How to Play a N.O.S.E. Tournament in Golf

If you don't want to blow your NOSE tournament, first start by understanding what a "N.O.S.E." tournament is in golf. It's a tournament format in which the golfers count their scores only on holes that begin with one of the letters that make up "N.O.S.E."

We've seen the format spelled N.O.S.E., NOSE, or called a Nose Tournament or "On the Nose Tournament." (A very similar game that uses a slightly different group of holes is called the T-E-N format.)

When you sign up to play a N.O.S.E. tournament, you'll be playing the full, 18-hole golf course. But at the end, when you tally up your scores, you count only those holes which, when spelled out, begin with the letters N, O, S and E.

And guess what? There are nine such holes: holes one, six, seven, eight, nine, eleven, sixteen, seventeen and eighteen. One good thing about the N.O.S.E. format is that it includes the final three holes of the round, putting extra pressure on golfers coming down the stretch. If a tiebreaker is necessary, you can use the total of the scores on the other holes.

In addition to the 18-hole N.O.S.E. tournament, a 9-hole N.O.S.E. can be a fun twist on the usual for a twilight golf league. In that case, play the front nine so that five holes count (holes 1, 6, 7, 8 and 9) for the scores.

Of course, a group of golfers playing together can also use N.O.S.E. as a betting game just within the group.

More golf games:

• How to play St. Andrews Foursomes
• The Back It Up skins game variation
• How to play a Miami Scramble