Game Guide
Every game a Tangent group can play, from the two-sentence version to the full rules. Pick one on the day’s Scoring & Game tab and the site scores it, splits the pot, and prints the scorecards to match.
The main games
Stroke Play — individualany player count · gross or netClassic golf: count every stroke, lowest total wins. Played gross or net (your course-handicap pops come off where you get them).
Everyone plays their own ball for 18 holes. In a net game each player’s course handicap turns into pops on the hardest holes (by stroke index), and the payout places rank by net total; gross ranks the raw scores. The pot’s game share pays the top places on a gradient — 1st gets the biggest slice, and the last paid place always gets at least their entry back when the math allows.
Plays best: Small fields, similar handicaps, or any day you want zero explaining on the first tee.
Stableford — pointsany player count · net or grossPoints on every hole against par — birdie 3, par 2, bogey 1, double or worse 0. Most points wins.
Everyone plays their own ball and earns points for each hole’s score against par: albatross 5, eagle 4, birdie 3, par 2, bogey 1, double bogey or worse 0. In a net game your pops come off first, so a net birdie is 3 points. A blow-up hole costs nothing below zero — once you can’t score, pick up. Players rank by total points; the pot’s game share pays the top places on the same gradient as stroke play.
Plays best: Mixed handicaps and a quicker pace — nobody grinds out a 9, and nobody is out of it after one bad hole.
2-Man Best Balleven pairs · gross or netCart partners are a team; the better net score between the two of you counts on every hole.
Teams come straight from the tee sheet — slots 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 in each tee time are the cart pairs. On every hole the team’s best net ball (gross if the day is gross) is the team score, and teams rank by total strokes under par. A bad hole doesn’t sink you as long as your partner keeps it together.
Plays best: The everyday partners game — social, fast to score, and everyone stays in every hole.
4-Man Best Ball — best 2 balls (or best 1)foursomes · gross or netEach foursome is the team. The best two net balls (or just the single best) count on every hole.
The foursome on the tee sheet is the team. In the classic best-2 version, the two lowest net balls add up as the team’s hole score — one hero isn’t enough, and nobody can hide. Best-1 is the wilder cousin: only the single best ball counts, so one birdie machine can carry the cart. Teams rank by strokes under par.
Plays best: Full tee sheets of foursomes; best-2 rewards balanced teams, best-1 keeps blowout rounds fun.
Individual Quota (Stableford)any player count · handicaps neededEveryone gets a points target from their handicap. Beat your quota by the most and you win — a 30-handicap can beat the club champ.
Points per hole on the gross card: double eagle 16, eagle 8, birdie 4, par 2, bogey 1. Your quota is 36 minus your course handicap (a 10 needs 26 points; a plus player needs more than 36). Finish the most points over your quota and you take first — the field ranks by points vs quota, not raw score. Handicaps do the equalizing up front, so there’s no net math on the card.
Plays best: Mixed-handicap groups — the fairest individual game there is, and blowup holes cost points, not the round.
2-Man & 4-Man Team Quotapairs or foursomes · handicaps neededQuota, but the cart pair (or the whole foursome) pools its points against a combined team quota.
Same Stableford points as individual quota, but the team’s points and quotas add together — the 2-man version uses the cart pairs from the tee sheet, the 4-man version the whole tee time. Teams rank by combined points vs combined quota, and the game share of the pot pays the top teams (a team’s money splits evenly between its players).
Plays best: Partner and team days where you want quota's fairness plus somebody to high-five.
ABCD Ball vs Ball (1-2-3-4)even teams of 3–4 · handicaps · grossBalanced foursomes — one A, B, C, and D player each — play gross, flight against flight. Win your flight outright, your team goes up 1; lose it outright, down 1.
Build each foursome with one player from each handicap flight (A = low caps through D = high). On every hole, each team’s balls sort best to worst, and each flight compares across teams: best balls vs best balls, 2nd vs 2nd, and so on. Outright win a flight and your team goes up a point; outright worst goes down one; ties and everything in between push. Because your A ball only ever faces the other A balls, the flighting is the handicap — it plays gross, no pops, and every player’s ball matters on every hole. Teams rank by their running plus/minus; the highest “up” wins the game pool. A three-man team simply compares its three balls and sits out the D flight.
Plays best: Mixed-handicap fields that want everyone involved without net math — the D player's bogey wins points the A players can't.
Best Balls by Par (2-3-4)foursomes · handicaps · netFoursomes count their best net balls by the hole's par — 2 on par 5s, 3 on par 4s, and everyone's score on par 3s. Nobody hides on the short holes.
Every hole, the team keeps its best NET scores: two balls on the par 5s, three on the par 4s, and all four on the par 3s — so the long holes forgive a blowup but the par 3s expose everyone. The team’s total compares against the counted par (2×, 3×, or 4× the hole’s par), and teams rank by strokes under it. Traditional table stakes: pay a set amount per 6-hole segment to the winning team, with per-team and per-player caps — the standings settle each six. Game setup lets you set your own count for each par (all four on the par 5s instead, say), cap each counted score at net double bogey, and play at a handicap allowance.
Plays best: Foursome days that want best-ball's safety net plus real pressure on the par 3s — everyone's ball matters somewhere.
Cha Cha Cha (1-2-3)foursomes · handicaps · netThe ball count rotates every hole — best ball on the 1st, best 2 on the 2nd, best 3 on the 3rd, then round again.
A best-ball game for a foursome where the count never sits still: one net ball counts on holes 1, 4, 7…, two on holes 2, 5, 8…, and three on holes 3, 6, 9…. Teams rank by strokes under the counted par. Like every best-ball game here it can cap a counted score at net double bogey and play at a handicap allowance.
