Format type: The Nassau is a golf side game, most often scored as match play, rather than a Rules of Golf competition format. Read the Nassau golf guide for the basics of the three bets.
Nassau calculator
MatchPlay keeps the presses straight in the group chat.
MatchPlay is being built to record each hole as the group plays, open the presses your group agreed, call each bet when it is decided and post exactly who owes whom the moment the card is confirmed.
How the result is worked out
Every bet is scored as a match-play match over its own holes: a side goes 1 up for each hole it wins, halved holes change nothing, and the bet is decided as soon as a side is more holes up than there are holes left in it (3 up with 2 to play is a win by 3&2). Once a bet is decided the later holes no longer affect it, but they still count for the overall and for any presses running over them. The overall 18 is its own match across all eighteen holes, not the front result added to the back.
Presses follow the common convention: a press is a new bet for the same stake, it runs from the hole it is called to the end of that nine, and the original bet continues alongside it. With automatic presses on, each bet opens one press the first time a side goes 2 down in it, starting from the next hole, and a press can be pressed the same way. Manual presses can be added on any hole with the tick box.
A worked example, $5 Nassau, one against one, automatic presses on. Front nine: Alex wins holes 1 and 2, so Ben is 2 down and a press opens from hole 3. Hole 3 is halved, Alex wins 4, Ben wins 5, hole 6 is halved and Alex wins 7: Alex is 3 up with 2 to play, so the front nine is his, 3&2. Ben wins 8 and 9, which puts him 1 up on the press. Front nine: one bet each.
Back nine: Ben wins 10 and 11, so a press opens from hole 12. Alex wins 12 and 13, which squares the original bet and puts him 2 up on the press, so that press is pressed from hole 14. Hole 14 is halved, Ben wins 15, hole 16 is halved and Ben wins 17: Ben is 2 up with 1 to play on both the original bet and the second press, so he wins each 2&1, and the second press opens a third press for hole 18. Hole 18 is halved, so the first press and the third press are halved. Back nine: Ben wins two bets. Overall: Alex won six holes and Ben seven, so Ben wins the 18 by 1 up.
- Alex: front nine original. One bet, +$5.
- Ben: front press, back nine original, back second press, overall. Four bets, +$20.
- Net: Ben is three bets ahead, so Alex pays Ben $15. Two presses were halved and pay nothing.
Press “Load the worked example” above to see the same round in the tool.
Sources: the USGA describes the Nassau as three bets over the front nine, back nine and full 18. The press convention modelled here — a side that is 2 or more down may press, the press is for the same amount as the original bet, it runs only over the remaining holes, and presses can themselves be pressed — follows the summary in Wikipedia's Nassau (bet) article. Match-play scoring follows Rule 3.2 of the Rules of Golf. Presses are a group convention, not an official rule, so agree yours before play.
Agree these before the first tee
- The stake per bet, and in a partner game whether it is per player or per side. The calculator's 2 v 2 setting treats the stake as per player: each player on the losing side pays each player on the winning side.
- Gross or net. If handicaps apply, decide the allowance and where the strokes fall; the match play handicap calculator does that for singles and four-ball. The calculator only needs the winner of each hole.
- Presses. Automatic at 2 down, called by the trailing side only, or none at all. Some groups also press the overall 18 or refuse presses late in a nine; the calculator keeps presses to the nine they were opened in.
- Halved bets. A bet that finishes all square pays nothing here. Some groups play the overall as a tiebreak or carry a halved bet forward — agree it up front.
Keep it social: the stake should be one the whole group is comfortable with.
Related guides
Read the full Nassau golf guide, use the skins calculator for carryover games, compare the other golf betting games groups play, or brush up on match-play scoring and what dormie means. The complete format library covers every game.
Common questions
What is a press in a Nassau?
A press is a new bet, for the same stake as the original, that the side which is behind opens over the remaining holes of that nine. The original bet keeps running alongside it, so a press adds a bet rather than doubling the existing one.
What is an automatic press?
Some groups agree that a press opens automatically whenever a side goes 2 down in any bet, starting from the next hole. This calculator applies that convention when the automatic option is ticked, and presses can themselves be pressed the same way.
When does a Nassau match end?
Each of the three bets is a match-play match, so it ends when a side is more holes up than there are holes left in that bet. Three up with two to play on the front nine is a win by 3&2; the last two holes still count for the overall and for any presses.
How is a Nassau settled?
Count the bets each side won: the front nine, the back nine, the overall 18 and every press. Net one side's wins against the other's and the difference, multiplied by the stake, is what the losing side pays. A halved bet pays nothing.