What is skins in golf? How to play it with your group

Skins is a golf game where every hole is worth one skin, and the player with the lone lowest score on the hole wins it. If two or more players tie for low, nobody wins and the skin carries to the next hole, which is then worth two. One good hole after a run of ties can pay for the whole day.

Skins is one of the simplest golf betting games and works for two to five players or more. It’s also a common side game on top of something else.

How skins works

1. Agree on a value per skin, such as $1.
2. Play each hole. The lowest score wins the skin, but only if nobody else has the same score.
3. If the low score is tied, the skin carries over. The next hole is worth two skins, then three.
4. The next outright winner takes every skin that was riding.
5. At the end, every other player pays you the value of each skin you won.

Scoring example

Jim, Mike, Dana and Priya play nine holes of skins for $1 a skin, with no strokes.

Hole 3 is the one people ask about. Holes 1 and 2 were tied for low, so two skins are riding when the group reaches the par 3. Dana makes a 2, nobody matches it, and she takes three skins at once.

The last two holes go the other way. Hole 8 ties and carries one skin to the 9th, and the 9th ties again. Those 2 skins are still riding after the last hole, so nobody gets them.

Dana wins 3 skins, Priya 2, Jim 1 and Mike 1. Each other player pays $1 a skin to the winner, so Dana collects $3 from each of the others and pays out for theirs. Netted out, Dana is up $5, Priya $1, and Jim and Mike are each down $3.

Strokes: playing skins net

Net skins gives each player strokes on the hardest holes by stroke index. The lowest net score wins the skin. Because a single net birdie can take a big carryover, many groups use a reduced allowance or play gross skins with players of similar ability.

Picnic scores skins gross or net. Played net, Percent handicaps sets the allowance and Net strokes chooses between Off the low (the lowest player plays off zero) and Full handicap.

Variations

• Gross or net skins. Picnic: yes (Scoring: Net or Gross).
• Skins as a side game. Play skins on top of a match, Stableford or another game, using the same scores. Picnic: yes (add Skins as a side game).
• Team skins. Two teams, and the best score on each team plays for the skin. Picnic: yes (Format: Teams).
• No carryovers. A tied skin is just dead. Picnic: not yet.
• Validation. A skin won with a par or worse has to be matched on the next hole to count. Picnic: not yet.
• Leftover skins. A playoff, a split, or a push. Picnic: skins still riding at the end are a push.

The money

The usual way to play: every other player pays you the skin value for each skin you win. With four players at $1 a skin, each skin is worth $3 to the winner. A big carryover can turn into real money, so most groups keep the value small, $1 to $5 a skin.

The other common way is a pot: everyone puts in the same amount and the pot is split by the number of skins won. Picnic keeps the tally and shows who owes whom; your group settles up.

Tips

• On a hole with carryovers riding, a safe par is often enough, because someone else has to beat it outright.
• Agree on what happens to skins left at the end before the first tee shot.