The Vegas golf game: rules, the birdie flip and scoring

The rules. A 4 and a 5 is 45.

Vegas (also called Las Vegas) is a partners game for a foursome. On every hole each pair makes a two-digit number from its two scores, the lower score as the first digit: a 4 and a 5 is 45, a 3 and a 6 is 36.

The pair with the lower number wins the hole by the difference. 45 against 56 is 11 points. Because the second score is a digit, not a total, a partner's double bogey hurts far more than in a best-ball game.

Pick the pairs and the point. Usually fixed for the round. Agree what a point is worth; 25¢ is common, because points pile up.
Make each pair's number. Lower score first: 4 and 5 is 45, 5 and 5 is 55.
A double-digit score goes first. Make a 10 or worse and it leads the number: a 4 and a 10 is 104, not 410.
The birdie flip. If one pair has a birdie, the other pair's number is turned round, high digit first: their 45 becomes 54. If both pairs birdie, nothing flips.
Score the difference. The lower number wins the gap between the two numbers in points.
Settle at the end. Total each pair's points; the net difference times the point value is what each player on the losing pair pays one on the winning pair.

Five holes, 25¢ a point.

Dale and Tom play Ray and Mike, gross, birdie flip on, at 25¢ a point. Red scores are birdies.

Holes 1–5 Sample card · invented players

Hole	Dale Tom	No.	Ray Mike	No.	Points
1 par 4	4, 5	45	5, 6	56	D&T 11
2 par 3	3, 4	43 34 flipped	2, 4	24	R&M 19
3 par 5	5, 10	105	5, 6	56	R&M 49
4 par 4	4, 4	44	4, 5	45	D&T 1
5 par 4	3, 5	35	3, 4	34	R&M 1
Total		12		69	R&M 57

On the 2nd Ray's birdie flips Dale and Tom's 34 to 43. On the 3rd Tom's 10 goes first: 105. On the 5th both pairs birdie, so neither number flips.

Dale and Tom won 12 points, Ray and Mike 69: Ray and Mike are 57 up. At 25¢ a point that's $14.25 a player, nearly all of it from one 10 on a par 5.

Flips, doubles and caps.

The number is the same everywhere. What groups change is how much a good hole swings it, and how much a bad one can cost.

The flipOn or off. Some groups flip only for a natural birdie (no handicap stroke), some for a net one.

Birdies and eaglesA birdie doubles the hole's points, or an eagle flips and doubles. Each one makes the game more volatile.

Capping the big numberSome groups cap a score (at double par, or at 9) so one blow-up can't produce a 105; others keep it, because that's the game.

Rotating partnersChange partners every six holes, the way Sixes does, so every player partners every other once.

DaytonaA cousin of Vegas where the high score goes first unless someone in the pair makes par or better.

Handicaps. Net scores make the number.

Played net, each player's net score on the hole goes into the number. Most groups play off the low man: the lowest of the four plays at scratch, the others get the difference on the hardest holes by stroke index.

Strokes matter twice in Vegas. A stroke that turns Mike's 6 into a net 5 takes his pair from 56 to 55, but a stroke that turns a 5 into a 4 can move the low digit: 45 instead of 55, a ten-point swing from one stroke.

Settling the money. Each loser pays the player opposite.

Points are per pair. In the example Ray and Mike finish 57 points up, so at 25¢ each of them is owed $14.25: Dale pays Ray $14.25 and Tom pays Mike $14.25.

Over eighteen holes a 25¢ game can easily run to $20 or $30 a man, and a $1 point to four times that. Agree the point with the 105 in mind.

In Live Links Golf. Scored off the card. Nobody adds up the numbers.

Vegas is worked out entirely from the scores: the numbers, the flips and the points. Nobody pays in ahead; each player on the losing pair pays the player opposite, and the settle-up lists who pays whom.

Run a Vegas game free Vegas on a trip How a free round works

The pairsA foursome's two sides if the group is split, otherwise the first two players against the last two. Fixed for the round.

The numberLow score first; a score of ten or more goes first (a 4 and a 10 is 104). A hole counts once all four have a score.

The flipA natural birdie turns the other pair's number round, on by default. Switch it off in the game's rules. Both pairs birdie: no flip.

HandicapsGross or net. Net plays off the low man by default, or full handicaps; a net score below 1 counts as 1.

The point25¢ unless you change it.

Where it showsBoth numbers on every hole of the scoring card with the running points, and a Vegas tab on the board laying out every hole.

Vegas, asked on the first tee.

How do you make the number in Vegas?

Put the pair's two scores together with the lower one first: a 4 and a 5 is 45, a 3 and a 6 is 36. The lower number wins the hole by the difference.

What happens when someone makes a 10 in Vegas?

A double-digit score goes first, so a 4 and a 10 makes 104. Some groups cap scores to stop that; others play it as it lies.

What is the birdie flip?

When one pair makes a birdie, the other pair's number is reversed, high digit first, so their 45 becomes 54. If both pairs make birdie, nothing flips.

How much is a point worth in Vegas?

Whatever the group agrees, but keep it small: one hole can swing fifty points. A quarter a point is a common stake.

Can Vegas be played with handicaps?

Yes. Each player's net score goes into the number, usually with strokes off the lowest handicap in the group.

More games for a foursome.

Wolf A rotating Wolf picks a partner or goes it alone, hole by hole. Read the rules → Skins The lowest score on a hole wins it outright, and what a tie does. Read the rules → The trip Run the trip. It does the money. Vegas, Wolf and skins across every round, on one money list at the end. See how a trip runs →

How to play the Vegas golf game