Best Golf Betting Games for 5+ Players

Five Players? That's Not a Problem.

The standard assumption in golf betting is four players, two teams, clean foursomes. But fivesomes happen constantly — a buddy joins late, your regular group picks up a fifth, or the starter pairs your foursome with a single. When five show up on the first tee, most groups just wing it and argue about the format for the first three holes.

You don't have to. Some of the best games on the course were built for exactly this situation.

Quota was designed to handle any size field — it's the format that runs club outings, charity tournaments, and 30-player scramble side games on a single leaderboard. Skins doesn't care how many players are in the group. Wolf explicitly supports five as one of its designed player counts. And Junk runs on top of anything, scaling automatically to however many players are at the table.

If you're new to golf betting formats, start here before diving in. For everyone else — here's what actually works when the group is bigger than four.

The Quick Comparison

1. Quota — The Game Built for Any Size Group

Quota is the answer to "what do we play with five people" that most golfers haven't discovered yet. Every player calculates their personal target — called a quota — before the round: 36 minus your course handicap. A 10-handicap plays to a quota of 26. A 20-handicap plays to 16. A scratch golfer plays to 36.

Then everyone earns points on gross score throughout the round: eagle = 8, birdie = 4, par = 2, bogey = 1, double bogey or worse = 0. At the end, each player has a differential — how many points over or under their quota they finished. Players settle pairwise based on the difference between their differentials at whatever dollar value per point the group agreed to.

What makes Quota work for 5+ players: The handicap is already built into the target. There are no per-hole stroke allocations to argue about, no off-low-man calculations to run, and no format adjustment needed as the group grows. A 28-handicap and a scratch golfer are both just trying to beat their number. When the scratch golfer finishes +3 over quota and the 28-handicap finishes +4, the 28-handicap wins. That's the whole game.

Quick settlement example. Five players, $2 per point.

Mike wins the round at +4. Each pair of players settles based on their differential difference. Mike vs Todd: 6-point gap → Todd pays Mike $12. Justin, Jason, and Evan all finished at +3 — their head-to-head settlements are $0.

Every dollar won is a dollar lost. Quota settles clean, scales to any group size, and — critically — a 28-handicap can genuinely win on the same leaderboard as a scratch golfer. That fairness is why it's the default format for golf outings, tournaments, and club events everywhere.

Stick also supports the Chicago variant — 39 minus handicap instead of 36 — for groups that want a harder target.

Best for: Any group with a real skill spread. Groups of 5, 6, 8, or more. Rounds where you want a single leaderboard and clean, undisputed settlement math.

Not ideal for: Groups that want hole-by-hole drama and moment-to-moment tension. Quota is a cumulative game — you're building toward a number over 18 holes, not competing on each hole outright.

Read the full Quota guide →

Stick tracks Quota for any group size — individual targets, gross points, pairwise settlement to the penny. Download on the App Store →

2. Skins — The Universal Game

Skins scales to any number of players without a single rule change. Lowest unique score wins the skin. Tie anyone and it carries over. That's the game at two players, four players, or ten.

What changes with five players is how often skins get won outright. With more players competing for uniqueness on every hole, outright wins become harder — you not only have to post the low score, you have to be the only one who posted it. That means carryovers happen regularly, but when someone finally wins a contested pot outright, the payoff sweeps everything that's been building.

The five-player dynamic also changes the shot values. A birdie in a group where two others also birdied carries no skin. A par when everyone else makes bogey sweeps a pot that might have four or five holes of value stacked in it. The premium shifts from raw score to outscoring everyone else on that exact hole.

Quick example. $5 per skin, first four holes.

Three consecutive ties, then Justin birdies and nobody matches him. One score sweeps three holes of carry. That's the drama Skins creates in large groups.

Best for: Groups that want the simplest possible format with maximum hole-by-hole stakes. Works for any size without any setup. The easiest game to explain on the first tee.

Not ideal for: Groups that want handicap-adjusted competition. Raw Skins favors the lowest handicap. Add net scoring (off-low-man strokes) to level the field if your group has a wide handicap spread.

Read the full Skins guide →

3. Wolf — The Strategic Game for Exactly Five

Wolf is the most strategically interesting game for groups of three to five, and at five players it has a dynamic no other count creates: the 1v4 Lone Wolf.

Here's how Wolf works at five. One player is the Wolf each hole, rotating on a fixed order. The Wolf watches each opponent tee off and decides, after each shot, whether to take that player as a partner. Once you've seen all four tee shots, you either have a partner or you're going alone.

