Ask a golfer to name two money games and you'll hear the Nassau and skins, in that order. The Nassau is the workhorse; skins is the drama. One hole, one pot, winner takes it outright, and when nobody wins the pot rolls forward and the next tee box suddenly matters twice as much. It's the format that made made-for-TV golf work for 25 years, and it's the easiest game in golf to explain on the 1st tee.
A skins game in golf awards each hole a fixed value (a "skin") to the player or team that wins the hole outright. Tied holes carry over in most groups, stacking their value onto the next hole, so one clutch putt late in the round can claim three or four skins at once.
How to play skins in golf: the basic rules
- Every hole is worth one skin. Before the round, agree what a skin is worth: $1, $5, a point, whatever the group plays for.
- Win the hole outright to take the skin. Lowest score alone wins. If two or more players tie for low, nobody wins the hole.
- Tied holes carry over. In the standard game, an unwon skin rolls onto the next hole. Halve the 3rd and 4th, and the 5th is worth three skins.
- Settle at the end. Count skins won, multiply by the value, and settle the differences.
That's the whole game. A golf skins match needs no handicap math mid-round, no match state to track, no partners. It's why skins shows up everywhere from muni weekend games to buddies-trip finales.
Carryover or no carryover
The one rule that changes the game's personality, so agree on it before the first tee:
| Version | Tied hole | Feel |
|---|---|---|
| Carryover (standard) | Skin rolls onto the next hole | Streaky, dramatic, big swings late |
| No carryover (dead skins) | Skin is simply void | Steady, low variance, every hole self-contained |
Carryover is the classic for a reason: a round of tight halves builds a pot that turns a quiet back nine electric. No-carryover suits groups who want the money spread evenly rather than dumped on whoever happens to birdie the right hole.
Validation and other house rules
- Validation: some groups require the skin winner to "validate" by tying or winning the next hole; fail, and the skin goes back in the pot. It punishes one lucky hole-out and rewards sustained play. Less common, more arguments; decide up front.
- Whole-field ties: in a threesome or foursome, remember it takes an outright win. A birdie that matches another birdie wins nothing; the deflation is part of the fun.
- Valued skins: instead of every hole being equal, weight them: par 5s worth two, the 18th worth double. Fine, but the bookkeeping grows fast.
- Back-nine doubling: some groups double skin value on the back nine. It keeps players who blanked the front interested, the same job a press does in match games.
Handicaps in skins
Play it gross in an even group; play it net when abilities differ. Net skins works exactly like net anything: the higher-handicap players take their strokes on the card's hardest holes, and the skin goes to the lowest net score, outright. One warning from experience: net skins with full handicaps can hand a mid-handicapper a tap-in net eagle on a stroke hole, so many groups play skins at half or three-quarter handicap. Agree before, not after.
Skins with 2, 3, or 4 players
Skins scales to any count, which is why it's a staple answer to what to play with 3 players:
- 2 players: works, but most twosomes prefer match play; every halved hole in a twosome carries, so pots build fast.
- 3 players: the sweet spot. No partner politics, and a three-way tie is rare enough that skins actually get won.
- 4+ players: classic foursome game, and it runs happily alongside a team match: best ball 2v2 for the match, individual skins on the side.
Where skins came from
Golfers have played versions of the game for a century under names like "cats" and "syndicates," but skins became a household word on Thanksgiving weekend 1983, when the first made-for-TV Skins Game put Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and Tom Watson on Desert Highlands with escalating six-figure skins. The event ran every year through 2008, and its rhythm (carried pots, one hole deciding three, a putt worth more than the last four combined) is exactly the rhythm your $5 weekend game inherits.
Skins strategy, such as it is
- Aggression pays. Skins rewards outright wins, not steady halves. The birdie putt you'd lag in a match, you run at in skins.
- Know when the pot is live. Two carried skins change the math on laying up. The whole group should know what the hole is worth before anyone tees off.
- Par wins skins too. On a brutal hole, everyone else making bogey means your two-putt par takes the pot. Skins aren't only won with circles on the card.
Running skins in Press Tracker
Press Tracker runs a skins pot alongside any match. Flip on Skins when you set up the game, set the per-hole stake, and choose carryover or not; from there it's automatic. The app requires a strict outright win (ties carry, or die, per your setting), works across stroke play, match play, and Stableford scoring (highest points takes the skin), and handles 2- or 3-team games. The live scorecard badges each skin as it's won, marks carried holes, and keeps a per-team skins count and net; if the round ends with a pot still carrying, it's shown as unclaimed rather than quietly vanishing. Friends spectating live watch the pot build in real time, and the finished round's skins land in the recap with everything else.
And because skins is a pot game rather than a match game, presses stay where they belong: on your Nassau and match play games, running right next to the skins pot with one running net across all of it.
Press Tracker is a scorekeeping companion for entertainment use only. It does not accept, hold, or process money; dollar figures are illustrative. New to the money-game menu? Start with golf side games for the full field guide.
Frequently asked questions
- How do you play a skins game in golf?
- Every hole is worth one skin at an agreed value. The player or team with the outright lowest score on the hole wins the skin; if the low score is tied, nobody wins it. In the standard game the unwon skin carries over, adding its value to the next hole. At the end of the round, skins are counted and settled.
- What happens when a hole is tied in a skins game?
- In the standard carryover version, the skin rolls onto the next hole, so that hole is now worth two skins, and carries keep stacking until someone wins a hole outright. In the no-carryover version, a tied hole's skin is simply void. Agree which version you're playing before the round.
- How do you play skins with 3 players?
- Exactly like the four-player game: outright low score on the hole takes the skin, ties carry. Three is arguably the best count for skins, because outright wins come often enough to pay off the carried pots but not so often that the drama disappears. No partners or teams are needed.
- What is validation in a skins game?
- A house rule where winning a skin isn't final until the winner validates it by tying or winning the next hole. Fail to validate, and the skin returns to the pot. It rewards sustained play over a single lucky hole, but it adds bookkeeping and arguments, so most casual groups skip it.
- How do handicaps work in skins?
- Net skins gives the higher-handicap players their strokes on the card's allocated holes, and the outright lowest net score takes the skin. Because a full-stroke hole can hand out easy net wins, many groups play net skins at half or three-quarter handicap. Even-ability groups just play it gross.
- Can you press in a skins game?
- Not traditionally. A press is a match-play mechanism: it opens a new match when a side falls behind, and skins has no match state to fall behind in. What groups actually do is run skins alongside a pressable match game. In Press Tracker, a skins pot runs next to your Nassau or match play games, with presses living on the match games and one running net across everything.
- What is the difference between skins and a Nassau?
- A Nassau is three match-play matches (front nine, back nine, overall) between fixed sides, won by holes up and down. Skins has no sides and no running match: every hole is its own winner-take-all pot, and a tied hole rolls its value forward. Plenty of groups play both at once, since they reward different things.