The Bogeyman Side Game Explained

There are two different side games that go by the name Bogeyman, both of them, as you probably guessed, based around making (or avoiding making) bogeys. One of them is best-suited for low-handicappers, the other is more-often played by higher handicappers.

Bogeyman Version 1

This is the wagering game usually played by lower handicappers because it involves gross scores (although you could play it with handicaps) and more money is at stake. This game also often goes by the name Bogey or Bogeys.

In this version, the first golfer in the group who scores a bogey becomes the Bogeyman. That golfer owes each other member of the group one unit of the bet for that hole. But the Bogeyman has to keep paying the other members after each hole so long as he remains the Bogeyman — that is, until someone else makes a bogey and becomes the Bogeyman himself. (An expensive variation is that if one of the other players makes birdie on a hole, that golfer gets paid double by the Bogeyman, who continues to pay double on ensuing holes until someone else makes bogey.)

What if there is a tie (two or more golfers making bogey) before anyone has become the Bogeyman? Last golfer in the hole gets stuck with the Bogeyman title. Ties when there already is a Bogeyman are a push.

Bogeyman Version 2

This game that uses the Bogeyman name is typically favored by mid- and higher-handicappers and usually played with handicaps. In this version, the wager centers around not being the last player in the group to make a net bogey.

The group tees off and writes down net scores. The first golfer to make net bogey or worse becomes the Bogeyman. But no money is won or lost yet. When another golfer makes net bogey, the Bogeyman title passes to her. And so on. The key in this version is to avoid being last: The golfer who is the Bogeyman when the round ends is the one who loses the wager and has to pay the other players.

That payout is usually an amount agreed on before the round (say, one dollar or five dollars) and is paid by the last Bogeyman to each of the others in the group. A variation is to base the amount owed on how many total net bogeys were made by the group during the round (for example, 25 cents per net bogey).

More golf games:

• How to play the Four-Ball Aggregate format
• The ferret and golden ferret in golf
• How to play the Duck side bet

Sources:
(Book titles are affiliate links; commissions earned)
Bohn, Michael K. Money Golf: 600 Years of Bettin' on Birdies, Potomac Books Inc., 2007.
Kapriskie, Ron. Golf Digest's Complete Book of Golf Betting Games, 2007, Doubleday.