Snake: The Three-Putt Game Nobody Wants to Be Holding

Quick answer: The first player to three-putt picks up the snake. It passes to the next person who three-putts, and whoever is holding it after the 18th green pays out. The pot usually grows every time it changes hands.

How it works

Agree a base value before the round.
The first three-putt of the day takes the snake.
Every subsequent three-putt passes it on.
Whoever holds it walking off the last green pays everyone.

Scoring

The tension is all in the timing. Take the snake on the second hole and you have sixteen holes for someone to relieve you of it. Take it on the 17th and you are almost certainly paying.

Most groups double the pot each time it moves, or add a fixed amount per pass. Either way it grows, so a snake handed over five times is worth taking seriously by the closing holes.

When to play it on a golf trip

Snake costs nothing to administer and runs underneath everything else. It also has an excellent side effect: it makes everybody take their lag putting seriously, which quietly speeds up greens.

It is at its best on a course with big, fast greens where three-putts are genuinely in play for good players too.

House rules worth agreeing first

Whether the pot doubles, grows by a fixed amount, or stays flat.
Whether a four-putt counts double, or just passes it along as normal.
Whether putts from off the green count toward the three.

FAQ

What if nobody three-putts? Then nobody pays. It happens perhaps once a season and it is a fine outcome.

Does a four-putt count as two? Only if you agreed that in advance. The default is that it simply passes the snake as normal.

Can you pass the snake on the 18th? Yes, and it is the best moment in the game. A three-putt on the last green hands the whole pot to its previous owner's great relief.

Run it without the spreadsheet

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