Every golf trip has a money problem, and it isn't the cost. It's the three weeks afterwards, when someone is still working out who paid for the taxi on Saturday and why the numbers don't add up.

A kitty doesn't need to be clever. It needs three rules and one person willing to keep them.

Pick one of three ways to pay

There are only three ways a group pays for a trip.

1. A pot up front. Everyone puts in the same amount before you leave and the organiser pays from it. Simple, until the pot runs out on Saturday night or half of it comes back on Monday.
2. Pay as you go. Everyone pays their own way. Fine for rounds and food, hopeless for the house, the minibus and the bar tab.
3. Log it and settle once. Whoever pays for something shared logs it. At the end, everything is added up and netted into one balance per person.

Our view: use the third. It's the only one that stays fair when plans change, and on a golf trip plans always change.

Rule one: log it when it happens

Not at the bar. Not on the drive home. When the card goes in the machine, it goes in the log: what it was, how much, who paid and who it was for. Thirty seconds now saves an argument later.

Rule two: split it between the people it was for

This is where most kitties fall apart. Not everyone had the steak. Two people skipped the second round on Sunday. One person doesn't drink. Splitting everything eight ways feels simple and quietly annoys half the group.

Split each cost only between the people who had it. The green fees go to whoever played. The house goes to everyone. The late round of drinks goes to whoever was still standing.

Rule three: net it, then settle

Don't settle each cost separately. Add everything up, work out what each person paid against what they owe, and settle the difference once.

Take a trip for eight. Alex paid for the house (£1,600). Ben paid the green fees (£960). Chris paid for dinner (£480). That's £3,040, or £380 each. So:

• Alex is owed £1,220.
• Ben is owed £580.
• Chris is owed £100.
• The other five each owe £380.

Paid back cost by cost, that's more than twenty transfers. Netted, it's seven. Three people pay Alex, one pays Alex and Ben, one pays Ben and Chris. Done in a minute.

Keep the side games out of it

The kitty is for what the trip cost. Whatever the side games are played for, keep it separate. It's cleaner, and nobody wants the price of the house tangled up with who owes the drinks for losing the Skins.

Settle within a week

The longer a balance sits, the stranger it looks. Send everyone their number while the trip is still fresh, and settle up between yourselves.

Log it when it happens. Split it between the people it was for. Net it once.

Juiced does the log, the split and the netting for you. Anyone on the trip can add a cost, choose who it was for, and see one balance per person. You settle up between yourselves.

If your trip plays one side game, make it Skins. It works for any number of players, any mix of abilities and any format, and it keeps every group interested long after the match itself has gone.

How Skins works

Every hole is worth one skin. The player with the lowest score on the hole wins it outright. If two or more players tie for the lowest score, nobody wins it and the skin carries over to the next hole.

That's the whole game. The drama comes from the carry-overs. Three halved holes in a row and the fourth is worth four skins. Suddenly a 150-yard par 3 matters more than anything else on the course.

Play it net

Unless everyone in the group plays off a similar handicap, play Skins on net scores. Each player gets their handicap strokes on the holes they fall on, just as they would in a match. It gives the higher handicappers a real chance, and a net birdie from the 22-handicapper is one of the best moments of any trip.

If the group is strong and evenly matched, gross Skins is purer. It's also much harder to win a skin.

Carry-overs and validation

Some groups add a validation rule: to keep a skin, the winner must at least tie the best score on the next hole. If they don't, the skin goes back into play.

Validation makes big carry-overs harder to keep and stops one lucky hole deciding the day. It also adds a rule that someone will forget by the 12th.

Our view: skip validation for most groups. Use it if your group plays gross and wants it tougher.

What happens on the 18th

Agree this before you tee off, not on the 18th green. If skins are still carrying over at the end of the round, the usual options are:

• they go to whoever wins the 18th outright, or the next hole won outright if you play on;
• they carry over to the next round of the trip;
• nobody wins them.

Carrying over to the next round is the most fun on a multi-day trip. It gives Sunday morning something to play for.

What's a skin worth?

Whatever the group agrees. A drink per skin, bought at the bar that night, works well. So do points towards the trip trophy, or the player with the fewest skins doing the next day's driving. Keep it light. Skins is the seasoning, not the meal.

Skins on Juiced

Juiced tracks Skins automatically as each score goes in. Handicap strokes are applied, carry-overs build up on their own, and everyone on the trip can see who has won what, hole by hole, while it's happening.

Side games are for players aged 18 and over.

Two teams, three formats and one trophy. A team match turns a golf trip from a series of rounds into a competition with a result. With eight people it's easy to set up, if you get three things right: the teams, the schedule and the handicaps.

Pick the teams

Two teams of four. There are two good ways to pick them.

1. Balance by handicap. Add up each team's handicaps and swap players until the totals are close. Fair, quick and nobody gets picked last.
2. Captains draft. Two captains pick alternately. More theatre, and it gives the trip a rivalry from the first night. Use it if the group knows each other's games well.

