guys like to play trash as well, $1 extra for greenies, birdies, and sand saves. It sounds crazy but I like that I have to give strokes while playing the longer set of tees in each group, every shot is important.
 
I talked to my teaching pro once about handicapping among casual play to make it fair for all because there was quite a spread of handicaps. He told me to use 80% of our handicaps. So in the below scenario, the scratch handicapper gives the 20 handicapper 16 strokes, the 10 handicapper gets 8, etc. We found this formula made it much more fair for all involved.

HandicapStrokes
2016
1512
108
54
00

We played a game called Rabbit. Whoever won the hole was awarded the rabbit. If someone beat them the next hole, they freed the rabbit but if the same person won the hole again, the rabbit got an arm, leg, etc. Usually the rabbit bounced around until the last hole and you never knew who would win. We only played for $1 per nine. We also played a 3 putt game where the person with the lowest number of 3 putts won (losers had to pay winner set amount per 3 putt).

You know, girl stuff. :beauty:
 
KellyBo said:
I talked to my teaching pro once about handicapping among casual play to make it fair for all because there was quite a spread of handicaps. He told me to use 80% of our handicaps. So in the below scenario, the scratch handicapper gives the 20 handicapper 16 strokes, the 10 handicapper gets 8, etc. We found this formula made it much more fair for all involved.

HandicapStrokes
2016
1512
108
54
00
Click to expand...

I've seen the same thing done quite a bit around here in casual games. Going straight handicap always seems to favor the high capper for some reason, even though it shouldn't. I've seen quite a few foursomes split up over this issue; the high cappers want 16-20 strokes and the low cappers don't have fun that way.

Some of these games sound pretty fun guys, keep 'em coming!
 
With three we play our usual 6/6/6 game but the guy without a partner gets a ghost player that always shoots bogey.

How 6/6/6 works for a foursome is we are splitting the 18 holes into three 6-hole matches. It's best ball scoring, so whichever person on a two man teams has the best score on their own ball counts. Partners rotate from Carts/Drivers/Passangers over the 3 matches.

With four person 6/6/6 we usually don't adjust for handicap but it could easily be done. Same with 3 player 6/6/6, you could give strokes to the higher index player and even adjust his Ghost player to a par if the two person team is quite a bit better.

Incidentally to reflect our "southerness" our ghost player is named Bubba - no relation to the Masters champion. :)
 
Bingo Bango Bongo
 
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