Welcome to the group! To keep the pace of play moving and ensure everyone has a great time, we follow a specific set of local rules and play a fun side-game during the round.
We play a friendly but competitive round. To avoid unnecessary penalties from bad breaks while maintaining fairness, we use the following local rules:
One Club Length Relief: You may move your golf ball up to one club length from its original resting spot.
No Closer to the Hole: When taking your one club length relief, the ball must not be placed any closer to the hole than where it originally came to rest.
Gimmes: Only inside the putter grip, no other gimmes allowed
You Cannot Improve Your Lie: You must keep the ball in the same condition it was found.
If your ball is in the rough, your club length relief must keep the ball in the rough.
You cannot move a ball from a hazard (like a bunker) to the grass.
To keep things interesting on every single shot, our foursome plays the "Vegas" chip game. This game uses a set of casino-style chips featuring different positive and negative golf outcomes (like Water, Sand, 1-Putt, 3-Putt, Birdie, etc.).
There is only one of each chip available for the entire foursome. The chips are passed around between players as the round progresses, exactly like a game of hot potato.
Negative Chips (Water, Sand, Trees, 3-Putt, Lost Ball): If you hit your ball into the water, you are handed the Water chip. You are stuck holding it until another player in the group hits into the water. As soon as they do, you immediately hand the chip to them.
Positive Chips (Birdie, 1-Putt, Closest to Pin): If you 1-putt a green, you demand the 1-Putt chip. You get to keep it until someone else 1-putts, at which point they get to take it from you.
The Golden Rule: It absolutely does not matter how many times you held a chip during the round. The only thing that matters is who is holding the chips when the final putt drops on the 18th hole.
When the round is completely over, everyone empties their pockets and tallies their final "Chip Score."
Positive Chips: +1 Point each
Negative Chips: -1 Point each
Example Scoring:
Player A holds the Birdie (+1) and 1-Putt (+1) chips. Score = +2
Player B holds no chips. Score = 0
Player C holds the Sand (-1). Score = -1
Player D holds the Water (-1) and 3-Putt (-1). Score = -2
Winning the Game: The player with the highest total score at the end of the 18th hole wins the chip game! (If your foursome plays with a buy-in, the winner takes the pot).