Ask any regular weekend group what they're playing for and the answer, more often than not, is a Nassau. It has been golf's default game for over a century because it solves the one problem every other format has: nobody gets buried early. Three separate matches live inside every round, and the second one doesn't start until the 10th tee.
Here's everything you need to run one: the rules, the payouts, the history, and the press mechanics that turn a friendly $5 Nassau into the most interesting five dollars in sports.
What is a Nassau?
A Nassau is three matches played inside one round of golf:
- The front nine, holes 1–9 as a standalone match
- The back nine, holes 10–18 as a standalone match
- The overall, all 18 holes as a third match
Each of the three carries the same stakes. When someone proposes a "$5 Nassau," that means $5 riding on the front, $5 on the back, and $5 on the 18. That's a maximum of $15 in play before any presses. The classic mention you'll hear in clubhouses is the "$2 Nassau," also called 2-2-2: the game's traditional entry point.
Nearly every Nassau is played as match play: each hole is won, lost, or halved, and what matters is the match score (1-up, 2-down, all square), not the total strokes. A triple bogey costs you exactly one hole, which is precisely why the game stays friendly.
The three matches, hole by hole
The front nine match ends on the 9th green, full stop. Whoever is up wins that leg; if it's halved, most groups call it a push. Then something great happens on the 10th tee: everyone is all square again. The back nine is a brand-new match, no matter how ugly the front was.
The overall match runs quietly underneath all 18 holes. It's possible (common, even) to lose the front, win the back, and take the overall on the last hole. That comeback arc is the whole personality of the game.
A worked example
Say you and a buddy play a $5 Nassau, straight up:
| Match | Result | Money |
|---|---|---|
| Front 9 | You lose 2&1 | −$5 |
| Back 9 | You win 1-up | +$5 |
| Overall 18 | You win on the 18th | +$5 |
| Net | +$5 |
You were 2 down early, never panicked, and walked off plus-five. No other golf game forgives a bad start like this one.
Where the Nassau came from
The game is named for Nassau Country Club on Long Island, New York, where it appeared in the early 1900s. The story handed down is that Nassau's members, some of them prominent names who didn't enjoy seeing "lost 8&7" printed next to their names in the results, adopted a scoring system where the worst possible loss on any leg was simply "3-down": front, back, and overall. Lose everything and the damage still reads like a close afternoon. The format protected egos, and it turned out to protect the competition too. It spread everywhere.
Why golfers love it
- The back nine reset. A blowout front nine doesn't kill the day: the 10th tee is a clean slate on two of the three matches.
- Match play forgiveness. One disaster hole costs one hole, not the round.
- It scales. Singles, 2v2 team best ball, or three-ball: the three-match structure doesn't change.
- Handicaps fit naturally. Strokes are given hole-by-hole where the card says, so mixed-skill groups stay competitive.
- It's pressable. The Nassau is the native habitat of the press, the side match that keeps the losing team swinging.
Presses: where the Nassau gets interesting
A press is a new match, at the same stakes, that starts when a team falls behind, by convention when they go 2 down on any of the three Nassau legs. The original match keeps running; the press stacks on top of it. Go 2 down on the front, press, and now two matches are live on holes 4 through 9.
Presses can be pressed. A $5 Nassau with an aggressive group can have four or five simultaneous matches running by the 16th hole, and the arithmetic stops being casual. That complexity is its own subject; we wrote a full guide to how presses and press chains work.
Agree before the first tee whether presses are automatic at 2 down (the cleanest convention) or offered manually, and whether the 18th-hole re-press is allowed.
Common variations
| Variation | How it changes the game |
|---|---|
| Team Nassau (2v2 best ball) | The standard foursome format: each team counts its better score per hole |
| Three-ball Nassau | Three individual matches at once, or one-vs-two |
| Stroke-play Nassau | Total strokes per nine instead of match play; less forgiving |
| Stableford Nassau | Points per nine; pairs well with big handicap spreads |
| Backside doubles | Back-nine stakes double the front, for groups who like a late sweat |
Running a Nassau in Press Tracker
Press Tracker was built around exactly this game. Set up a match and the Front 9, Back 9, and Total run as separate pressable side games automatically: pick your play format, set illustrative dollar amounts per game, and enter one score per team per hole. Turn on automatic presses and the app fires them for you, tracking every chain, standing, and running net across all of it in a live press log. No scorecard-margin math, no 19th-hole forensics.
Press Tracker is a scorekeeping companion for entertainment use only. It does not accept, hold, or process money. The dollar figures it tracks are illustrative.
Frequently asked questions
- What does 2-2-2 mean in a Nassau?
- It's shorthand for the stakes on the three separate matches inside a Nassau: $2 on the front nine, $2 on the back nine, and $2 on the overall 18-hole match. A "$5 Nassau" works the same way with $5 riding on each of the three.
- Is a Nassau match play or stroke play?
- Traditionally match play: each hole is won, lost, or halved, and the match score (like 2-up) is what matters. Some groups run stroke-play or Stableford Nassaus instead; the three-match structure stays the same.
- How much can you win or lose on a $5 Nassau?
- Without presses, your maximum exposure is $15: losing the front, the back, and the overall. Presses are what multiply that number: each press is a brand-new side match at the same stakes.
- Can three players or teams play a Nassau?
- Yes. Three-ball Nassaus run as three simultaneous head-to-head matches, or as one player against the other two. Team Nassaus (2v2, usually best ball) are the most common format for a foursome.
- What happens if a nine is halved?
- Most groups treat a halved segment as a push: no money changes hands on that leg. Agree on this before the first tee, along with whether presses are automatic.