Skins

The classic side game: every hole is worth a skin, and you have to win the hole outright to claim it. Ties don't split — they spoil, or they carry.

How it works

Each hole is a skin. The player with the sole lowest score on a hole wins that skin. If two or more players tie for low, nobody wins it — and depending on your group's rules, the skin either dies or carries over, stacking onto the next hole. Carryovers are where the drama lives: three halved holes in a row and suddenly the par-3 is worth four skins and everyone's hands are sweating.

Hole 4: Aaron 4 · Blake 4 · Cam 5  → tied, skin carries
Hole 5: Aaron 5 · Blake 4 · Cam 4  → tied, carries again
Hole 6: Aaron 3 · Blake 4 · Cam 5  → Aaron wins 3 skins

Net or gross

Gross skins is raw scores — simple, brutal for high handicappers. Net skins applies each player's handicap strokes hole by hole (via the stroke index), so everyone can realistically win a skin. In skins games, players conventionally take their full course handicap against the course. Details in the handicaps guide.

Skins with teams

Playing a team format alongside skins? Then skins go by team: the winning team takes the hole's skin from the losing team(s) — and teammates never owe each other. A tie between teams spoils or carries, same as ever.

When someone leaves early

Skins is a per-hole game, so it follows per-hole logic: the players who are there compete for the skins that remain. Leave after 15, and holes 16–18 belong to whoever's still standing — you can't win them and you can't spoil them. That's the standard convention, and yes, it means the folks who finish get a few extra swings at the pot. That's the reward for staying.

Bogey Logger is a score tracking and record-keeping tool only. It does not facilitate, process, or endorse gambling or monetary transactions. Any stakes or arrangements between players are made entirely at their own discretion and risk, and players are responsible for compliance with the laws of their jurisdiction.