How to Play the Auto Win Golf Game

"Auto Win" is the name of a golf game for groups of golfers of any number — a group of two, three or four can play it. The crux of Auto Win is that holes are automatically won by a golfer who accomplishes one of three set achievements per hole.

What are those three things? The standard troika is this:

• Chip-in from off the green (fringes don't count)
• Hole-out from a sand bunker
• Stick an approach shot inside the flagstick from 150 yards out or more, or on any par-3 hole

But, your group doesn't have to use these three standard achievements. You can mix-and-match as you wish, so long as everyone in your group knows what the three auto-win achievements are.

(Let's face it: On many holes, using the criteria above, there will be no Auto Win winner. Therefore, your group might want to, as an example, swap out one of those three for, say, sinking a putt of 10 feet or longer.)

What happens if more than one golfer does one of the three things on a hole? You have options for how to handle that. Most commonly, groups give the Auto Win to the first golfer to do it. Or, at your group's preference, you can consider such a hole halved or carry over that hole's value to the next hole.

How do you bet Auto Win? There are several possibilities. Make each Auto Win worth a set amount. Or make them worth points, then add up the points at the end and pay out an agreed-upon amount to the overall winner.