How do skins work in golf?
In skins, every hole is a prize. Win the hole outright and you take the skin; tie and it carries to the next hole. Here are the rules, the carryover, net skins and how payouts are worked out.
The basic rule
Each hole is worth one skin. The player with the lowest score on the hole, on their own, wins it. If two or more players tie for the low score, nobody wins the hole.
With carryovers on, a tied hole's skin rolls forward, so the next hole is worth two — and so on until someone wins a hole outright. That is how one birdie late in the round can collect four or five skins at once.
Variations groups play
Groups tweak skins in a few common ways. The key choices are whether ties carry over, whether a skin has to be won with par or better, and whether scores are gross or net.
| Setting | What it means |
|---|---|
| Carryover on | A tied hole's skin is added to the next hole |
| Carryover off | A tied hole's skin is simply lost |
| Best score wins | The lowest score wins the skin, even a bogey |
| Par or better | The winning score must be par or better, or the skin carries |
| Net skins | Handicap strokes are applied on the hardest holes before comparing scores |
| Per hole, per player or purse | Money can be a fixed amount per skin, an equal buy-in, or a set pot split by skins won |
How payouts work
With a per-hole stake, each skin is paid by every other player in the group. If four players play $5 skins and you win a hole, you collect $5 from each of the other three.
With a pot (everyone puts in the same amount, or a fixed purse), the pot is divided by the total skins won and each player is paid for the skins they took.
Doing this on BirdieConnect
Pick Skins when you set up a round on BirdieConnect and choose carryover, best score or par-or-better, gross or net, and a per-hole, per-player or purse stake. Skins are calculated hole by hole as scores go in, carryovers are shown on the card, and the totals roll into the end-of-round settle-up with any other side games.
Common questions
- What happens to skins that are still carrying over at the end?
- Groups decide in advance. Common options are a playoff hole, splitting it, or letting it lapse. In BirdieConnect an unclaimed carryover after the last hole is simply not won.
- Are skins played gross or net?
- Either. Net skins give each player their handicap strokes on the hardest holes by stroke index, which keeps a mixed-ability group competitive.
- How many players do you need for skins?
- Two or more. Skins is at its best with three or four, where tied holes and carryovers happen often.