How to play a Nassau: rules, presses and examples
A Nassau is three bets in one round: the front nine, the back nine and the full eighteen, each with its own stake. Golfers play it for the presses, which let a side that is behind start a fresh bet on the holes that remain.
- Players: 2 to 5 players
- Also called: Nassau bet, press, 2 down automatic press
- Teams: Every player for themselves
- Scores needed: Every player's score on each hole
Each golfer's score on every hole. Tap Press when someone is behind and wants a new bet.
Win the front nine, the back nine and the overall round.
How to play Nassau
- Agree the three stakes. A common set is 5 for the front, 5 for the back and 10 for the overall, often written 5/5/10.
- Play match play against your opponent, or two against two. Most holes won over the nine wins that nine, and most over eighteen wins the overall.
- Decide how presses work before you start: manual (a trailing side calls it) or automatic (it starts by itself when a side goes 2 down).
- When a press is made, a new bet starts on the holes that remain, at the same stake unless you agreed otherwise. The original bet keeps going.
- At the end of the round add up each bet. Tied nines are a push by default; some groups carry the stake to the next nine.
A worked example with numbers
Ann and Bo play a 5/5/10 Nassau with manual presses. Ann wins holes 2 and 4 and the rest are halved, so she is 2 up after four holes. Bo presses: a new 5 bet starts on hole 5 and runs to the ninth.
Over holes 5 to 9 Bo wins 5, 6 and 8, Ann wins 7 and 9 is halved. The press goes to Bo by two holes, so Bo wins 5 on it. For the original front bet, Ann won 2, 4 and 7 and Bo won 5, 6 and 8, so it is all square and nothing is paid on it. Bo is 5 ahead on the front even though he never led the original bet.
Options and defaults
These are the rules groups change. The first column is the setting, the second is what Hole19Tally starts with, and the last says what it changes.
| Option | Default | Choices | What it changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front nine stake | 5 | 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 | The amount on the front nine bet. Press stakes copy it unless you change "Press stake". |
| Back nine stake | 5 | 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 | The amount on the back nine bet. |
| Overall stake | 10 | 2, 5, 10, 20, 40 | The amount on the eighteen hole bet. It is usually double the nines. |
| Handicap allowance (%) | 100 | 100, 90, 85, 80 | How much of each Course Handicap is used. 100% is full handicap. |
| Stroke method | off the low | off the low, full, pairwise, agreed | Off the low: the best player plays scratch and others get the difference. |
| Scoring basis | match | match, stroke, stableford | Match play counts holes won; stroke total counts strokes per segment; Stableford counts points. |
| Team scoring (4 players) | best ball | best ball, aggregate, high low | How two partners' scores become one team score when four play: best ball, both added, or the high-low method. |
| Segment tied | push | push, carry | Carry adds a tied nine's stake to the next nine. |
| Presses | manual | off, manual, automatic | Off means the three stakes only. Manual lets a trailing side call presses. Automatic starts them for you. |
| Who may press | trailing | trailing, either | Whether only the trailing side may call a press, or either side. |
| Press threshold | any | any, 1, 2 | Any deficit: a side that is behind by 1 hole or more may press (1 behaves the same). 2: only a side that is 2 or more down may press; a press from a side that is only 1 down is not accepted. |
| Must the leader accept? | automatic | automatic, may decline | Whether the side that is ahead must accept a press or may decline it. |
| Press stake | same | same, double, fixed | Whether a press is worth the same as the bet it presses, double it, or a fixed amount. |
| Fixed press stake | 5 | 1, 2, 5, 10 | The amount every press is worth when "Press stake" is fixed. |
| Front can be pressed | on | on, off | Turns presses on or off for the front nine. |
| Back can be pressed | on | on, off | Turns presses on or off for the back nine. |
| Overall can be pressed | on | on, off | Turns presses on or off for the overall bet. |
| Press the press | allowed | allowed, not allowed | Whether a press can itself be pressed. Turning it off sharply cuts the worst case. |
| Presses per bet | unlimited | unlimited, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | The most presses allowed on one bet. A limit is the simplest way to cap exposure. |
| Press a bet that is already decided | allowed | allowed, not allowed | Allowed: a side may press even when the bet it trails can no longer be won. Not allowed: the press is refused once the lead is bigger than the holes left. |
| Press on the final hole of a bet | allowed | allowed, not allowed | Whether a press may be made on the last hole of a bet, where it covers a single hole. |
| Automatic press trigger | 2 | 1, 2 | How many holes down a side must be before an automatic press starts by itself. |
| Automatic press on 9 and 18 | off | off, trailing, always | Off: no extra presses. Trailing: on the last hole of the front (9) and of the back and overall (18), a side that is behind by the threshold gets a one-hole press at the press stake. Always: a one-hole press on those holes whatever the score. Needs presses on and "Press on the final hole of a bet" allowed; a 9-hole round gets it on hole 9 only. |
| Auto press on 9 and 18: down by | 1 | 1, 2 | Only used by "trailing": 1 = any deficit, 2 = two or more down. |
| 9-hole round | unavailable | unavailable, three three three | Whether a nine hole round is played as three three-hole bets. |
| Pick-up in match play | out | out, net double | Out: the player is out of the hole. Net double: record net double bogey. |
Common disputes
Can you press a bet you can no longer win?
By default yes, because that is when most presses happen. The app has a switch to refuse a press once the lead is bigger than the holes left.
Does the leader have to accept a press?
The default is that a press made by the trailing side stands. A group that plays it as a request can set the leader to be allowed to decline.
Can you press a press?
Yes by default, which is how chains of presses cost so much. You can turn it off, cap the presses per bet, or stop presses on the final hole.
Do I have to be 2 down?
Manual presses can be called at any deficit by default, with an option to require 2 down. Automatic presses start at 2 down by default.
What is the most I can lose?
It depends entirely on the press rules. The Nassau press calculator shows the worst case, which for 5/5/10 with automatic 2-down presses on all three bets is 140 against a headline 20.
Frequently asked questions
What does 5/5/10 mean?
Five on the front nine, five on the back nine and ten on the overall eighteen, so 20 is on the line before any press.
What is an automatic press on 9 and 18?
An extra one-hole press on the last hole of each nine. It can be set to apply only to a trailing side or to always apply as a stake-neutral side bet.
How do you play a Nassau with four players?
Two teams. You choose how the team score is formed: best ball, both scores added, or the high-low method.
How do you play a Nassau with three or five players?
Each pair of players plays its own Nassau against each other. The app tallies all of them into one settle-up.
What is the difference between a Nassau and match play?
Match play is one bet over 18 holes. A Nassau is match play three ways, plus presses.
Is Hole19Tally a betting app?
Hole19Tally is a scorekeeper. It records scores, works out strokes and shows who owes whom, but it never holds, moves or takes a share of money, and it is not a gambling service. Players settle up directly with each other.
Score it in Hole19Tally
Hole19Tally keeps the score for Nassau, applies the handicap strokes and shows who owes whom. Hole19Tally is a scorekeeper. It records scores, works out strokes and shows who owes whom, but it never holds, moves or takes a share of money, and it is not a gambling service. Players settle up directly with each other.
Related games
Match play is a head-to-head game where every hole is its own contest: the lower score wins the hole and equal scores halve it.
Read more SkinsIn skins, each hole is worth a skin and the lowest score wins it only if nobody ties it.
Read more SixesSixes is a game for four players where the round is split into three six-hole matches and the partners change each time.
Read moreRelated calculators
Enter your three stakes and your press rules to see the worst case: the most you can lose if you lose every hole and every press is made at the first chance.
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