Vegas

Vegas is the golf bet that gets away from a fourball fastest, and that is exactly why it is named after the city. The mechanic fits in one sentence: each pair’s two scores are stuck together to form a two-digit number. The difference between the two numbers is what gets paid.

It sounds harmless until you do the arithmetic. An unremarkable hole can move 11 points. A bad one can move 60. All multiplied by whatever a point is worth.

How the number is formed

The pair’s lower score goes first, the higher one second.

• You shoot 4 and your partner 5 → your number is 45.
• Your opponents shoot 5 and 6 → their number is 56.
• Difference: 56 − 45 = 11 points to your pair.

At $1 a point, that perfectly ordinary hole just moved $11. Now picture a hole where your pair shoots 4 and 4 (44) and theirs shoots 6 and 8 (68): that is 24 points on one hole.

The order matters enormously. 45 and 54 are the same two scores and nine points apart. That is why the rule never changes: low digit first.

How to play it, step by step

1. Form two pairs and agree what a point is worth. Start low: in Vegas the point multiplies itself.
2. Decide gross or net. In net, handicap strokes are applied before the number is formed.
3. Play the hole. Everyone plays their own ball and everyone holes out: nothing is conceded here, because every stroke changes a digit.
4. Each pair forms its number: low score first, high score second.
5. Subtract the smaller number from the larger. The difference is the points won by the pair with the lower number.
6. Add points up hole by hole and settle at the end.

A worked scorecard

Hole	Pair A	Number A	Pair B	Number B	Points
1	4 and 5	45	5 and 5	55	A wins 10
2	5 and 6	56	4 and 5	45	B wins 11
3	4 and 4	44	6 and 8	68	A wins 24
4	3 and 7	37	4 and 5	45	A wins 8
Total					A +31

Look at the 4th: pair A made a birdie and a disaster (3 and 7) and still won the hole, because the birdie put a 3 at the front of the number. In Vegas the tens digit rules. One good score fixes almost anything the partner does.

The flip rule

This is the rule that earns the format its casino name and moves the most money.

If a player makes a birdie or better, the opposing team’s number is flipped so it comes out as high as possible.

Your opponents shot 5 and 7. Their normal number would be 57. But you made birdie, so it flips to 75. If your pair shot 3 and 5 (35), the difference goes from 22 to 40 points.

Variations on the flip that are worth agreeing before you tee off:

• Only a birdie flips. The most common.
• A birdie flips and an eagle flips and doubles. The aggressive version.
• The flip only applies when the digits differ. Obvious, but it gets debated: a flipped 66 is still 66.

Double digits

What if somebody shoots 10 or more? The number stops being two digits and explodes. If your partner shoots 4 and you shoot 11, the number is 411, and the difference against an opposing 45 is 366 points. A single hole can be worth more than the whole round.

The three usual answers, and you must pick one:

• Maximum score. Nobody records worse than a double bogey; pick up and write the cap. By far the healthiest option.
• A ten counts as zero. A 10 becomes 0, so 4 and 10 form 40. Fast, and it avoids the catastrophe.
• Play it as it lies. Only for groups who know exactly what they are getting into.

Strategy

• Your pair’s low score is the only thing that really matters. Dropping your tens digit from 5 to 4 is worth ten points; dropping the units digit is worth one.
• Split the roles on the tee. If your partner has the hole secured in par, you go for the birdie: a birdie does not just lower your number, it flips theirs.
• When the hole is gone, save the digit. A 7 instead of an 8 is one point; a 9 instead of a 10 can be the difference between losing 15 points and losing 360.
• Never let both of your pair take on the same risky shot. Two balls in the water make a three-digit number.
• Cap the point value and cap the score before the first tee. This is the only format in this library where we say that twice.

Common variations

Net Vegas. Handicap strokes applied before the number is formed. Essential if the pairs are of different standards.

Vegas with rotating pairs. Swap partners every six holes, as in Sixes. It spreads out the luck of drawing the partner who is in form.

Daytona. A well-known variation where, if a player makes bogey or worse and their partner makes par or better, the order is deliberately reversed (high digit first) as a punishment. It doubles the brutality of the format.

Vegas with a per-hole cap. Set a maximum (say 20 points) per hole. It is the civilised way to play Vegas.