Golf games
Parful runs thisBanker
Also called Banker golf game, The Bank.
Banker is a golf betting game for three or four players in which one player, the banker, plays a separate one-unit bet against each of the others on every hole. The player with the outright lowest score on a hole takes the bank for the next hole; a tie for low leaves the bank where it is.
- Players
- 3 or 4, in one group
- Scoring basis
- Gross or net (net by default)
- Bets per hole
- One head-to-head between the banker and each other player
- Units
- Beat the banker +1, lose to the banker -1, tie 0
- The bank
- Goes to the outright low score on the hole; a tie for low retains
- Hole 1
- The first player in the order set at creation banks
How Banker works
One player holds the bank on each hole. The banker is in a separate match against every other player for that hole: whoever scores lower wins one unit from the other, and equal scores are a tie worth nothing. With four players the banker has three bets riding on the hole and can win or lose up to three units, while each opponent has exactly one bet, against the banker only. Opponents never bet against each other.
After the hole the bank moves. The player with the outright lowest score on the hole is the banker for the next hole. If two or more players share the lowest score, the bank stays with the current banker. A banker who keeps winning holes outright keeps the bank; a banker who is beaten hands it to whoever beat them, provided that player was the only one to score the low.
On the first hole the bank belongs to the first player in the order set when the game is created. From then on the scores alone decide who holds it.
Counting the units
Every bet is one unit, so the arithmetic is small and the ledger is always zero-sum. The banker's result on a hole is the sum of the head-to-heads: three wins is +3, two wins and a loss is +1, a win, a loss and a tie is 0. Each opponent's result is +1, -1 or 0 from their single bet.
The bank is the whole game. Holding it on a good hole earns from everyone at once; holding it on a bad hole pays everyone. Over eighteen holes the units accumulate into a total per player, and the highest total wins.
Try it
Can we play Banker in our format?
Derived from the same compatibility rules the scorecard uses, so it cannot drift from the product.
Own ball, individual
Available
Four-ball, best ball, counted scores
Available
Shamble, bramble, cha cha cha
Available
Scramble, foursomes, greensomes, chapman
Needs a score per player; this format keeps one per side
Where the game is won
The banker is exposed on every hole and the opponents are not, so the game rewards taking the bank on holes that suit you and being happy to lose it on holes that do not. A short par 3 where everyone makes par is a safe hole to bank; a long par 4 into the wind is where a banker pays three. Because a tie for low retains the bank, two opponents matching each other's birdies does not move it, which protects a banker who scrambles a par.
How Parful scores it
A member starts Banker from the group scorecard for three or four players in the same group and taps the players in order. The first player tapped banks hole 1. After that the bank follows the scores: the outright low on a hole takes it, a tie for low retains it, and the order set at creation is not consulted again. Gross or net is set at creation; net uses each player's handicap strokes from their Course Handicap™ on each hole.
The banker on every hole and the units from every head-to-head are derived from the hole scores; there is nothing extra to record. Parful walks the holes in order and stops at the first hole where any player in the game has no score, so the current banker shown on the card is always the true holder and never a guess. A corrected score replays the whole history of the bank from hole 1.
Standings show each player's units and the number of holes on which they banked; equal units share a position. A stake per unit can be attached. Parful shows who owes whom at the end and never moves money. Banker works on any format where each player records their own hole score, including four-ball and shamble; it is not available on a scramble, foursomes, greensomes or chapman.
Worked example
A worked example: six holes, four players, net
Ana, Ben, Cal and Dee play net Banker. Ana was tapped first, so she banks hole 1. Net scores are shown.
| Hole | Banker | Ana | Ben | Cal | Dee | Head-to-heads | Units (Ana, Ben, Cal, Dee) | Next banker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ana | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | Ben loses, Cal ties, Dee loses | +2, -1, 0, -1 | Ana and Cal tie for low: Ana retains |
| 2 | Ana | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | Ben wins, Cal wins, Dee ties | -2, +1, +1, 0 | Ben and Cal tie for low: Ana retains |
| 3 | Ana | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Ben wins, Cal ties, Dee loses | 0, +1, 0, -1 | Ben, outright low |
| 4 | Ben | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | Ana ties, Cal wins, Dee loses | 0, 0, +1, -1 | Cal, outright low |
| 5 | Cal | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Ana wins, Ben ties, Dee ties | +1, 0, -1, 0 | Ana, outright low |
| 6 | Ana | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | Ben loses, Cal loses, Dee loses | +3, -1, -1, -1 | Ana, outright low |
- On hole 2 Ana keeps the bank even though Ben and Cal both beat her, because they tied for low. She pays each of them one unit and holds the bank for hole 3.
- On hole 3 Ben's 4 is the only score under 5, so he takes the bank outright for hole 4 and immediately loses it to Cal's 3.
- Hole 6 is what banking is for: Ana's 4 beats all three opponents and she collects 3 units on a single hole.
Common variants
- Holed out first
- On a tie for low, the bank goes to whichever of the tied players holed out first. Parful retains the bank on a tie, because the order of holing out is not recorded on the card.
- Banker doubles
- The banker can double the stake on a hole before anyone tees off, and an opponent can double back. Parful plays every bet at one unit with no doubling.
- Rotating bank
- The bank passes in a fixed rotation regardless of scores. Parful uses the fixed order for hole 1 only; after that the outright low takes the bank.
- Money per unit
- A stake per unit is the normal way to settle. Parful can carry the stake on the game, shows who owes whom at the end and never moves money.