Golf games
Parful runs thisPresses
Also called Press bet, Pressing in golf.
A press is a new bet opened during a golf match, running from the hole where it is called to the last hole, on top of the original bet. In Parful, Presses is a two-player match play game: the main bet covers all eighteen holes, each press is an independent match to the finish, and every bet pays one unit.
- Players
- Exactly 2, on the same card
- Scoring basis
- Match play per bet, holes won and lost, gross or net (net by default)
- Bets
- The main bet over all 18 holes, plus one press per start hole
- Press range
- From the press hole to the last hole of the round
- Payout
- Each bet: leader +1 unit, trailer -1, level is a push
- Stakes
- Required; a press is a bet
How presses work
Two players start a match play bet on the first tee. Every hole is won by the lower score or halved, and the bet is settled on holes up at the end. At any point a player can press: that opens a second bet that starts on the press hole and runs to the eighteenth, while the original bet keeps going. Traditionally the player who is behind presses, hoping to win back the loss on the remaining holes, but either player can call one.
A press does not cancel or replace the main bet. At the finish there is a result for the main bet and a separate result for every press, and each one pays on its own. A player who is three down after twelve holes can lose the main bet and still come out ahead by winning two presses.
In Parful the bets are settled as one unit each. A bet that finishes with the leader ahead pays one unit from the trailer; a bet that finishes level is a push and pays nothing. With the main bet and two presses there are three units in play, and the ledger is always zero-sum between the two players.
Scoring each bet
Every bet is a match over its own range of holes. On each hole the lower score wins the hole, equal scores halve it, and the margin is holes won minus holes lost. Parful counts every hole in the range through to the last hole, so a bet is decided by the final margin rather than closed out early when one player is dormie. That keeps the arithmetic simple and means a late run of holes still matters for every open bet.
A hole where either player has no score is skipped for the bets that include it. A bet is live until both players have a score on every hole in its range; then it is final with a winner, or a push if the margin is zero. Presses can be opened from any hole, one press per start hole.
Try it
Can we play Presses 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
Pressing is a judgment about the holes still to play. A press from the thirteenth is a six-hole match on the closing stretch. The classic mistake is pressing every time you fall behind and losing the bets together; the classic good press is called on the tee of a hole where you receive a stroke and your opponent does not.
How Parful scores it
A member starts Presses from the group scorecard, naming the two players. A stake per point is required when the game is created, because a press is a bet, and it is carried as units or as a currency reference. Gross or net is chosen at the same time; net uses each player's handicap strokes from their Course Handicap™ on each hole.
During the round either player, or an organizer on their behalf, opens a press by choosing its start hole on the card. That is the only decision the game records; the hole scores drive everything else. Standings show each player's units, bets won, lost and pushed, with a list of every bet, its start hole, its leader and its margin.
A corrected score reruns every bet from its start hole. At the end Parful shows who owes whom and never moves money. Presses 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: eighteen holes, one press each way
Ana and Ben play net match play at 5 per point. Ben presses from hole 7 when he is one down; Ana presses from hole 13 after losing two holes in a row. Margins are shown from Ana's side, so +1 means Ana is one up.
| Hole | Ana | Ben | Hole result | Main (1 to 18) | Press from 7 | Press from 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 5 | Ana wins | +1 | ||
| 2 | 4 | 4 | Halved | +1 | ||
| 3 | 5 | 4 | Ben wins | 0 | ||
| 4 | 4 | 5 | Ana wins | +1 | ||
| 5 | 3 | 4 | Ana wins | +2 | ||
| 6 | 5 | 4 | Ben wins | +1 | ||
| 7 | 4 | 4 | Halved | +1 | 0 | |
| 8 | 5 | 4 | Ben wins | 0 | -1 | |
| 9 | 4 | 5 | Ana wins | +1 | 0 | |
| 10 | 4 | 4 | Halved | +1 | 0 | |
| 11 | 3 | 4 | Ana wins | +2 | +1 | |
| 12 | 5 | 4 | Ben wins | +1 | 0 | |
| 13 | 4 | 3 | Ben wins | 0 | -1 | -1 |
| 14 | 4 | 5 | Ana wins | +1 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 4 | 4 | Halved | +1 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | 5 | 5 | Halved | +1 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | 4 | 5 | Ana wins | +2 | +1 | +1 |
| 18 | 5 | 4 | Ben wins | +1 | 0 | 0 |
- The main bet is Ana's 7 holes won against Ben's 6. The press from 7 covers holes 7 to 18, where each won 4 holes, so it pushes. The press from 13 covers holes 13 to 18, two holes each, another push.
- Ben's press from 7 was a good call: he was one down and halved the rest of the round. Ana's press from 13 was made just after losing the hole that opened it, and it also finished level.
- Had Ben won hole 17 instead of Ana, all three bets would have been his: the main by one hole and each press by two, for Ben +3 units and Ana -3. One hole late in the round moves every open bet at once.
Common variants
- Automatic press
- A press opens automatically whenever a player goes two down. Parful only opens a press when a player calls one; groups that play automatics simply call them at the two-down hole.
- Nine-hole presses
- In a match play Nassau a press on the front nine runs only to the ninth. Parful runs every press to the last hole of the round; a front-nine press is not scored.
- Press must be accepted
- Some groups let the leader refuse a press. Parful records a press as soon as a player opens it; there is no acceptance step.
- Double press
- A press that pays double the original stake. Parful pays every bet one unit at the same stake per point.