Whichever you use, name the teams. It sounds small. It isn't.

Choose the schedule

With eight players you can play three formats. Each match is worth one point, and a halved match is worth half a point each.

• Fourball: two players a side, each plays their own ball, and the better score on each hole counts. Two matches.
• Foursomes: two players a side sharing one ball and taking alternate shots. Two matches.
• Singles: one against one. Four matches.

For a two-day trip, play Fourball on the morning of day one and Foursomes in the afternoon, then Singles on day two. That's eight points, and the first team to 4.5 wins. At 4–4, agree beforehand who keeps the trophy.

Leave the Singles until last. Four matches out on the course at once, with the whole result on the line, is the best afternoon of any trip.

Get the handicaps right

The World Handicap System sets out allowances for each match play format. Use them and the matches will be close:

• Singles: the higher handicap gets the full difference between the two course handicaps.
• Fourball: each player plays off 90% of their course handicap, with strokes given from the lowest player in the match.
• Foursomes: each pair plays off 50% of their combined course handicaps, and the higher pair gets the difference.

Work it out before the first tee, not on it.

Make the score visible

The score is what makes a team match. If nobody knows it until everyone is back in the clubhouse, the best part is lost. Someone needs to know, hole by hole, who's up in every match and what each team needs.

4.5 to win. Everyone should know what their team needs, while there's still time to do something about it.

Running it on Juiced

Juiced is built for exactly this. Set up the two teams, add Fourball, Foursomes and Singles rounds, and the handicaps are applied for you. Scores go in hole by hole, and the team scoreboard shows the live score and how it stands, with what each team needs to win.

Every golf trip starts with a tidy number. Eight people, two fourballs, two teams of four. Then a wedding moves, someone's other half says no, and a friend of a friend asks if there's room. Now you're organising seven. Or nine. Or eleven.

Uneven numbers are not a problem. They just need a plan before the first tee. This guide covers how to split your tee times, which games work with odd numbers, how to run a Ryder Cup-style competition when the teams don't divide evenly and how to keep the costs fair for everyone.

Start with the tee sheet

Most courses cap a tee time at four players, so an odd number means at least one three-ball. That's no bad thing. Three-balls play quicker, and they suit some of the best side games on the course.

Here's how common group sizes split:

• 5 people: 3 + 2
• 6 people: 3 + 3
• 7 people: 4 + 3
• 9 people: 3 + 3 + 3
• 10 people: 4 + 3 + 3
• 11 people: 4 + 4 + 3
• 13 people: 4 + 3 + 3 + 3

Three tips when you book:

1. Book consecutive tee times. Ask the club for back-to-back slots so the whole group finishes around the same time.
2. Send the three-ball out first. It will play faster than a fourball. Put it behind one and it spends the day waiting on every tee.
3. Rotate who's in the three-ball. On a multi-round trip, shuffle the groups each day. Nobody wants to be the permanent odd one out, and everyone gets a round with everyone.

Pick formats that don't care about numbers

The easiest fix is a format where every player is scored against the course, not against a partner. Group size stops mattering, and the player in the three-ball competes on exactly the same terms as everyone else.

1. Stableford. The default trip format for a reason. Points per hole against your handicap, one blow-up hole doesn't ruin the day, and one leaderboard covers every group.
2. Medal (stroke play). Gross and net totals. Best for groups who like it serious.
3. Skins. Works in any group of two or more. Win a hole outright and you take the skin; tie and it carries over. Run it within each tee time, or trip-wide on net scores.
4. Leaderboard sweep. One leaderboard for the whole trip, and the top places take the bragging rights. Seven players or seventeen, it works the same.
5. Closest to the Pin and Longest Drive. Nominate a hole or two and play them across every group. Instant bragging rights, no pairings required.

Games built for three-balls

A three-ball isn't a fourball with a gap. It has its own games, and some of them are better.

Nines (also called 5-3-1)

Nine points are up for grabs on every hole. Best net score takes 5, second takes 3, worst takes 1. Ties split the points:

• Clear 1st, 2nd, 3rd: 5 – 3 – 1
• Two tie for best: 4 – 4 – 1
• Two tie for worst: 5 – 2 – 2
• All three tie: 3 – 3 – 3

After 18 holes there are 162 points in total. Compare totals between each pair, and play for drinks or points towards the trip trophy.

Round robin

In a three-ball, each player plays a match against both of the others at the same time. That's three head-to-head matches in one group, and everyone stays in it until the last putt.

One against two

The lowest handicapper takes on the better-ball of the other two. Give the solo player a few extra shots and it becomes one of the most competitive games on the trip.

