A while back we were having a friendly neighborhood game at Jack Tone Golf in Ripon CA. There were 4 of us neighbors playing and it was decided to spice things up with a nassau on the front nine. We made up two teams and used our index to even things. My team was given one stroke per hole cause one of our neighbors is a scratch golfer. It was one of those days where you’re in the zone and after 7 holes we were comfortably in the lead and knew we would be in the big money – a buck or two!! Being naive Duffers we were caught off guard when those magic words were spoken – “Press the bet”. Course we had no clue at the time what that meant.
When all was said and done we owed moolah. How could this be? The scratch golfer reminded us that we were now in his house and that he had pressed the bet on the 7th hole. To this day we still think we were hustled but at least it was a cheap lesson. It could have been a lot worse. The press, at its most basic, is a second bet that begins during the course of a round. Like all bets and betting games in golf, there are no official rules for the use of presses. There are many variations of presses and how they can be used. You can press at any point in the match if you are behind. If golfers begin pressing, and re-pressing and then re-re-pressing, good score keeping and perhaps an accountant is a must.
Moral of the story is … Always know what you’re playing for and/or agreeing to before you start play. Not only did we not know what “Press the bet ” was but we also had no real clue as to what a “nassau” was. Golfers beware. Lookout for those Nassaus, Presses, Greenies, Sandies, Round Robin, Bingo Bango Bongos, Barkies, Wolf, Arnies, Aces and Dueces, Gruesomes, and Criers and Whiners just to name a few.
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