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My foursome always has some running bet during a round, whether it be 'greenies', skins, closest to the pin. Usually for a buck a hole, winner buys the drinks after the round.

Also, in our corporate tourneys, we play best ball or better ball. What bets and tourney formats do you guys like the best???

I always prefer to play my own ball so any best ball competition is tops on my list. An early season scramble is OK to work out the kinks and have some fun, but a scramble format just "scrambles" my game. Seems like I lose focus because I can rely on a team mate hitting a better shot. I enjoy Match play but fewer and fewer guys play that anymore. :(

A couple of weeks ago four of us with similar handicaps played best ball for a buck a hole. The kicker was that partners were paired on each hole on the basis of where our tee shot landed. The two balls closer to the left became partners for that hole and the other two (being closer to the right) paired up. We also had a dollar Nassau going and every kind of side bet you could imagine. We dropped the bingo-bango-bongo for that day. Actually, a simple Nassau is my favorite along with greenies. Sometimes all the betting detracts from the game with all the accounting that needs to be done.
Bob V

I like makng bets at the driving range for a quarter a pop. Longest ball, closest to the pin, in the 40 yard basket, over the power lines, etc.

Favorite bet: Just a two-bit Nassau (can't lose more than 75 cents!). Would love to play a skins game more often, but it's hard to find 4 guys of roughly comparable ability who all agree to play by the same rules (e.g., rules of golf!) and risk, say, $9 per guy (payouts: holes 1-6: $1 each; 7-12: $2 each; 13-18: $3 each).

Favorite tourney format: Anything where the entire foursome is a team and we each play our own balls. Example: Maverick event. Player A is the maverick on holes 1,5,9,13,17. Player B is the maverick on 2,6,10,14,18. C is mav on 3,7,11,15. D is mav on 4,8,12,16. On each hole, only 2 balls count: the mav's and the best of the other 3. Pressure's really on you when it's your hole to be the maverick.

By the way, "low ball, low total" is a good game when you have 4 players who all play at different levels. The best guy and the worst guy are partners against the other two. On each hole, 1 point goes to the team with the guy who had the best score and 1 point goes to the team that had the low total score. If there's a tie for low ball or low total, no blood and no carry-overs.

We usually play skins, a buck a hole and a putting game. Pony up a fiver at the beginning of round and at the turn and you get a playing card. Every one putt you get another card, every three jack you put a dollar in the kitty. Best poker hand wins each half. Even with the possibility of someone losing big, it usually works out to an exchange of a couple of bucks at the 19th.