Golf dots and junk bets — sandies, greenies, barkies explained

The classic dots

Each dot is worth an agreed unit (a quarter, a buck, five). Make the shot, collect a dot from everyone — or from the pot at the end.

• Birdie — the original dot. Eagles usually pay double.
• Sandy — up-and-down from a bunker for par or better. The purest dot in golf.
• Greenie — on the green in one on a par 3 (closest-to-the-pin in some groups; many require the par to cash it).
• Barkie — hit a tree during the hole and STILL make par. The crowd favorite.
• Poley — a putt holed from outside the flagstick's length.
• Snake — the crossover: three-putt and you HOLD the snake; whoever holds it when the nine ends pays everyone. (Full negative-junk games live over in Trouble.)

House junk

The best dots are the ones only your group pays: the Wolfman (par from another fairway), the Seve (par after never touching the short grass), the ranger dot, the cart-path assist. If your group names it and agrees before the first tee, it's real.

Two rules keep junk fun: agree the list and the value on the first tee, and dots are FACTS — a sandy either happened or it didn't. No lobbying on the green.

How dots settle

Most groups pay per dot, everyone-to-everyone: end of the round, count each player's dots, and the differences settle up. A 6-dot day against your buddy's 2 is four units your way. Some groups pot it instead — every dot is a chip, the pot splits by count at the end.