GAME ON
Time for Nine We have the perfect game when your fourth bails BY CHRISTOPHER POWERS
YOU FIRED UP THE GROUP chat looking for a fourball and get the responses you need.
You make the tee time and set up a game. Handicaps are discussed, betting amounts are set, smack talk begins. The night before, you can’t sleep because you’re so pumped to play. The next morning, you see two of your mates on the range, but where’s your fourth? That’s when your phone buzzes and you get the text nearly ev- ery golfer has read before: “Hey, guys, I have to bail. Sorry.” You are well within your rights to stuff a heavy rock in his golf bag the next time you see him or put him in time out from your rotation, but you still have a problem – you need four to make your wager work. What do you do? Fear not, fellow gamblers, we have the game you need when four becomes three. It’s called “9-point,” “Nine” or “5- 3-1.” It’s all the same game. Here’s how it works: NUMBER OF PLAYERS REQUIRED: Three (duh). BEST FOR: Groups with a golfer who flakes – a lot. Players who don’t treat score like it’s life and death. Golfers of all skill levels who want action on every hole. Folks who can quickly rebound from one or two bad holes. HOW TO PLAY: Each hole is worth nine points, and you assign a value to each point (say, R10). Each hole is its own nine-point match with the lowest score on the hole (it can be net or gross, your choice) earning five points, the second- lowest score getting three points and the highest score taking one. If there are ties on the hole, you add up the combined points and divide them by the number of players who tied. For ex- ample, if Player A and Player B make a 4
on a hole and Player C makes a 5, Play- ers A and B receive four points each (5+3/2=4) and Player C gets one point. In
on every hole (54 points) and Player C finished last on every hole (18 points), and the points were worth R10, Player C would pay Player A R720 and Player B R360. Player B would pay Player A R360 (his winnings from Player C). VARIATIONS: “Casino 9-point” allows the player in last place to assign a new value to points on the final few holes (that could get ugly). Another version rewards anyone who wins a hole by two or more shots. That golfer takes all nine points. You could add bonuses for bird- ies or even give a golfer who wins three holes in a row a “hat trick.” If you have any golf games or variations of golf games we haven’t covered and you’d like to explain, feel free to reach out to me on X @CPowers14 .
NINE AND DIME Play well and you’ll leave the course with quite a bit of cash.
the event all three players tie a hole, they each receive 3 points (3+3+3/3=3) – or none because it’s a wash. Repeat this process on every hole and keep a point tally (tip: use the bottom of the scorecard). At the end of the round, the golfer with the fewest points pays the other two golfers the difference in point totals. The second-place finisher pays the player with the most points the difference in their tallies, too. The most extreme example of how a payout would look: If Player A won every hole (90 points), Player B finished second
20 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025
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