How to play the Vegas golf game: rules, birdie flip and money

Vegas is a golf game for two teams of two where each team joins its two scores into one number, lower score first, so a 4 and a 5 makes 45. The lower number wins the hole, and the winning team earns the difference in points. A birdie flips the other team’s number high side first, which is where the big swings come from.

Vegas is one of the fastest-moving golf betting games for a foursome.

How Vegas works

1. Split into two teams of two.
2. On each hole, each team writes its two scores as one number, lower score first. A 4 and a 5 is 45. A 3 and a 6 is 36.
3. The lower number wins the hole. The winning team scores the difference: 45 against 56 is 11 points.
4. If a team makes a birdie, the other team’s number flips, high score first: 45 becomes 54. If both teams make a birdie, the flips cancel.
5. Points add up over the round. At the end, each player on the losing team pays their opposite number the point value times the difference.

Scoring example

Jim and Mike play Dana and Priya over nine holes with no strokes, the birdie flip on and $1 a point.

Jim and Mike lead by 13 points after five holes, most of it from hole 4, where their 45 beat a 56 by 11.

Then hole 6 turns the game around. It’s a par 3. Jim and Mike make a 3 and a 4, which would be 34. Dana makes a 2, a birdie, so Jim and Mike’s number flips to 43. Dana and Priya’s 2 and 4 make 24. That’s 19 points in one hole, and Dana and Priya go from 13 down to 6 up. Every hole after that is tied, so they win by 6 points.

At $1 a point, Jim pays Dana $6 and Mike pays Priya $6.

Strokes: playing Vegas net

Most groups play Vegas gross, because a single stroke can change a team number by ten. When teams aren’t even, give strokes on the hardest holes by stroke index and use each player’s net score in the team number. A net birdie can flip the other team’s number too, so a stroke on a short hole is worth a lot.

Picnic plays Vegas gross by default. Switch Handicaps to Net to give strokes, with Percent handicaps and Net strokes to set how many.

Variations

• Birdie flip on or off. Picnic: yes (Birdie flip: Off or Birdie).
• Birdie or better flips. An eagle flips the number too, not just a birdie. Picnic: yes (Birdie flip: Birdie+).
• Both teams birdie. The flips cancel and both numbers stay low first. Picnic: yes, always.
• Eagles double the points. Picnic: not yet.
• A cap per hole. The most a team can lose on one hole, such as 20 points. Picnic: not yet; agree on it and settle the difference yourselves.

The money

Vegas swings more than any other common game. A blow-up 8 next to a partner’s 4 makes 48, and a birdie flip on top makes it 84. That’s why stakes are small: a quarter a point, or $1 a point for a group that knows what it’s getting into. Each player on the losing team pays their opposite number.

Picnic keeps the tally and shows who owes whom; your group settles up.

Tips

• Your team’s worse score matters as much as the better one. On a tough hole, the partner who is out of it still has to make a bogey, not a triple.
• When the other team makes a birdie, a birdie of your own cancels the flip. That putt is worth a lot.