How to Play Nine Point
Nine Point — also called 5-3-1 — is a golf game for exactly three players where every hole is worth nine points: the low score takes 5, the middle takes 3, and the high takes 1. It's the cleanest way to keep a threesome honest. Here's how it works.
What's the deal?
Three's a crowd in most golf bets — too many for a clean match, too few for Wolf. Nine Point fixes the threesome. Every hole is worth nine points, split by how you finish: low score takes 5, middle takes 3, high takes 1. Nobody's ever out of it, and a good hole pays you right away.
It's match play and stroke play rolled into one — you rack up points hole by hole, but a blow-up only costs you that hole's points, not your whole day.
Setting the stakes: Nine Point throws a lot of points (nine a hole), so keep the per-point value small. $0.25 a point is the standard — total everyone's points after 18 and settle the differences. Stack a Nassau on top if you want a second bet running.
How to play Nine Point
- 1Exactly three players. Each hole is worth nine points total.
- 2Outright finish: low score gets 5, middle gets 3, high gets 1.
- 3Tie for low (two players)? They split the top two shares — 4 each — and the third gets 1.
- 4Tie for high (two players)? Low gets 5, the other two split the bottom shares — 2 each. All three tie = 3 apiece.
- 5Beat both players outright by two or more strokes and you sweep all 9. Most points after 18 wins.
Now Grab the Hat.
Wear it, find a third, and settle the oldest argument in a threesome.
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