Plays best: Foursome days that want a best-ball with a little rhythm to it.
Donkey + 2 (Must-Count Ball)foursomes or fivesomes · handicaps · netEvery hole one player is the Donkey — their net score must count, however bad — plus the team's best 2 net scores from everyone else. The Donkey rotates, so nobody hides.
The Donkey moves through each group in the order the names are on the scorecard: player 1 on the group’s first hole, player 2 on the next, and around again (or by hole number — player 1 on 1, 5, 9… — if the host prefers). Each player’s Donkey holes are shaded on the printed card and flagged on the phone. On every hole the team counts the Donkey’s net score plus the best 2 of the rest (the host can make it best 1 or 3) against the counted par; the lowest team total wins, usually paid 6/6/6. A fivesome rotates through five. Net double bogey max and a handicap allowance work here like every best-ball game.
Plays best: Groups that want best ball's team feel with real pressure on every player's card.
Best Gross + Best Netfoursomes · handicapsEvery hole, the team counts its low gross ball and then its low net ball — the low handicapper's birdie and the high handicapper's pop both matter.
The best gross score on a hole counts first; then the best net score among the team’s other balls counts too. One ball can’t be both unless the host switches that on. Count more of either in Game setup — 2 gross + 1 net, say.
Plays best: Mixed-handicap foursomes where the good players want their gross to matter.
Side games — on top of any main game
Red, White & Blue (tees by par)any game · a course with three rated teesEvery hole is played from a tee set by its par — par 3s from the blue, par 4s from the white, par 5s from the red. Or flip it: par 3s red, par 5s blue.
A tee rule that rides on top of any game — stroke play, best ball, quota, skins. The host picks which way round and which of the course’s tees play as red, white and blue (it guesses by name, then by length). Because everyone plays the same tee on every hole, everyone’s course handicap comes from one blended rating: each tee’s rating and slope weighted by the holes played from it. The printed card shows the tee on every hole.
Plays best: Shaking up a home course — long par 3s and short par 5s play like a new course.
Tee Box Shuffleany game · a course with three rated teesYour tee moves with your score — everyone starts on the middle tee; birdie moves you back, par keeps you there, bogey moves you up.
A tee rule that rides on any game. Judged on net scores by default, so a pop can save you a trip to the forward tee. Two styles: one tee at a time (middle to back, back to middle …) or straight to the back or front (the published Tee Box Shuffle). Holes count in the order your group plays them, so a shotgun start on 7 moves after 7. Every phone shows each player’s tee for the hole. Because tees change hole to hole, everyone plays off one rating: the forward, middle and back tees blended evenly.
Plays best: Groups that want a running game inside the round — every hole decides where you hit from next.
Skinsany player countWin a hole outright — no ties — and you win a skin. The skins pool splits by skins won at the end of the day.
Three rule flavors: Net only (pops count — the default), Gross only (no pops), and Gross beats Net (an outright low gross takes the hole; otherwise an outright low net does). A tied hole carries no skin — unless carryovers are on, in which case its value rolls to the next hole. Everyone in the pot is in skins by default; players can sit out. At settle-up the skins pool divides evenly across every skin won.
Plays best: Any money day — it keeps every hole interesting for every player, even after a blowup.
Closest to the Pin (Proxies)par 3s · any player countOne winner per par 3: hit the green closest to the hole and take that hole's share of the CTP pool.
The CTP share of the pot splits evenly across the course’s par 3s. Mark the proxy on each par 3 during the round; the admin taps the winners into the scoring page afterward (or writes them on the printed Payout Sheet). A par 3 nobody hits rolls its money into the skins pool on the printed sheet — no orphaned dollars.
Plays best: Every money day with par 3s. Cheap to run, and everyone has a swing at it.
Nassau with Pressesper tee time · its own moneyThree bets in every group — the front nine, the back nine and the overall 18 — match play, plus presses when a side falls behind.
Twosomes play 1 v 1, threesomes everyone against everyone, foursomes their carts (1+2 v 3+4) or everyone against everyone. Each hole goes to the better net ball, with strokes off the low player in the match. A press is a new bet for the same stake that starts on the next hole and runs to the end of the bet it presses. The sides agree on the course, then anyone scoring taps Press on the phone; it can be undone until its first hole is in. The host can also turn on automatic presses at 2 down. Each bet pays the stake to every winner, and the money settles between the sides — it is never part of the entry-fee pot.
Plays best: Groups that like a bet inside the foursome, on top of the day's game.
Match Playper tee time · its own moneyOne match in every group over the whole round, hole by hole — the result reads the usual way: 2 up, 3 & 2, all square.
The same sides as the Nassau — twosomes 1 v 1, threesomes everyone against everyone, foursomes their carts (1+2 v 3+4, best net ball) or everyone against everyone — with strokes off the low player in the match. Each hole goes to the lower net score; a tie halves it. One bet, no presses, and it works on a nine as well as 18. Set a stake and the winners each collect it from the losers, settled between the sides — never part of the entry-fee pot.
Plays best: A straight-up match inside the group without the Nassau's three bets and presses.
Net vs gross, and how the pot splits
Main games default to net — each player’s course handicap (from their index and tee) becomes pops on the hardest holes, printed as dots on the scorecards. Any game can flip to gross with one tap.
On a money day the pot splits between the game, skins, and CTP — 50/30/20 when all three are on — and every share is adjustable in 5% steps right on the setup card. Payouts recalculate live as you change it, and the printed Payout Sheet walks the whole settle-up in order: verify the pot, pay the game, pay CTP, then skins last.
Tell us how it’s scored and how the money works and we’ll look at adding it. Most of the games above started as a request from a group.