Gus's guide for buddy trips
Golf Trip Etiquette & House Rules
Gus is the gopher who lives in Sunday Singles. He's watched a lot of buddy trips from his burrow, and he has opinions. Here are his calls on the questions that start arguments, with how to actually run each one. Settle them before the trip, send this page to the group chat, and spend the week playing golf.
Rule 1 of 11
What counts as a gimme?
Gus's call
Inside the leather, and only in match play. In stroke play every putt counts, even the eight-inchers.
Agree the gimme rule on the first tee, before anyone needs one. In match play, conceding a putt is part of the game: the hole is over, and the score goes on the card with that putt counted (a gimme is one stroke, not zero). Stroke play and Stableford have no gimmes in the rules. If your group allows them to keep pace, say so up front and still count the putt.
Rule 2 of 11
Are mulligans allowed on a golf trip?
Gus's call
One off the first tee on day one, if the group agrees. After that, play it as it lies.
Mulligans aren't in the rules, so they're a house rule: settle it before the trip, not on the tee box. A common deal is one breakfast ball per player on the first tee of the first round, and none in anything with money or cup points riding on it. If you take one, the score on the card is the ball you finished with, with no extra stroke.
Rule 3 of 11
What's a course handicap, and how many strokes do I get?
Gus's call
Your index is your number everywhere. Your course handicap is your number on today's tees. Then the format takes its cut.
Your handicap index (say 12.4) is the number GHIN or Golf Canada gives you. Your course handicap turns it into strokes for the tees you're playing: index × slope ÷ 113, plus the course rating minus par. A 12.4 on tees rated 72.0 with a 128 slope, on a par 72, gets 14. Then each format plays off a share of that, and the strokes land on the hardest holes first, by the scorecard's stroke index. In match play the lowest player plays off zero and everyone else gets the difference. Sunday Singles works all of it out from each player's tees and shows the math on the scorecard.
- Stroke play, Stableford and singles match play: 100%
- Four-ball and 2-man best ball: 85% each
- Foursomes (alternate shot): 50% of the pair's combined handicap
- 2-man scramble: 25% of the low + 10% of the high
- 4-man scramble: 25%, 20%, 15% and 10%, low to high
Rule 4 of 11
Someone's sandbagging their handicap. Now what?
Gus's call
Use official handicaps, set them before the trip, and let the course do the math. The scorecard catches the rest.
Ask everyone for their current handicap index (GHIN, Golf Canada or their club's) before the trip, not the number they quote in the cart. Strokes should come from each player's course handicap on the tees they're playing, not from the raw index. Sunday Singles shows each player's course handicap, and the math behind it, on the scorecard, so nobody argues about strokes on the 14th tee. If someone is clearly playing off too high a number, the commissioner can lower it before the next round.
Rule 5 of 11
Should handicaps change during the trip?
Gus's call
Lock them before round one. If someone's way off, adjust between rounds, never during one, and tell the group why.
Cutting a handicap after every good round feels fair but punishes the guy having his week. A cleaner rule: handicaps are locked for the trip, with one exception everyone agrees to in advance (for example, anyone who wins two rounds by five or more drops two strokes). Make any change between rounds, so every round is played on one set of numbers.
Rule 6 of 11
Who pays for what on a golf trip?
Gus's call
Shared costs split evenly, personal costs stay personal, and the total goes out before anyone books a flight.
Split the house, green fees and carts evenly, and the groceries and the beer for the house too, whether you drink it or not. Bar tabs, merch and the balls you lose are on you. Send the per-person total before the deposit is due so nobody's surprised. A Sunday Singles trip itinerary has a Trip Costs section for this: the schedule, the courses and the totals players will see, on one link.
Rule 7 of 11
How do you settle bets on a golf trip?
Gus's call
Net it all down to one payment per person, and settle up before the airport.
Skins, a team bet and a couple of side games can leave everyone owing everyone a few bucks. Net it out: each player's winnings minus losses, then the fewest payments that square it. Sunday Singles does this for you. The settle-up shows who owes who, with Venmo, Cash App, PayPal and Interac links, and whoever gets paid marks it received.
Rule 8 of 11
Do skins carry over to the next day?
Gus's call
Within a round, always. To the next day, only if you said so before the first tee shot.
In skins, a tied hole carries to the next one, so the pot builds. The real question is what happens to skins still unwon after the 18th: most groups split them, play them off, or roll them to hole 1 of the next round. Rolling them keeps day two interesting. In Sunday Singles it's one switch in the trip's skins settings, Carry to Next Session.
Rule 9 of 11
Someone made a 2. What does the deuce pot pay?
Gus's call
One share per 2: the pot divided by the number of deuces. Paid at the bar.
Everyone who's in puts in the same amount before the round. Any gross 2 on any hole earns a share, and most groups count an ace too. At the end, divide the pot by the total number of 2s. Nobody made one? Roll it to the next round. Sunday Singles picks up every 2 from the scores as they're entered and shows the shares hole by hole; the cash itself is still up to your group.
Rule 10 of 11
What are good rental-house rules for a golf trip?
Gus's call
The leaderboard goes on the TV, the day's last place cooks breakfast, and nobody touches the thermostat.
A few house rules save a lot of arguing: quiet hours before an early tee time, a cleanup rotation, and the day's last-place finisher on breakfast duty. Put the live leaderboard on the TV so the night's trash talk has numbers behind it. Every Sunday Singles trip comes with a TV leaderboard built for the rental-house screen.
Rule 11 of 11
How do you run a golf trip as the commissioner?
Gus's call
Decide early, send one link with everything on it, and never run a game you can't explain in one sentence.
Lock the dates, courses, teams and games a few weeks out. Pick formats people know, or send the rules with them, set handicaps before the trip, and let each group score its own card on their phones so you can actually play. Sunday Singles is built for this: a live team draft for draft night, scoring from a link with nothing to download, and a leaderboard and settle-up that run themselves. Your first round is free.
All of Gus's rules
- 1.What counts as a gimme?
- 2.Are mulligans allowed on a golf trip?
- 3.What's a course handicap, and how many strokes do I get?
- 4.Someone's sandbagging their handicap. Now what?
- 5.Should handicaps change during the trip?
- 6.Who pays for what on a golf trip?
- 7.How do you settle bets on a golf trip?
- 8.Do skins carry over to the next day?
- 9.Someone made a 2. What does the deuce pot pay?
- 10.What are good rental-house rules for a golf trip?
- 11.How do you run a golf trip as the commissioner?
Run the whole trip in one place
Sunday Singles is a no-download golf trip app: Ryder Cup matches or stroke-play tournaments, skins and side games, a TV leaderboard and the settle-up. Your first round is free.