Me and 13 other buddies are taking a Pinehusrt golf trip in a couple weeks and I have planned to trip and now am trying to decide on how to format the golf so we can have some friendly betting with a group of guys with a wide range of handicaps. The handicaps range from 10-30+.....any ideas??

This is what we have done in the past and it has worked out evenly and lots of fun for everyone... But be ready for a little work:

Games that involved - team against team.

1) Two man teams/total score per hole from each man, match play (keeps both players in the game)- we took the #1 lowest handicap and matched with the highest handicap, #2 lowest with the second highest and so on. We had the lower handicaps playing together in the same cart. This format made it tiered so almost all games were very close. So for 14 guys, there would essentially be 7 team vs team games.

2) Also did an individual game with handicaps, total score.

3) We had a day where it was low handicaps vs high handicaps (with handicaps), and we played from the tips, they played from the whites.

4) Did a blind pairing, total scores with handicaps...didn't know until the cash was handed out who you were paired with.

5) We did a beer cup game...great for 4 some....everyone starts with 10 or 20 $1 bills in an empty beer cup and everyone is encouraged to make any type of bet, anytime on anything! Each player had to bet at least $10 or $20 throughout the round, and once their money was gone they were done. Example - Player A bets - $2 you can't hit the green, Player B can accept or decline, double the bet, add odds like my $2 to your $5 etc. Bet on anything, putts, shots into greens, par 5s in 2, bet guy will end up in the water or can't get outta of a bunker, team can bet another team on a hole etc....It's awesome, fun and by the end of it, you won't believe what guys are betting on...keeps everyone in the game and keeps the betting light and fun.

5) For afternoon rounds the higher cappers were sometimes not very excited to play another 18, so we played high handicap with low handicap, scramble, with the 4 drives per guy rule. Keeps the game moving and everyone has fun...especially on round 2.

6) We also did a low cap 4 some (individual scores) and high cap individual challenge.

Ah man...we've played lots of games...use these as a starting point.

With 14 guys you might want to keep it simple and cheap. Each player against every other player in $1 handicapped bets would be simple enough. Each player has only $13 in play per round. The last thing you want is for someone to loose alot of money, get bitter and spoil it for everyone else.

I've been on a few trips where superball/scramble/captains choice was played, and one idea that I think works well is to designate the tees before the trip. One day play back tees, one day middle, one day front tees. Deciding it ahead of time cuts down on the first-tee whining/boasting from the guys about you're riding past half the course if you don't play the tips.