Vegas
Two against two on gross: each pair’s two scores are written as one number, the lower ball first, and the difference between the two numbers is the swing on the hole.
- 4 players
- Own ball
- Pairs
How it’s scored
- Both partners hole out. The pair’s number is the two scores side by side, lower first: a 4 and a 5 are 45.
- A double figure goes second and makes a three-figure number: a 4 and a 10 are 410. That is the game, and it is why one blow-up hurts.
- The two numbers are subtracted and the difference goes to the pair with the lower one. 45 against 57 is twelve points.
- Gross throughout. No shots, no allowance — the pair with the better two balls has the better number.
- Optional house rule: a birdie or better reverses the opposition’s number, so their 57 becomes 75. Off unless your group turns it on.
Worked · Ellis & Pike v Taylor & Hartley, holes 1–3
- 1Par 44 and 5 = 45 · 5 and 5 = 55Ellis & Pike win 10
- 2Par 45 and 6 = 56 · 4 and 4 = 44Taylor & Hartley win 12
- 3Par 54 and 10 = 410 · 5 and 6 = 56Taylor & Hartley win 354
Ellis & Pike have won 10, Taylor & Hartley 366. Taylor & Hartley lead by 356, and all of it came off one 10 on the third.
Handicaps
None at all. Vegas is played on gross scores, so the card carries no shot dots and the allowance field is not shown. Your own stableford still runs off the same card, off your full handicap.
Good for
- Players
- Four, two a side
- Handicaps
- Narrow — it is gross, so a wide spread is a long afternoon
- When
- The last day, for money, when the group knows each other’s games
Set it up in score70
- Set Up the Day → Vegas
- Pick the two pairs, and say whether birdies flip
Free. Only the organiser signs up; everyone else opens the link.
The fine print
Why is a 10 not just a 10?
Because the lower ball always leads. A 4 and a 10 are 410, not 104 and not 44, so a single blow-up costs the pair three hundred and something. Tidying that up would be a different, duller game, so the app writes down what the rule says.
What does the flip actually do?
With it on, a birdie or better by one pair reverses the other pair’s number: their 5 and 7 stop being 57 and become 75. It is off by default, because a group that has not agreed the rule has not agreed it, and a swing nobody expected is an argument on the next tee.
When does a hole count?
Once all four balls are in. Half a pair’s number is not a number, and a total that lurched when the fourth phone caught up would be worse than one that arrives a hole late.
Is the match ever closed out?
No. One 10 is three hundred points, so nothing here is ever out of reach and the app never tells a group to stop playing.