Golf games
Parful runs thisSnake
Also called Snake golf game, Three-putt snake.
Snake is a golf putting side game in which any player who three-putts a green takes the snake, and it passes to the next player who three-putts. Whoever is holding the snake after the last hole pays every other player in the group one unit. Nothing else about the score matters.
- Players
- 2 or more, in one group
- Scoring basis
- Putts only; handicap strokes play no part
- Takes the snake
- Any hole with 3 or more putts
- Passes
- On every three-putt, to the player who made it
- Payout
- The holder after the last hole pays 1 unit to every other player
- Needs
- Putts recorded for every player on every hole
How Snake works
The snake is a penalty that nobody wants to be holding at the end. On the first tee it belongs to no one. The first player to take three or more putts on a green picks it up. It stays with that player until somebody else three-putts, at which point it moves to them. The snake can change hands a dozen times in a round or sit with one unlucky player for fifteen holes; only the holder after the final hole matters.
The player holding the snake when the round ends pays every other player one unit. Nobody else pays anything. In a four-player group the loser is out three units and each of the other three collects one. Two-putting every green all day and three-putting the last one is the classic way to lose Snake, and it is why the game keeps everyone lagging carefully on the eighteenth.
When two players three-putt the same green, the snake goes to whichever of them three-putted last, meaning the one who holed out after the other. That is a fact about the order of play on the green rather than about the putt counts, and it has to be observed by the group.
What counts as a three-putt
Three or more strokes with the putter from on the green. Four putts is still one three-putt for the purposes of the snake; it takes the snake once, not twice. Putts from off the green are usually not counted, and a chip that runs past the hole followed by two putts is two putts, not three. Groups agree the convention before the round; Parful records whatever putt count the scorer enters for the hole.
Handicaps are irrelevant. A player receiving a stroke on a hole still three-putted if it took three putts, and a net par on the card does not save anyone from the snake.
Try it
Can we play Snake 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 fact (putts, fairway) a shared ball cannot supply
Where the game is won
Snake is a game of the last few greens. A player holding it on the sixteenth tee wants someone else to three-putt, and the rest of the group wants to keep everything inside four feet. The value of a good lag putt on a fast green goes up sharply when the snake is on the line, and so does the pressure on a downhill three-footer on the eighteenth when the holder is watching.
How Parful scores it
A member starts Snake from the group scorecard for two or more players in the same group. Putts are recorded on the card for each player on each hole, once, after the hole is played, and every game in the outing that uses putts reads the same entry. Putts are a fact alongside the score and never change the official strokes.
A hole counts toward the snake only when every player in the game has a putt count on it, so a green that has not been entered yet cannot pass the snake. When exactly one player has three or more putts on a hole, Parful moves the snake to that player. When two or more players three-putt the same hole, the scorer is asked one extra question on that hole: who took the snake last. Until it is answered the game shows as pending and names the hole, and Parful never guesses from the order in which scores were typed.
Standings show each player's three-putt count, who holds the snake now and the units, which are settled only once the holder is unambiguous: the holder pays one unit to each other player. A stake per unit can be attached. Parful shows who owes whom at the end and never moves money. Snake needs each player's own putts, so it is available on individual formats, four-ball and shamble, and not on a scramble or an alternate-shot format.
Worked example
A worked example: nine holes, four players
Ana, Ben, Cal and Dee play Snake at one unit. The table shows putts per hole, the three-putts and who holds the snake after each hole.
| Hole | Ana | Ben | Cal | Dee | Three-putts | Holder after the hole |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | None | Nobody |
| 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Ben | Ben |
| 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | None | Ben |
| 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Ana and Cal; scorer records Cal holed out last | Cal |
| 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | None | Cal |
| 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | Dee | Dee |
| 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | None | Dee |
| 8 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Ana | Ana |
| 9 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | None | Ana |
- On hole 4 both Ana and Cal three-putted. Putt counts alone cannot say who took the snake last, so the scorer records that Cal holed out after Ana, and the snake goes to Cal. Without that answer Parful would show the game as pending from hole 4.
- Ben three-putted once and Ana twice, but the counts are not the result. Dee three-putted on hole 6 and would have paid had Ana two-putted the eighth.
- Ana held the snake for only two holes and still pays. Snake is about the last three-putt of the day, not the most.
Common variants
- Snake with legs
- Every three-putt adds a leg, and the holder at the end pays one unit per leg to each player. Parful pays one unit per opponent regardless of how many times the snake moved.
- Growing pot
- Each three-putt adds a fixed amount to a pot that the final holder pays. Parful uses a flat unit per opponent.
- Snake per nine
- The snake is settled after nine holes and released again on the tenth. Parful runs one snake over the whole round.
- Money per unit
- A stake per unit is the usual way to settle. Parful can carry the stake on the game, shows who owes whom at the end and never moves money.