Golf games
Parful runs thisN.O.S.E.
N.O.S.E. is a golf side game played over a full 18 holes in which only nine holes count: 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 16, 17 and 18, the holes whose English names begin with N, O, S or E. Each player's scores on those nine holes are added and the lowest total wins, gross or net.
- Players
- 2 or more, in any group of the outing
- Counting holes
- 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 16, 17 and 18
- Round
- A full 18 holes; the other nine are played but ignored
- Scoring basis
- Gross or net, chosen when the game is created
- Wins
- Lowest total over the nine counting holes
- Ties
- Equal totals share the position
How N.O.S.E. works
N.O.S.E. is a counting game: everyone plays a normal 18-hole round and, at the end, only some of the holes are added up. The holes that count are the ones whose names in English start with one of the four letters in the name. One starts with O; Six, Seven, Sixteen and Seventeen with S; Eight, Eleven and Eighteen with E; Nine with N. That gives nine counting holes: 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 16, 17 and 18.
Each player's scores on those nine holes are added together and the lowest total wins. Nothing else on the card matters. A 9 on the fourth is free; a 9 on the seventh is not. Played net, the score on each counting hole is reduced by the strokes the player receives there from their Course Handicap™; played gross the raw scores are added.
The game runs alongside the round's main competition, since the whole card is still being kept. It suits a field of any size: players do not need to be in the same group, only to have finished the nine holes.
Which holes count, and what it does to the round
Five counting holes are on the front and four on the back, and the last three holes all count, so the game is usually decided on the walk in. The four holes that do not count on the front are consecutive, so a player can have a blank stretch from the second to the fifth without losing ground.
T and F is the mirror image: the nine holes N.O.S.E. ignores are exactly the nine that T and F counts (2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 15). Groups sometimes play both in the same round, so every hole counts for one game or the other.
- Front nine: 1, 6, 7, 8 and 9 count. Holes 2, 3, 4 and 5 do not.
- Back nine: 11, 16, 17 and 18 count. Holes 10, 12, 13, 14 and 15 do not.
Try it
Can we play N.O.S.E. 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
How Parful scores it
N.O.S.E. is a side game a member can start from the scorecard on a club outing. It needs at least two players and they can be in any group, so it can run across the whole field. The person starting it chooses gross or net and can attach a stake.
Parful reads each player's scores on holes 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 16, 17 and 18 from the cards the outing is already keeping and adds them. The standings recompute on every score entered. A player is ranked only once all nine counting holes have a recorded score; until then, or if a counting hole was picked up, that player is shown unranked rather than given a guessed total. Equal totals share a position. Because holes 16 to 18 must exist, the game needs an 18-hole round.
A stake is settled on stroke differences: each player collects one unit per stroke from every player they beat and pays one per stroke to every player who beats them, shown as who owes whom; Parful never moves money. The game needs each player's own hole scores, so it is available on individual rounds, four-ball and counted-score formats and shamble-style rounds, but not on a scramble or any format with one score per team.
Worked example
A worked example: a full scorecard
Ana and Ben play gross. The counting column marks the nine N.O.S.E. holes; only those scores go into the total.
| Hole | Counts | Ana | Ben |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | 5 | 4 |
| 2 | No | 4 | 5 |
| 3 | No | 5 | 6 |
| 4 | No | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | No | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | Yes | 5 | 4 |
| 7 | Yes | 4 | 5 |
| 8 | Yes | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | Yes | 5 | 4 |
| 10 | No | 4 | 5 |
| 11 | Yes | 5 | 4 |
| 12 | No | 4 | 5 |
| 13 | No | 3 | 4 |
| 14 | No | 5 | 4 |
| 15 | No | 6 | 5 |
| 16 | Yes | 4 | 5 |
| 17 | Yes | 5 | 4 |
| 18 | Yes | 4 | 5 |
| 18-hole total | 78 | 81 | |
| N.O.S.E. total | 9 holes | 40 | 38 |
- Ana's N.O.S.E. total is 5 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 5 + 5 + 4 + 5 + 4 = 40. Ben's is 4 + 4 + 5 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 4 + 5 = 38.
- On the nine holes that do not count Ana was five strokes better (38 to 43); on the nine that do, Ben was two better.
Common variants
- T and F
- The complementary game: only holes 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 15 count. Parful scores it as its own game, and the two can run on the same round.
- Other letter games
- Any word gives a hole set; some clubs run a game on the letters of the club name or a member's name. Parful scores the fixed N.O.S.E. and T and F sets only.
- Stableford N.O.S.E.
- Some clubs count Stableford points on the nine holes instead of strokes, highest total winning. Parful does not score that version; it adds strokes, gross or net.
- Money per stroke
- Players attach a stake per stroke of difference. Parful can carry the stake as a wager on the game, shows who owes whom at the end and never moves money.