The Scotch golf game also known as 5-point scotch is a great game to play for those golfing in a foursome. It works by breaking the foursome into teams of two. These two teams compete on each hole over five different side bets. These side bets are as follows.
Low net score – 1 point
Lowest total putts – 1 point
Total low net score – 1 point
Scoring a net birdie – 1 point
Closest to the pin in regulation – 1 point
The golfers will play out each hole on their own as they typically would in stroke play. Then once the hole is complete points are awarded to whichever team won the bets.
Though instead of receiving all the points you won, you must subtract the points the other team scored. Once you’ve done this you will add that number to your score and the opponent would stay at zero.
EX: On hole one team A gets four points and Team B gets one point.
The score after the hole would be Team A: 3 Team B: 0
Once the round is complete the team that has the higher point total is declared the winner.
6-Point Scotch Variation
As you may have noticed the scoring system of the scotch golf game consists of five points that can be won on each hole. For this reason, the game is often called five-point scotch. And like many other golf games out there, there are variations.
The most popular variation of this game is called 6-point scotch. So this game, as you may have guessed, awards six points on each hole to the golfers. Those six points are awarded as follows.
Total low net score – 2 points
Low net score – 2 points
Scoring a net birdie – 1 point
Closest to the pin in regulation – 1 point
Aside from the slight change to scoring this variation is exactly the same as the original.
Who Is It For
One great aspect of the scotch golf game is that it can be played by golfers of just about any skill level. Hence the majority of the points awarded on each hole taking handicap into affect.
What we mean by that is, when you are deciding who won low net score you are taking into account both players handicap. Therefore this allows for a much more even playing field even if the golfers have vastly different handicap ratings.
The only scoring section that doesn’t account for handicap is the number of putts. Having this system will give low handicappers a slight advantage in this portion of the game.
That being said the Scotch golf game is a fantastic choice. Especially if you are choosing a golf game for a foursome with varying skill levels. So don’t be shy and bring up this golf game next time you’re on the course.
