How to Play the Oozles and Foozles Golf Game

Oozles are good and foozles are bad. That's the first thing you need to know about the golf betting game named Oozles and Foozles. It's a game that focuses on the golfer who is closest-to-the-hole, and who wins money — that golfer or the other golfers in the group — depends on whether that golfer gets in the hole in fewer than three putts, or in three putts or more.

Oozles and Foozles is usually played only on par-3 holes, and can be played a couple different ways. The game is also called Oozle-Foozle or Oozy-Foozy.

Version 1 of Oozles and Foozles

On par-3 holes, the golfer who is closest to the pin (must be on the green) after all the tee balls are played has a chance to win the oozle. The oozle (worth one betting unit — you remembered to agree on how much the bet is worth before starting, right?) can then be won if that golfer holes out in two or fewer putts. Do that, and the golfer wins the bet from each of the other golfers in on the game.

However, if the closest-to-the-pin golfer 3-putts, he just got stuck with the foozle. And that means the loss of one betting unit to each of the other golfers in on the bet.

So: Determine the closest to the pin on a par-3. If that golfer holes out in two putts or less, he wins the bet from each of the other golfers; if she three-putts or worse, she owes the bet to the other golfers.

If no golfers in the group hit the green off the tee, then the bet carries over to the next par-3, making that next hole more valuable.

Version 2 of Oozles and Foozles

In the second version, the oozle is won by the golfer who is closest to the pin on a par-3 hole, regardless of whether that golfer holes out in two or fewer putts.

However, if that golfer does 3-putt, he also gets hit with the foozle. In this version, the oozle and foozle typically have different values, otherwise they just cancel each other out when the closest-to-the-pin golfer does three-putt.

Oozle-Foozle Variations

While Oozles and Foozles is usually played on par-3 holes, there's nothing stopping you from playing it on all holes, if that's what you prefer. In that case, oozles can only be earned when you reach a green in regulation.

In his book Chi Chi's Golf Games You Gotta Play (affiliate link), Chi Chi Rodriguez describes another variation of Oozles and Foozles:

"If a golfer makes a clean sweep of all par-3s on the course, he or she is said to have laid wall-to-wall carpeting, and all of his or her ... Oozles winnings are doubled."

Oozles and Foozles is a game that fits well within the larger betting game of Dots or Garbage.