The partnership options at five are different from any other count:

• 2v3 — Wolf picks one partner, plays against three opponents
• 3v2 — Wolf picks two partners, plays the best ball of three against the best ball of two
• 1v4 Lone Wolf — Wolf plays alone against all four opponents, earning or paying 4x the base point value

That 1v4 call is the most dramatic bet in golf. You're looking at your own lie, four opponents' tee shots, and deciding your ball is better than whatever their four-player best ball produces. Most groups see a Lone Wolf at five maybe twice a round. When it lands, it's the biggest single-hole swing in any format. When it doesn't, the Wolf is paying four people at once.

The rotation at five means each player is Wolf every 5 holes. With 18 holes, three players see the Wolf role 4 times and two players see it 3 times — close enough that nobody feels shorted.

Add Blind Wolf (declaring you'll play alone before anyone tees off, for 3x points) and the psychological pressure on the Wolf rotation intensifies throughout the back nine.

Best for: Competitive fivesomes that want strategy and drama on every hole. Players who enjoy the partner selection mind game. Groups that want a game where every Wolf rotation matters.

Not ideal for: Groups that want quick rules and minimal explanation. Wolf takes a hole or two to internalize. If this is someone's first betting game, Quota or Skins is easier to onboard.

Read the full Wolf guide →

4. Junk — The Side Layer for Any Group

Junk — also called Dots, Trash, or Garbage — is not a standalone game so much as it is a side bet that runs on top of whatever else you're playing. It works with 2 players or 8, and five is no exception.

The mechanic is simple: players earn points (dots) for specific achievements during the round. Birdie, greenie (closest to the pin on a par 3 and making par or better), sandie (par after hitting a bunker), barkie (par after hitting a tree), snake (3-putts). At the end, total dots settle pairwise at an agreed value per dot.

What makes Junk work uniquely in a five-player group is that the same achievement can be earned by multiple players on the same hole. If three players hit the green on hole 7 and all three make par, all three earn a greenie. Junk isn't zero-sum per hole the way Quota or Skins is — it's achievement-based, which means a full group generates more total dots and more settlement pairs.

The other reason Junk belongs in a five-player round: it adds individual stakes to team holes. If you're playing Wolf and you're not the Wolf that hole, you still have greenies, sandies, and birdies to chase. Nobody checks out.

One note on handicap fairness: Not all Junk categories are equally fair. Closest-to-pin (proximity) heavily favors low handicaps because hitting greens in regulation is a low-handicap skill. For a mixed-ability group, consider dropping proximity and loading up on recovery categories — sandy, barkie, chippie — which are more skill-neutral. More on this in the Junk guide.

Best for: Any group that wants something tracking beyond the main game. An ideal overlay for Quota or Skins rounds where you want individual hole-by-hole stakes. Keeps everyone engaged even when the main game has a decided leader.

Not ideal for: Groups that don't want to track achievement categories during the round. Junk with 5 players and 8 categories produces a lot of data. Without an app, it's pen-and-paper-intensive. With Stick, it's automatic.

Read the full Junk guide →

Stacking for a Fivesome: The Best Combinations

The most common stack for a 5-player group is Quota plus Junk. Quota gives you the individual season-style competition with a clean leaderboard. Junk gives you hole-by-hole drama and achievement stakes. You enter scores once and both run simultaneously. Most groups set Quota at $1-$2 per point and Junk at $0.50 per dot to keep the overall exposure reasonable.

For groups that want raw hole-by-hole competition instead of cumulative scoring, Skins plus Junk is the classic combination — every hole has a pot to win outright, and every hole also has greenies and sandies in play.

Stick tracks all four games and any combination simultaneously — one set of scores, every game updating in real time across everyone's phone. Download on the App Store →

What About Even Bigger Groups?

Quota is the answer for groups of 6, 8, 10, or more. The format doesn't change regardless of field size. A 30-player charity outing uses the same Quota rules as a five-player Saturday morning round — everyone has a personal target, everyone earns gross points, everyone settles pairwise at the end. The settlement math is the same, just more pairs.

For team-based formats in larger groups, Scotch (2v2 teams) and best-ball scramble formats can run alongside Quota as a group overlay. Stick currently handles individual-play formats — the multi-team, multi-group tournament experience is on the roadmap as the Events feature, designed specifically for 20-30 player outings.

For now, if your group is five, Quota has you covered from the first tee.

Which One Should You Play?

If you have five players and want something everyone understands immediately, play Skins. Lowest score wins the hole. Done.

If you want a game that's genuinely fair across a wide skill spread and produces a clean leaderboard, play Quota. It's the format that runs club tournaments for a reason.

If your fivesome wants strategy and drama built into every single hole, play Wolf. The 1v4 Lone Wolf is something you'll talk about on the 19th hole.

If you want individual stakes running alongside the main game, add Junk as an overlay. It keeps everyone engaged regardless of who's leading the main format.

Five players isn't an awkward number. It's a group with options.