To those who love to bet golf- Golf Bet Format: 'Olympics'

Hi there guys. I've been playing quite a bit of golf with Japanese people and have come to know of a game that I don't hear Singaporeans talk about - so, just wanna share this interesting and fun betting format with all. Maybe some people know of this already but no harm introducing still I guess, so here goes:

A fun and exciting game that may be played amongst most players of varying handicaps and ‘reasonable ability’ (particularly challenging for a group of SBs!) – mostly short-game related. This is a points-based system where bet$ may be settled simplistically or via a calculations method – depending on the group of players’ preferences. This will be explained at the end, after the points award system is explained.

# Disclaimer: This format may be slightly confusing at first but is really worth the effort in understanding! #


Olympic Points System
“Gathering” of points are primarily related to a player’s short-game performance. As a start, we have the “putt-for-dough” concept where each player tries to one-putt to get points.

[According to About.com(golf): In Putt-for-Dough, the object is to make putts. But the key is to 1-putt & every 1-putt is worth a set amount of points. The amount of points is determined by the distance of the putt. Point values are 4, 3, 2 and 1. The member of the foursome who is farthest from the cup, once all members are on the green, gets 4 points if he 1-putts. The next player up gets 3 points for a 1-putt, the next 2 and the closest to the hole gets 1 point for a 1-putt.]

The Japanese name these putts slightly similarly to the Olympic Medals – thus the name of this game betting format. The 4point putt (i.e. amongst the foursome, furthest away from the hole) is named “Gold” putt; 3pt putt named “Silver”, 2pt putt called “Bronze” and 1pt putt is called the “Iron” putt. Usually, the “Iron” putt is due to a near-pin chip for an easy tap-in to secure this one pointer.

The points gained in this manner are thus, relative to each player’s distance from the hole and not the according to the absolute distance. Meaning that a person can get a tap-in “Gold” putt if the three other players happen to all chip the ball very near the hole, while his ball is just slightly further away.

The next obvious achievement to earn players points would be a chip-in (may also be putted into the hole – as long as the ball was not on the green and then holed from there). This is known as a “Diamond” and is worth 5 points. Since a player has holed out from a chip already, the remaining Olympic putts will be termed “Gold”, “Silver” and “Bronze” (i.e. 4pts, 3pts and 2 pts). If two players had a chip-in, then only left "Gold" and "Silver" putts.

Sandies or sand-saves (i.e. getting an up-and-down from a greenside bunker) are worth 3 points additional. It does not matter how many strokes in total you took for that hole (e.g. triple-bogey still OK). Note that this gives you points in addition to your “Olympic” putt. Also, a chip-in (hole out) from bunker is considered both a ‘sandie’ and a ‘diamond’ – awarding 8pts in total (3+5pts). FYI, Japanese call the this “tsuna-ichi” (‘tsuna’ means sand, and ‘ichi’ mean one)

Birdies also entitle a player to an added 3 points while Eagles are worth 6pts (the group can choose to allocate more points to this miracle as well is they want to).

For Par 3s, additional 3 points per Par 3 hole are up for grabs based on Near-Pin. This means that the player who lands his/her tee shot onto the green and is the nearest to the flag/hole amongst the group get a chance at securing the 3 points allocated to that Par 3 hole. All he/she has to do is hole out within 2-putts (i.e. obtain a par or better). This near-pin bonus does not get stolen even if another player holes out with a birdie putt from the green with a ball that had landed further away (but he gets the birdie bonus points and also a better Olympic medal). However, this Near-Pin bonus may be nullified by a different method! In the event that any player in the group is able to scramble for Par or below when he/she did not get a GIR, the Near-Pin award gets extinguished. This is sometime called the “Fire Extinguisher”. Par 3s that do not have a Near-Pin winner or had a Win extinguishers will have its allocated bonus points carried forward to the next Par 3 and so forth (i.e. next Par 3 Near –Pin is worth 6 points).

