Skins in Golf: Rules, Carryovers and How the Money Works

Quick answer: Each hole is worth one skin. You win it only by beating everyone else outright — any tie and nobody wins, so the skin carries over and the next hole is worth two. Ties keep stacking the pot.

How it works

Agree a value per skin before the round.
Lowest score on a hole wins the skin outright.
Any tie for lowest, and the skin carries to the next hole.
Carried skins accumulate, so a late hole can be worth six or seven.

Scoring

The carryover is the whole game. In a four-player group, holes are tied constantly, and by the back nine there is usually a serious pot riding on a single hole. That is why skins stays interesting when a match is already decided.

Settlement is simply skins won multiplied by the agreed value, netted around the group at the end.

When to play it on a golf trip

Skins runs happily underneath any format. Put it on the round where the main competition might go flat — if one team is five up by the turn, the skins game is what keeps the back nine live.

It works best in groups of three or four. In a large group, ties become so frequent that almost everything carries.

House rules worth agreeing first

Gross or net skins. Net brings the whole group in; gross favours the better players.
Validation — some groups require the winner to par the hole, or to win the next one too.
What happens to skins still carrying after 18. Splitting the pot is the usual answer; sudden death is the fun one.

FAQ

What happens if everyone ties? Nobody wins the skin and it carries to the next hole, making that one worth two.

Should we play gross or net skins? Net if your group's handicaps are spread out, gross if you are all close. Net is the more common trip choice.

What if skins are still carrying on 18? Agree in advance. Most groups either split the remaining pot or play a sudden-death hole for it.

Run it without the spreadsheet

GolfTracker Trips scores this format across every round of a trip, alongside whatever
else your group is playing, and rolls it all into one leaderboard for the weekend.
Start free at GolfTracker Trips — up to 8 players and 2 rounds, no card.