Golf Skins Calculator

This golf skins calculator scores a skins game for you. Enter everyone's score hole by hole and it shows who won each skin, how many skins carried over on tied holes, and what each player collects or owes, with gross or net scoring. Running a league skins game instead? Switch to Split a league pot to divide the money among the winners.

How a skins game works

• Every hole is worth one skin.
• The player with the lowest score on a hole wins its skin, but only outright.
• If two or more players tie for the low score, nobody wins the skin. In most games it carries over to the next hole, which is then worth two skins.
• Your total for the round doesn't count. A player can shoot the best score and win almost nothing.

Skins game rules to agree before you tee off

Example: a four-ball skins game

The round the calculator opens with: four players, gross scores, carryovers on and a $10 buy-in each. P1 shoots the best round but P2 wins the money, mostly on the 13th: after three tied holes, P2's 4 was the only one and took four skins.

Seventeen skins were won and the 18th was tied, so the $40 pot is split 17 ways: $2.35 a skin.

Net skins: playing with handicaps

In net skins, each player's handicap strokes come off their score before the hole is compared. Strokes go on the hardest holes first, by the stroke index printed on the scorecard: a 10 handicap gets a stroke on the ten holes with stroke index 1 to 10, and a 22 handicap gets one on every hole plus a second on the four hardest. On nine holes, the strokes go on the nine you're playing, hardest first. It's the same stroke allocation Stableford scoring uses.

League skins: splitting the pot

In a league or club skins game, everyone in the field pays the same entry and skins are counted across the whole field: a skin goes to anyone who has the only lowest score on a hole. The pot is divided by the number of skins won. With 24 players at $10 and four skins won, each skin is worth $60.

Other golf betting games

Skins is one of several games that keep a whole group playing for something on every hole. Wolf rotates partners hole by hole, the Nassau splits a round into three bets, Bingo Bango Bongo puts three points up on every hole, and Vegas turns each team's scores into one two-digit number. For more, see the golf betting games for four and the golf games for 3 players.

Frequently asked questions

What is a skins game in golf?

A skins game turns every hole into a separate prize, called a skin. The player with the lowest score on a hole wins its skin, but only outright: if two or more players tie for the low score, nobody wins it. Your total for the round doesn't matter, only how many holes you win.

How do you play skins in golf?

Agree the stakes and the rules before you tee off: whether tied skins carry over, gross or net scores, and how leftover skins are settled. Then everyone plays their own ball, the lowest score on each hole takes that hole's skin, and you settle up after the round.

How do carryovers work in skins?

When a hole is tied, its skin carries over and is added to the next hole. The next player to win a hole outright takes every skin riding on it, so after three tied holes a birdie on the fourth wins four skins at once.

What happens if the last hole is tied in a skins game?

It's a house rule, so agree it first. Common choices are a playoff hole, a chip-off or putt-off, carrying the skins into your next round, or simply leaving them unclaimed and splitting the pot among the skins that were won.

How do net skins work?

Each player's handicap strokes come off their score on the hardest holes, by the stroke index on the scorecard: a 15 handicap gets a stroke on the holes with stroke index 1 to 15. The lowest net score wins the skin. Some groups play off a reduced handicap or allow only one stroke per hole, so agree that too.

How is a skins pot paid out?

Divide the pot by the number of skins won to get the value of a skin, then pay each player for the skins they took. Four players at $10 make a $40 pot; if 17 skins are won, each is worth $2.35, so a player with 7 skins collects $16.47. In the other common format, each skin is worth a set amount from every other player.