Golf games
Parful runs thisNassau
Also called Nassau bet, 2-2-2.
A Nassau is three golf bets in one round: the front nine, the back nine and the full eighteen. Each bet is settled on its own, so a player can win the front, lose the back and still take the overall. In Parful each leg goes to the lowest total, gross or net, and a tie splits the leg.
- Players
- 2 or more, anyone in the outing, any group
- Bets
- Three: front 9, back 9, overall 18
- Scoring basis
- Lowest total per leg, gross or net (net by default)
- Points
- 1 per leg by default; each leg can be set from 1 to 10
- Ties
- Tied players split the leg's points equally
- Eligibility
- A player must complete every hole of a leg to win it
How a Nassau works
A Nassau splits the round into three separate contests. The front bet covers holes 1 to 9, the back bet covers holes 10 to 18, and the overall bet covers all eighteen. Each bet has its own winner and its own stake. The classic 2-2-2 Nassau puts two dollars on each leg, so the most a player can win or lose against one opponent is six.
The three legs are independent. Winning the front does nothing for the back, and the overall is decided on the full eighteen-hole total rather than on who won more nines. A player who loses the front by five and wins the back by one still loses the overall.
In its traditional form a Nassau is played as match play between two players. In Parful each leg goes to the lowest total for that stretch of holes, which lets any number of players join the same Nassau. That is the version this page describes; the match play form is listed under variants.
Settling each leg
Parful adds each player's scores for the holes in the leg, gross or net as chosen when the game was created. The lowest total wins the leg's points. When two or more players share the lowest total, the leg's points are divided equally between them: a one-point leg tied by two players pays a half point each, and tied by three pays a third each.
A player is only in the running for a leg after completing every hole in it. Until then the leg shows no winner, so an in-progress outing never awards the front nine to whoever happened to start first. A player who skips or picks up on a hole in a leg is not eligible for that leg but can still win the others.
Each leg is worth one point by default. The creator can set the front, back and overall to any value from 1 to 10, so an overall worth 2 with the nines worth 1 each is a common way to make the full round count more.
Try it
Can we play Nassau 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
Nine-hole outings
On a nine-hole outing only the front leg runs. The back and overall legs would both cover the same nine holes and double-count the result, so Parful skips them. The game becomes a single bet on the lowest nine-hole total.
How Parful scores it
A member starts a Nassau from the group scorecard and chooses anyone in the outing, in any group. Gross or net is set at creation; net uses each player's handicap strokes from their Course Handicap™ on each hole. The point values for the three legs are set at the same time and lock when the game is created.
There is nothing to enter during the round beyond the hole scores. Standings show each leg's current low total and, once every player in the leg has finished it, the winner or the tied winners with their shares. Points from the three legs are added into one total per player, and players with equal totals share a position. A corrected score reruns all three legs.
A stake can be attached per point or as a single pot. Parful shows who owes whom at the end and never moves money. Nassau works on any format where each player records their own hole score; it is not available on a scramble, foursomes, greensomes or chapman.
Worked example
A worked example: three players, net, one point per leg
Ana, Ben and Cal play a net Nassau with one point on each leg. The rows show net scores per hole and the totals for each leg.
| Hole | Ana | Ben | Cal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| 7 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 9 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Front 9 total | 37 | 36 | 38 |
| 10 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 11 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 13 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| 14 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 15 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| 16 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 17 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 18 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Back 9 total | 36 | 38 | 36 |
| 18-hole total | 73 | 74 | 74 |
- Ben won the front by one shot and lost the back by two, so his eighteen-hole total of 74 is one worse than Ana's 73. The overall leg is decided on that total, not on who won more nines.
- The tie on the back nine splits the leg's single point into 0.5 each. With the back leg set to 2 points, Ana and Cal would take 1 each.
- The shares add up to the 3 points that were on offer, one per leg. A stake per point turns those shares into the ledger Parful shows at the end of the round.
Common variants
- Match play Nassau
- The traditional two-player form scores each leg as match play, holes up rather than total strokes. Parful scores a Nassau on lowest totals; for a two-player match play game with presses, use Presses.
- Automatic presses
- When a player falls two holes down in a leg, a new bet starts from that hole to the end of the leg. Parful does not add presses inside a Nassau; the separate Presses game covers pressing over the whole round.
- Weighted overall
- The overall is worth double the nines, for example 1-1-2. Parful scores this: set the overall to 2 when the game is created.
- Field Nassau
- The whole outing plays one Nassau, with the lowest total on each leg taking the pot for that leg. Parful runs this as a private challenge that any member can invite the whole field into.