The Froggies Side Bet Explained
The Froggies bet pays out to any golfer whose ball skips across the surface of water and emerges still playable on the other side. Stream, pond, lake, inlet of a bay, large puddle, bunker filled with rain, whatever: You play (or misplay, more likely) a stroke, your ball strikes the surface of the water but skips across, and winds up back on land on the other side? You win the value of the Froggies bet.
Froggies is one of those side games that golfers like to bundle together into catch-all games that have names like Junk, Dot Game, Garbage, Trash, Supplemental Bets, and so on. Froggies might be combined with barkies, splashies, sandies, Arnies, chippies, greenies, and many other similar bets.
Agree with your buddies beforehand how much the froggies are worth. Is it one dollar each? Then if you happen to earn a froggy, you just won a dollar from each of your playing companions. Or you earned the agreed-upon value in points, with all earned points from all the various bets added up at the end.
Now, ask yourself: How many times in your golfing life has one of your shots skipped across water and reached dry land on the other side? Very few, and many of you are answering, "zero." So Froggies is one of those side bets that rarely pays out. But include it in your game if you want.
Note that this game also goes by Frog or Froggy; and by Skips, Skippy or Skippies. Also note that some golfers use "froggies" or one of the other variations of the term to mean something different, though: the same thing as splashies, fishies, Cousteau or shark (all of which refer to making par after hitting into water).
More golf games:
Sources:Fellner, Richard. "Let’s make it interesting: Popular golf side bets and formats," Inside Golf, April 4, 2010, https://www.insidegolf.com.au/19thhole/lets-make-it-interesting-popular-golf-side-bets-and-formats/.
Rodriguez, Chi Chi, and Anderson, John. Chi Chi's Golf Games You Gotta Play (affiliate link), 2003, Human Kinetics.