For an added dose of excitement, a concept similar to “Shazam” is also included. The Japanese call it “sau” (means flagpole). Basically, once a player has reached the green and at any time before he putts, he may declare a “sau” to the group. One prerequisite is that the ball has to be further than a flag-stick length away from the hole (otherwise that’s too easy!). Once a “sau” is declared, that player who declared it will try to one-putt that ball in order to get a bonus 3 points, in addition to whatever Olympic it is also worth. If he 2-putts, then nothing happens. But if he three-putts, then he’ll be penalized with a demerit of minus (-)3 points. Some may play -3 points for three-putts or more; while others allocate additional 3 demerits for each additional mis-putt (latter seems more common). Thus, this is a risk-reward gamble – do you firm a putt for bonus points or do you lag it safely?

Then, we have a unique bonus system (mirrored from Japanese mahjong) for the Olympic medals to spice things up.

First, we have the “kan” (which is the four-of-a-kind in mahjong) where a bonus is given when a set of four same-type medals (“diamond, gold, silver, bronze or iron”) are earned. The added bonus points earned is four times that Olympic medal is worth (e.g. four “Silver” putts earn you 3x4= 12 points, which is in addition to the 3pts you just got from that fourth “Silver” putt). Diamonds are entitled to a “kan” bonus too (if someone can actually have four chip-ins in a round!).

Then, there is the “straight” (like the “straights” in a poker hand). Bonus points are awarded for obtaining a set of “diamond, gold, silver, bronze and iron” medals. Straights are worth 20 added bonus points.

[Please note that each complete set of “kan” or “straight” awards a separate bonus. Thus, 2 “kans” give one bonus EACH and if a “kan” shares a certain medal with a “straight” it is OK.]

Points award summary (for easy quick check)
-Diamond (chip-in from outside green): 5pts
-Gold (furthest 1st putt): 4pts
-Silver (second furthest 1st putt): 3pts
-Bronze (third furthest 1st putt): 2pts
-Iron (nearest 1st putt): 1pt
-Birdie: 3pts
-Eagle: 6pts
-Near-Pin (for Par 3s): 3pts [can be carried over if no takers or if extinguished]
-Sandie (up-and-down from greenside bunker): 3pts
-Sau (one-putt declaration if further than flagstick distance): 3pts, nothing or minus 3pts (for 1-putt, 2-putts and 3-putts respectively)
-“Kan” (four-of-a-kind): gives additional four times the points that the medal is worth (“diamond, gold, silver, bronze or iron”)
-“Straight” (obtaining a set of “diamond, gold, silver, bronze and iron” medals): additional bonus of 20pts

Calculation of Bets Settlement
For a simple game, the players can just total their points accumulated and assign first, second, third and last places accordingly, with the last-placed player paying the first-placed a fixed amount (e.g. $10); while the 3rd placed player pays the 2nd placed player a smaller amount (e.g. $5). For players that tie in points, the group may pre-determine how to allocate winnings/losses (e.g. Two players tied for 1st place share the $15 dollars from the 3rd and 4th placed players). This game format allows for a cap on losses since the amount changing hands are pre-determined.

On the other hand, a more interesting settlement method can be adopted (this is more common among the Japanese). To avoid confusion, let’s differentiate between the terms “points” and “score” – where “score” will be the eventual dollar settlement figure. In effect, this method accounts for the actual differences in points gained by each player and thus, rewards those that gain many points, while penalizing those with little or no points (since anyone with more points than another player stands to win money from him/her). A short-cut to calculate the multi-way payouts will ease settlement. Steps in calculating your eventual winnings/losses are as follow:

1) Total up all the points accumulated by each player after the game (let’s call this number ‘A’). [E.g. Kim gets 12points, John gets 8pts, Sam gets 6pts and Tom gets 2pts. Thus, total points = 12+8+6+2 = 28pts].

