Overview
Nassau is three separate match-play bets: the front 9, the back 9 and the total 18. Playing nine? The bets are the first 4, the last 5 and all 9.
Match play
Each hole goes to the lower net score, or is halved on a tie. A leg is won by whoever wins more holes in it, not by total strokes.
Pressing
- When you’re 2 down on a bet (or whatever your group set), you can press.
- A press is a new bet, for the same amount as that leg, from the next hole to the end of the leg.
- The original bet keeps going. Presses add on top. A press that falls behind can be pressed again.
- Auto press mode calls presses for you as soon as a player is eligible.
Handicaps
The lower handicap plays off scratch; the other player gets the difference in strokes on the hardest holes.
Ties
A leg that ends all square pays nothing.
House rules
- Press at the turn: whoever lost the front nine can press the back nine at the turn, however far down. It’s a new bet on the back for the back’s amount.
- No press on the last hole: nobody can start a press on the 9th or the 18th. A one-hole bet is a coin flip.
- Both balls count: playing 2 v 2, partners add their two net scores on each hole instead of counting the better one. A 3 and a 6 (9) lose to two 4s (8). A side missing a partner plays best ball that hole.
- The bye: a leg closed out with holes to play (3&2 on the front, say) makes those holes a new bet of their own, for half the leg’s bet or all of it. It gives the side that lost a way to win a little back.