The Golf Betting Game Named 'Garbage' Explained

Garbage is a golf betting game that involves assigning values to a long list of achievements (sometimes including negative points for mistakes) and awarding points to golfers as they record those achievements throughout a round. Basically, Garbage is a game that combines lots of other side bets into on larger, catch-all game.

You probably know the game of Garbage even if you don't know it by that name. It goes by many different names, among them Dots, Junk, Trash and Supplemental Bets.

Groups that have played Garbage together over many years might keep adding new ways to earn (or lose) points, leading to dozens of different things each member of the group has to keep track of during the round. One key to Garbage is to keep it fun: Don't add so many ways to earn (or lose) points that you spend the whole round on bookkeeping rather than enjoying the golf.

What side games usually go into Garbage? Some examples are Arnies, barkies, pinnies, greenies, chippies, ferrets, froggies and scuffies. Don't recognize those games? Again, you might know them but under different names.

These are some more straightforward names for the things that earn points in Garbage, just remember that your group can come up with a list all your own, and make each one worth however many points you want:

• holes-in-one
• eagles
• birdies
• pars
• long drives
• closest to the pin
• hitting fairways
• hitting greens in regulation
• chip-ins
• up-and-down from a bunker

And so on. Add as many as you want, assign them any point value you want. Garbage isn't really about the specific side games or points-earners you use, so much as the combination of multiple such games.

Some groups who play Garbage limit the game to positive achievements — no negative points. But other groups do like to include mistakes that result in the taking away of points. Some of the negative-point "achievements" that might be included are:

• 3-putts
• 4-putts
• double-bogeys and worse
• hitting into a bunker
• hitting into water

Basically, you can throw any side bet into Garbage and make it part of a larger game that combines many different side games. If your group is playing Garbage for the first time, limit it to just a handful of side bets and see how it goes. You can always add more later.

When you finish your round of golf, members of the group tally up their total points to determine order of finish. You can make each point worth a fixed amount and pay out the differences in points. Or each golfer can pay into a pot to start the round, then pay it out (winner take all or top two finishers get paid) at the end.

Sources:
Johnston, Scott. The Complete Book of Golf Games, 1995, Mustang Publishing.
Swift, Duncan. The Golfer's Reference: Golf Games and Side Bets, 1999, Schaefer's Publishing.