2) Each player multiplies his/her own points accumulated by 4 (let’s call this figure “B” such that each player has his own “B” figure). [E.g. Kim above multiplies his 12pts by 4 to obtain 12 x 4 = 48pts = B_kim. Also, B_john=32; B_sam=24; and B_tom=8]

3) Each player can then find out his “score” winnings or losses by subtracting “A” from his own “B” figure (let’s call this “C” such that each has his own “score C”). Thus (B – A = C) and each unit score is worth one dollar$:
a. C_kim = B_kim – A = 48 – 28 = (+) 20; this means that Kim won $20 in total
b. C_john = 32 – 28 = (+) 4; meaning John won $4
c. C_sam = 24 – 28 = (-) 4; so Sam lost $4
d. C_tom = 8 – 28 = (-)20; meaning Tom lost $20


It should be noted that the second method can result in either very little money changing hands (a few dollars) or a slightly significant sum (if it’s a crazy day, but it’s seldom more than $70 outflow per person).


Hope this format can add to your fun and excitement on the golf course! Cheers.

Bro, u might not known that there is alot of Olympians in this forum and the two of the highly skilled Olympians is none other than the shipments as the maestro of posting aka ccc.

Haha, oh really ah? Sorry sorry, maybe it's me that's sua-gu... Heh. But this game really sibeh fun man. Like horse racing... One hole can put the last person into the lead suddenly! And sometimes luck also plays a good part!

Recent game during weekend was most challenging Olympic I've played to date - despite only 3 ball. The late charges and all made it damn fierce... Haha

So chim .....

Cut throat better .... $3 a hole ...

Ya, it seems chim in the beginning and I was so confused by how to count but this game is really fun and at the same time, beneficial for short game improvement. Then again, those who always GIR will lose ou a bit since they are left with longer putts (usually)...

duffader wrote:

Bro, u might not known that there is alot of Olympians in this forum and the two of the highly skilled Olympians is none other than the shipments as the maestro of posting aka ccc.

The olympian is my LC bro Jimmychoo lah, 15 points is a lousy day for him liao, there was once he had like 34 points on olympic i tio chuak thought he was playing stableford.

Haha... Wah that's damn crazy man... How to get 34pts??? I was damn lucky last week, had 2 chip-ins and one birdie only reach 18pts... 34pts nearly double leh, his short game machiam PGA level liao sia.. Haha

out of so many games, I still like Vegas the most, it really makes you focus on your game to obtain the lowest possible score

JC must have purposedly aimed at all the greenside bunker and accumulate all the sandies

TObe wrote:

Haha... Wah that's damn crazy man... How to get 34pts??? I was damn lucky last week, had 2 chip-ins and one birdie only reach 18pts... 34pts nearly double leh, his short game machiam PGA level liao sia.. Haha

TObe, you are right, we also play chip-ins/birdies 5 points and we also play "fireman" ie: if its a par 3 and he is 1 on and the rest did not save par, he gets another 5 points. That said, even without chip-ins, birdies and fireman, he usually rakes in at least 20 points alone and most of the time he is not very happy with that result.

If you think about it, lets say average out to be 2 points per hole, to make 20 points, he is only making 10 out of the 18 putts on 1st attempt. Yes, he is that good.

watermyforrest wrote:

JC must have purposedly aimed at all the greenside bunker and accumulate all the sandies

WMF, among our regular group we don't award additional points for sandies, if we did i think JC will be looking at maybe 50 points.

OMG... that's inhuman!!! [Note to self: Do not ever join these guys for social game.]
Oh, so fireman got extra 5pts too? ic...

wah, 10 one-putts and assuming others are 2-putts, that's like only 26 putts!!! TOUR LEVEL SIA!

zhenxua wrote:

out of so many games, I still like Vegas the most, it really makes you focus on your game to obtain the lowest possible score

I agree....that's a gambling game. You can't choke when you play Vegas if not you will pay big time.