How to Play the Snake Side Game

Snake is the name of a golf bet/side game whose objective is to avoid three-putting. More specifically, you do not want to be the last person in your group to have a three-putt in Snake, because that is the person who has to pay off the wager.

These are the basics of Snake:

• When a golfer in your group three-putts, he "has the snake" or "holds the snake." When the next 3-putt happens, the Snake passes to that golfer. And so on through the round. (Some groups who play Snake bring a rubber snake, and whoever has the snake has to actually carry that rubber snake.)

• Whoever holds the Snake at the end — the golfer who made the last three-putt of the round — is the loser in the game. If playing Snake for money, that golfer — the one left holding the Snake at the end of the round — has to pay off the bet to each of the others in the group.

To summarize: The snake passes to each golfer who three-putts, and the golfer who holds the snake at the end (the one who made the latest three-putt of the round) has to pay off the bet.

How to do you wager on Snake? The simplest method is to agree before the round that the bet is a fixed amount. If you are part of a foursome and the foursome agrees on $5, then the golfer left holding the snake at the end of the round owes $5 to each of the other golfers playing.

Traditionally, Snake is bet this way: a starting amount is agreed to, and with each new 3-putt (each time the snake passes to another golfer), that amount is doubled.

If you've never played Snake before, you need to be very careful about the starting amount when using this method of betting the game. Why? Let's say your starting amount is $1. The snake passes once, now it's $2. It passes a third time, now it's $4. If there are eight three-putts total in the round, the wager will be worth $128 in the end — and that's $128 the loser owes to each of the other members in the group!

If the starting amount is a dime, and there are eight three-putts total during the round, the final amount will be $12.80 owed to each of the other members of the group. With a starting amound of a nickel, and eight total three-putts, that's $6.40 owed to each of the other golfers. And if your group is made up of higher handicappers, the eight 3-putts in these examples might be a low estimate.

Something else to be careful of: time. Snake requires putting out all those second putts. There are no gimmes in Snake (which is what makes it a good game for improving one's putting under pressure). Snake is not a good game when the golf course is busy. Remember your etiquette and don't hold up groups behind.

Related articles:

• The 'One on One' points game explained
• The '3 Points' putting green game
• How to play the Putt For Dough game

Sources:
(Book titles are affiliate links; commissions earned)
Johnston, Scott. The Complete Book of Golf Games, 1995, Mustang Publishing.
Kaspriske, Ron. Golf Digest's Complete Book of Golf Betting Games, 2007, Doubleday.
Moore, Jerry. Golf Is More Than Your Score, 2014, Xlibris Corporation.
Rodriguez, Chi Chi, and Anderson, John. Chi Chi's Golf Games You Gotta Play, 2003, Human Kinetics.
Shiels, Michael Patrick, and Kernicki, Michael. Golf's Short Game for Dummies, 2011, John Wiley & Sons.