How to Play the Side Bet Named 'Birdies'

Would you guess that a golf game named Birdies is one that pays off when a golfer ... makes a birdie? This side bet is one of the simplest, and it is also one of the most popular among golfers.

In the Birdies game, you win the value of the bet each time you make a birdie or better. That's it. Make a birdie or better, win. At the end of the round, golfers compare their number of birdies and pay out the differences. You might be tallying up a dollar amount at the end of the round (say, each birdie is worth a buck), or a point value (say, each birdie is worth 5 points). That's up to the golfers playing Birdies.

Either way, Birdies is a very popular add-on to a regular game of golf. Golf Digest once polled readers and asked for their favorite side bets. And betting on birdies came in at No. 1. The Birdies bet is also a very popular inclusion in those catch-all points games that go by different names (such as Trash, Garbage, Dots or Junk).

If you want to gussy it up a bit, there are ways to increase the stakes by employing these variations:

• Whatever the monetary or point value of a birdie is, double it for an eagle.
• Whatever the monetary or point value of a birdie is, double it if the birdie is made via a hole-out from off the green; or quadruple it if that hole-out from off the green is for eagle or better.

But you don't have to make it any more complicated than this: Birdies are worth X, and you win X when you make a birdie or better.

If your regular group consists of golfers who are all very close in ability, then you can play Birdies using gross scores (actual stroke totals). If your group is made up golfers who vary in ability, then you'll need to use handicaps and net scores, so that net birdies pay off.

More games:

• How to play Patsomes
• The American Foursomes format explained
• How to play Russian Stableford

Sources:
Bohn, Michael K. Money Golf: 600 Years of Bettin' on Birdies (affiliate link), Potomac Books Inc., 2007.