Id be willing to bet that most average golfers will try to chase birdies to “win back their losses”…
You could probably learn an interesting amount about how strategy changes scoring by comparing front and back nines for guys with money on the line.
I actually feel way more pressure in tournaments than for money of that amount. It doesn’t make me nervous, or change my strategy, but it mostly makes me uncomfortable because I’m just not interested in losing or winning a ton of money on the course 
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So I can get sandbagged??!!! 
Golf money aint real. It just gets passed around 
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I’m with you. I like playing for someone else’s money, not my own😉
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finally looked this up… Eddie Caminetti solves crime / geopolitics via golf??
My dad and his group (2-3 foursomes depending on day of week) would play two man team matches for $.10 a point, two points per hole - low ball and low team total. If you got skunked, you’re out $3.60. They had multiple matches going on, your cartmate would be your partner and your opponent.
After the dust settled, if you lost more than $5.00 you had a bad day. It took almost as long to settle the bets as to play the round. It was never, ever about the $$$ - it was always about bragging rights.
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Bingo, bango, bongo. Dime a point. Anything more is not golf.
Mike Caro’s, “Draw up a list of activities you’ve done, and divide it into ‘Good Gambles and Bad Gambles’”, exercise, helped change my life.
It helped me realize that while luck was never in my control, the activities I chose to engage in, and (most importantly) the preparation I put into those activities, was. Even if I lost, if I made the right decisions in doing so, but ended up losing anyway; eventually those ‘Sklansky Bucks’ could turn into real ones.
Golf is fun without the gambling element. So I don’t.
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My father had warmed me of betting with this game way before I picked it up. He had witness some betting games at his clubs.
I had never bet anything which I don’t feel comfortable and would be upset if I were on the losing end.
Our normal game is $1 skin and add one for the Birdie. Or, $5 Nassau. Rarely, if anyone lose more than $30 ( we play self against the other 3, potentially one could lose way more than $30 a round )
No one needs to win the bet to offset their green fees and no one likes to lose beyond their comfort zoon. Winners usually buys a drink and/or lunch at the 19th. Everyone chip in for the balance If the winning pot was not big enough for paying the check, .
We don’t want to lose a golf buddy over betting.
Another thing is, we adjust for the handicap spread after each round. Winning side usually will give back 1/2 a stroke for the next meeting, this usually balanced things out okay throughout the years.
Never make golf wagers on the 19th hole after you have a few too many choice beverages. I honestly really don’t drink. I will at most drink a new IPA then indulge in my favorite AP Virgin. I’ve accepted a few wagers and found that I do very well when people are brave. This doesn’t involve me, but at I course I used to manage, getting back to how good are the pros. We had a member that played for a few years on the tour. He got his amateur status back and dominated many of the club events, but he would have fun when he played and usually by the 14th hole he wasn’t always at his best (usually on his 8th beer). Anyways one day he did not putt so well and lost a team event in a blind draw with a high single digit hdcp who never played with him. The pro missed some putts. So now they are fairly torched at the bar and the single digit hdcp kept hammering… well if you could putt like me you’d be back on the damn tour. Finally the pro has enough and says…ok tell you what $1000. I play my game from the tips and all you got to do is putt…Mr putter! U will be on every green in regulation 25-30 ft from the hole, but the pro places the ball. Pro shot 68…what do you think the best putter in the world shot only having to putt… .lol Don’t drink and Drive. And definitely don’t drink and make stupid wagers!
BTW…Par was 72, course is 7100 yds long from standard tips. The course does have a 
tips that are 7400yd…no one plays those!
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I went beyond my line in our last big Fall Shootout tournament. I’m normally gambling for a few bucks each week, but Shootout tournaments are where I may bring $100-$300 for betting. Lately I’ve spent nothing as the stakes have gone up so much 4 of us pooling $250 each can’t always buy a team.
My buddy and I qualified for the same Fall Shootout a few years ago and won, but we only bought half our team back which cost us about $75 each…yeah no one else thought we’d win either and teams went for much less then.
In the 2021 Fall Shootout we made the “shootout” again where the top 10 teams play true alternate shot and worst score team is out each hole (chip off for ties). If you can buy your own team outright and finish 3rd or better you’ll make some money. If someone else buys you then you have the option to buy in for half. You can gamble nothing and win some decent Pro shop credit. For whatever reason (some peer pressure) I gambled a lot more than usual so we could buy ourselves and we won the shootout.
I still don’t consider myself a gambler, but I won’t say that wasn’t a rush.
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I’ll tell a couple of true story of betting on the golf course in my experience.
First one is, how patient a sandbagger could be. A group I used to golf with had a lot of well to do and retired golfers. I noticed one golfer was rather young in his late 30’s early 40’s. Since we normally bet a dollar skin plus junk bets, ( potentially one could lose up to $60-$80 if the stars were not aligned for him , but no one really lost more than $40). So this younger guy was fairly long for amateur, His 5 iron was close to 200 yards ( loft was 20+ years ago so maybe like Today’s 6 iron loft )
He often had funky tee shots. I had never seen a top spin coming off a driver ( like in tennis ). Squirted low to the left most of the time ( with a hottest driver at the time ).
I finally realized that this guy was setting up for much larger bet later on. For almost 2 years, several times a months, he would play the crappy golf with this group. I learned later, while on one of their golf trip, someone bit the bait and bet big with him, and lost, so they double up and bet addition in the following days on the trip with many guys joined in for the side bet. I heard he "lost a few back " but came out pretty good. Not sure where he is now, driving brand new M/B from that winning.
This one I learned from a friend who was a member of this local G.&C.C. Some new members set up a big game with club members and somehow the final bet was so large, someone could have lost their house… they chase that sandbagger out of town without other potential harm, just a warning that he’ll never return to the G&CC ever again.
Never get out of one’s comfort zone; even when one feels it’s a sure bet.