Dots Golf Game | How to play | AKA: Junk, Garbage, or Trash

Individual or Team Game

You can play the DOTS golf game as an individual or with teams. You must have more than 1 golfer to have a good friendly competition. The best part about the DOTS golf game is that you can customize this game in any way that you would like.

You can also challenge and play by yourself, trying to get as many dots as possible per round. Each round, try to beat the last score.

How to play the DOTS golf game:

The best part about this game is that it is very simple. The goal of the dots golf game game is to get as many dots as possible. Each great shot or series of shots is typically rewarded with a dot (if not 2), and the bad shots can negatively impact the dots (optional depending on skill level).

You can play the game with 2-4 people. You must first agree with everyone in your group on all side bets and how much each dot will cost (.50, $1, etc.). You need to select a person (or 2) to keep up with the scoring on all the dots. More than 1 person can keep score to keep everyone honest. Once you have determined the cost of each dot, then it’s time to start playing some golf!

Scoring Dots

• Poley (Make a putt outside of the length of the flagstick) – 1pt
• Sandie (Up and down or better from the sand trap) 1-pt
• Greenie (Hit the green in regulation – must make par) – 1pt
• Woodie or Barkie (Hit a tree and still par) – 1pt
• Sharkie (Hit it in the water and still par) – 1pt
• Platypus (Hit it out of bounds and still make par) – 1pt
• Hogan (Fairway drive and Green in Regulation) – 1pt
• CTP (Closest to the pin on all par 3s) – 1pt
• Up&Downsies (Up and down or better) – 1pt

Optional Negative Dots

During the dots golf game, some groups like to incorporate the negative achievements that result in deducting points, while others prefer only positive ones. You want better-skilled golfers (handicap 12 and under) if you include the negative points.

Click here to figure out how to calculate your golf handicap!

The most common type of dot penalizing a golfer is when they:

• Threeeees (Three-putt or more)
• D-Boge (Double Bogey or worse)
• Sinkie (Hit the ball into the water)
• Squirley (Hit the ball out of bounds)
• Duffie (Duff a tee shot)
• Toppie (Top a tee shot)
• Backward Gimmie (Miss a putt inside the grip)

*Each one of these counts as a negative point

Other optional positive and negative “dots”:

• Making a putt longer than 50ft (Super Poley) – 2pts
• Chippie (chip in from off the green) – 1pt
• Tiger (Long Drive on the par 5’s) – 1pt
• Exotic Sandie (Hit out of 2 sand bunkers and still make par) – 1pt
• Eagie (eagle or better) – 2pts

At the conclusion of the round, you will add up all the points and payout per dot depending on what was agreed to at the beginning of the round.

Betting Tips for the DOTS golf game:

The cons to this game are that the handicaps are not really used when determining a winner or a loser. Typically, the lesser skilled players will get fewer dots, but there are always exceptions.

If all golfers are around the same skill level, this can be very competitive, and you can up the money on how much each dot is worth (I have done $5 a dot before). If you have a wide variety of handicaps, you may want to play as a team so that one person is not left stuck paying a good bit of money, or you can reduce the dots to 10 cents a dot or something that make sense.

The DOTS golf game is very customizable. You can also add a maximum payout so that someone is not stuck emptying their bank accounts for just a fun day out on the golf course.

Payouts example:

For this example, every dot counts as $1. Player A has 10 dots, Player B has 5 dots, Player C has 1 dot, and player D has 0 dots.
***You also have the option to add punishment to the loser such as buying and wearing this “I suck at golf shirt.”