Want to prank your golf buddies with a seemingly innocent betting game called Double Down? Of course you do. And here’s how you explain it:
On the first tee, tell your group that you have a new game with low stakes that everybody has a chance to win because each hole is a new game. Tell them even if somebody loses the first 17 holes, he can still win the match – and the most money – just by winning the 18th hole.
Then tell them you’re playing for a penny on the first hole. Low ball (including handicap) wins the hole and a penny from the other three guys. Then you double the stakes on No. 2 and play for 2 cents, then 4 cents on No. 3, 8 cents on No. 4, 16 cents on No. 5 and so on. Simple as that.
You double the amount on every hole. Tell them you played the game last week and that it kept everybody in it until the end and nobody got hurt. Tell them whoever wins the most can pay for drinks at the 19th hole.
But, of course, the game isn’t that simple. And it might not become apparent how much you’re playing for until the back nine. That’s the beauty of the prank – to see how long it takes somebody to realize you’re playing for huge stakes.
How huge? Would you believe the 18th hole is worth more than $1,000? You can do the math. Continuing to double the amount after each hole, you’ll be playing for $81.92 on No. 14, $163.84 on No. 15, $327.68 on No. 16, $655.36 on No. 17 and then – drum roll, please – a whopping $1,310.72 on the final hole. That means if you win the last hole, you’d win almost $4,000 from the other three guys.
Theoretically, of course, because you wouldn’t make your buddies pay that. Right? So when somebody finally figures out what’s on the line, reveal the real math and switch to a $1 skins game. Or make them sweat for a couple holes. Then laugh, confess to the prank and change the game – before somebody starts chasing you with a 3-iron.
Playing Double Down reminds me of a betting anecdote involving a few members of the men’s club at Costa Mesa Country Club years ago. John “J.T.” Thompson of Huntington Beach explained to me how an innocent 25-cent wager turned into a nightmare for an accountant in their weekend group. Back then, they had a group of regulars who’d get together and dream up exotic betting games to take each other’s money.
“Our typical bet was a quarter per person per hole,” Thompson said. “Even if you had a bad day, you could theoretically only lose $4.50.”
Theoretically. There’s that word again. On this day, an accountant in their fivesome chose a game in which the designated captain of the hole – it changed every hole – would predict on the tee what he thought his score would be.
For example, if a player said he could make a par, and he did, his four playing partners would have to pay him a quarter. If he made a bogey, he’d have to pay his buddies a quarter apiece. For each stroke after that, the bet doubled – 50 cents per man for a double bogey, $1 for a triple bogey, etc.
When the group arrived at the eighth hole on the Mesa Linda Course – a 114-yard par-3 with water fronting the green – the accountant announced that he’d make a par.
Not quite. In a scene reminiscent of a vintage John Daly meltdown, the accountant hit ball after ball after ball into the water – with penalty stroke after penalty stroke after penalty stroke – before knocking one on the green and 2-putting for a mind-numbing 15. Everyone else in the group couldn’t stop laughing.
The real damage was calculated on the next tee box when another CPA in the group told the accountant he’d lost more than $2,000 on the previous hole.
Yes, it added up that fast. Stroke 4 cost 25 cents a man, stroke 5 cost 50 cents, stroke 6 cost $1, and it kept doubling – from $2 to $4 to $8 to $16 to $32, then $64, $128, $256 and $512 for the last putt. That meant he owed $512 to each of his four playing partners – or a total of $2,048. On a 25-cent bet!
The moral of the story: Be careful what you bet, and never play with CPAs.
Your turn: If you have a favorite golf betting story, send it to me at SouthlandGolfRY@aol.com and I’ll include the best ones in a future column.
