$75 is what I’m comfortable loosing/winning.
Most I have ever lost is $100 and it ruined a decent round at a fun corse.
Most I have won is $150 and I felt bad and bought lunch/drinks for everyone afterwards…
$40k per hole anyone??
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I heard of a foursome back in England who would play twice a week every week. They played skins for £1,000 a hole. They kept a running total and settled up at New Year’s. Supposedly it was only ever four figures.
Also heard a story about a guy who went to play sunningdale. On the first tee, he got paired up with a member who offered to play a game for five. He agreed. The guy won on the last hole and the member pulled out his check book. The guy told him he didn’t need to do that, but he wrote him a check for £500. The guy had no money and it would have broken him to have to pay that. This would have been back in the 70s so it was a lot.
Yet another I heard was some guy got an invite to Augusta. He gets there and his host and another couple of members are playing. He says let’s play for something. One of the members says “ok, we play $5/$5/$10”. The guy says “oh come on this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. Let’s make it worth our while”. The member says “what are you worth?” He says “about 5 million”. Member says “ok well we’re gonna play for 5/5/10 because that’s what we do here, but when we are done we’ll flip a coin for $5 million.”
For me I don’t like to play for much money. Certainly not if I don’t know people and shots are floating around. Much rather play for a drink afterwards or maybe dinner if it’s a light affair. I get stressed enough about the game without adding financial difficulty to the equation.
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Goodness gracious. Talk about getting big boi’d by the Augusta members!!! What a line!
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I don’t like gambling on the course but am willing to as long as the stakes are low. I would refused to play for the stakes mentioned in the OP. That being said I would’ve taken a hard pass on a $200 green fee as well.
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I played a ton of SSNL online when I was a going to school but I was confident I would actually win money doing so. I’m actually quite risk averse and there’s no way I’m wagering such amounts on my crappy golf game.
P.S You were either ridiculously lucky or ridiculously good to only have 10 buy-in downswings 
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I ALWAYS quit a session if I dropped three buy ins (I never played more than two tables). If I dropped 5+ buy ins, I had a very quick trigger to drop down in stakes 
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I’m really not much of a gambler out on the course, never really did anything for me or my game (positively or negatively). I’ll play reasonable stakes if asked, but really wouldn’t want to see anything beyond $50 total for the round.
In Korea, gambling during the round was a set expectation, so much so that all the clubs I went to over there had an ATM right next to the starter area and often the cart (one large cart driven by a caddie and shared with the group) would have a lockbox to keep the stakes in. The caddie does all the bookkeeping as well. I always found this a bit off-putting. A friendly game and wager is one thing, but once it turns into an expectation or near-requirement, that crosses the line a bit more me.
I don’t gamble normally. There is one group where I know that if I play with them we play 2 against 2, $1 for the front nine ,$1 for the back, and $1 for the match so the most you can lose is $3. We lost the front nine one down but won the back and the match 2&1 so I won $1 Big stakes. I figure I pay enough to be a member without losing/ spending more.
You should always gamble on the course. Even if it is just for $5 total. Just don’t gamble for any amount you don’t feel comfortable losing.
My buddies and I play $3/$3/$4 or 5/5/10 and the winners always buy the first round of drinks after
When you have a 3ft putt on the 18th hole to square the match and save your team money, that’s when you learn what you are made of
It’s not about the money, it’s about the bragging rights and about the fun and enjoyment of stepping up when the game is coming down to the wire.
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I guess I would say between $15-$25 zone. People (in my circle) generally have $20’s on them - so we set up the games to avoid making change. Although some guys I played with this year pay by Venmo.
I mostly play with guys that want to drink some beer and play a little golf. The money games are a bit foreign to them - it’s not super competitive and typically monitoring the scorecard is not necessary.
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$100 is my limit. Not that it scares me or anything but any more than that and it just takes the fun out of it.
I have a group that I occasionally play with, everything goes in the middle and drinks are purchased until it’s gone. Not great for me as I think I have paid once in 2 years and I don’t drink. But it is not about the money itself.
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I am in the $100 range as well…If i lost more than a hundred i probably played bad and I don’t need to pay someone to know that! If I have to pay i am not happy with my game anyways but I do love getting the juices flowing every now and then to see how I do under the gun.
Favorite games:
1 on 1:
- $5 Nassau, auto two downs
Foursome:
- $5 wolf (gross birdies are double)
- 6-6-6 (also called round robin), $5 match play birdies are double
Multiple groups:
- two best ball (medal or match play… I find that doing two best ball keeps everyone more engaged. You will find yourself grinding over a bogey putt in this format which almost never happens if you go single best ball
- skins pot
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I’ll play ya for $100. Lend me $100, will ya?
Wait, you don’t expect a Scotsman to play with his own money, do you?
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What are you, a real estate developer?
@jon I’ve always like a little incentive when playing but only with people i know. By that i mean maybe no more than $25 can be lost by anyone person (we play skins).
I’ve also always thought, why go and play a course you’ve always wanted and potentially tarnish that experience by adding unnecessary pressure of betting.
Had you been losing (big) would you have say enjoyed your back 9?
Simple rules for me, always amongst people i know and always on a course we all know (unless the course is foreign to all playing).
It’s suppose to be a fun game right 
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I say Bet an amount that will Hurt, when and if you have to pull it out of your pocket.
Otherwise are you really Gambling?
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The Lee Trevino school of gambling— betting more than you have in your pocket. That’s pressure.
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Trevino is the 
of hustling
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