Running a team match with odd numbers

Ryder Cup-style team competitions are where uneven numbers bite. Five against four doesn't feel fair, and nobody wants to be left on the bench. Three options work well:

1. Play the odd player against the course. On singles day, the spare player takes on net par in a matchplay format. Win the match and they earn a point for their team. They're in the competition, the points stay balanced, and the pressure is real.
2. Rotate the sit-out on pairs days. In fourballs or foursomes, the bigger team rests one player per session, and that player changes every time. They still play in a group and stay in the Skins, the sweep and the other side games.
3. Make the three-ball a two-against-one match. On fourball days, when one match has to go out as a three, the pair takes on the single player. The pair alternate whose score counts, switching every hole, while the single player's ball counts on every hole. Nobody sits out, and the three-ball plays a proper match.

Whichever you pick, agree it with the group before the trip so everyone knows the format from the first tee.

Keep the costs fair

Uneven numbers show up in the bill as well as on the tee sheet. Decide these before anyone pays a deposit:

1. Rooms. Someone ends up in the single room. Either split the single supplement across the whole group, or draw names for who gets it, and the room to themselves.
2. Buggies. Two to a buggy leaves one player solo. Add up the total buggy cost and divide it by everyone riding, so the odd one out isn't paying double for the same course.
3. Shared spend. Green fees, dinners, taxis, the round of drinks after the 18th. Log every cost as it happens and settle once at the end, not ten times on ten bank transfers. More on that in how to run a golf trip kitty.

Let the app do the admin

Juiced is a golf trip app built for exactly this. Set up your groups and tee times, run a Ryder Cup-style competition, and add side games like Skins, Nassau, Match, Leaderboard sweep, Closest to the Pin and Longest Drive. Scores update live across every group, and Juiced works out the money owed so everyone settles up once at the end.

No bloat, no getting lost in menus. Just the trip, organised.

FAQs

Can five golfers play in one group?

Most courses won't send out a five-ball, as it slows the course for everyone behind. Split into a three-ball and a two-ball on consecutive tee times.

What's the best golf game for three players?

Nines (5-3-1) is the classic. Every hole is worth nine points, every shot matters, and it settles cleanly between each pair.

How do you run a team match with an odd number of players?

Play the spare player against net par on singles day, rotate who sits out on pairs days, or play the three-ball as a two-against-one match on fourball days.

How do you split seven golfers into tee times?

One fourball and one three-ball. Send the three-ball out first so it isn't waiting on the group in front.

Side games are for players aged 18 and over.

Day one of a golf trip is all noise. Teams are picked, the first tee is buzzing and everyone has an opinion on who'll win.

Then the final afternoon arrives. The match the whole trip has been building to is finally being decided, and somehow it goes quiet. Groups are spread across the course. Nobody knows the score. The result turns up in the car park, worked out on the back of a scorecard.

The last round should be the best bit of the trip. Here's why it often isn't, and how to keep the juice right to the 18th green.

Why golf trips fizzle at the finish

It's rarely the golf. It's that nobody can see what's happening.

1. The score is hidden. It lives on paper cards in back pockets, one per group. Nobody outside the group knows if their match is up or down.
2. The groups are spread out. By the time the last match reaches the 16th, the first group is already in the clubhouse with no idea it's still alive.
3. The maths waits until the end. Team points, the sweep and the side games all get added up afterwards, when the moment has gone.
4. Everyone is tired. Three days in, it's easy to drift off to the car if nothing is pulling you back to the 18th.

Make the score the story

Think about why the final day of a big team event is so gripping on television. It isn't one match. It's the board: every match, every hole, updating at once, and the overall score shifting with every putt.

A golf trip can feel the same, as long as everyone can see the score while it's happening. Put live scoring in every pocket and the final round changes:

1. The group that finished first stops packing the car and starts watching the last match.
2. A match goes from 2 UP to A/S, and the phones come out across the course.
3. The player on the 17th tee knows exactly what their team needs.
4. By the last hole, half the trip is walking back out to the 18th green.

A golf trip should end on the 18th green, not in the car park with a calculator.

Five ways to build the finish

Live scoring does most of the work. A little planning does the rest.

1. Save the singles for last. Every player out at once, every point on the line. It's the format that makes a final afternoon. More on scheduling in how to run a team match for eight people.
2. Send the closest matches out late. Put the captains or the tightest pairings at the back of the field, so the result is still in doubt when everyone else is in.
3. Keep something alive on the last holes. Make the 17th a Closest to the Pin, or let the Skins carry over into the final round.
4. Agree to meet at the 18th green. Finished groups don't head for the car. They walk back out and watch the last match come in.
5. Hand out the trophy on the spot. Not at dinner and not in the group chat a week later. Right there, while it still matters.

Keep the juice with Juiced

Juiced puts the live score in everyone's pocket. One scorer per group is all it takes. Every score updates the leaderboard hole by hole, and the team scoreboard shows how it stands and what each team needs to win.

The finish stays where it belongs: on the course, with everyone watching.

Side games are for players aged 18 and over.