Three bets.
One round.
One argument.
The Nassau is three golf bets in one round. Front nine, back nine, and the eighteen. This page is for the group that plays it and the player who keeps losing it.
One ticket, three punches
A Nassau is three separate bets, usually for the same stake. Lose all three and the ticket is fully punched. Win two and you still go home ahead.
1The front
Holes one through nine. Most groups play it as match play. Win a hole, go one up. Halve it, nothing moves.
2The back
Holes ten through eighteen. The front does not carry over. A player who got buried by the turn starts level again.
3The eighteen
One bet on the whole round. Win the front and lose the back and this one decides the day. It is the bet people talk about in the lot.
The press
A press is a new bet, same stake, from the next hole to the end of that nine. The original bet keeps running. It is how a losing player buys a way back in.
Who can press
The player who is behind. Usually two down or worse. Agree the number before the first tee.
Automatic press
Some groups press automatically at two down. Nobody has to say it. It just starts.
The press on the press
Lose the press too and you can press again. This is where the ticket gets crowded.
Agree it on the first tee
Every bad Nassau story starts with something nobody agreed. Three things, out loud, before anyone hits.
- Stakes
- One number for each of the three bets. Same stake on all three is the common way.
- Strokes
- Who gives strokes to whom, and on which holes. Use the handicap. Say it once.
- Presses
- Called or automatic. If automatic, at what deficit. If called, who may call one.
Where it goes wrong
The press was called on seven. Or was it eight. Two people remember it differently and both are sure.
The front was halved, so somebody says it pushes. Somebody else says a halve is a wash on the eighteen too. Now there are two totals.
The fix is boring. Write it down when it happens. Not at the bar.
One card ends all three
Three bets is three arguments. Big Fairways keeps one card for the whole group. It runs the Nassau alongside every other side game in the round, with clean math. The press is recorded when it is called, not recalled at the bar. At the end, SettleUp shows the totals and breaks them into simple netted payments between players. Nobody does sums on a napkin. It is free and the account takes about twenty seconds. Settle the Nassau on Big Fairways.
Tell us about your Nassau
The press that got forgotten. The rule your group invented. We read all of it.