Games and scoring
Skins Golf: Rules, Scoring and Carryovers
A skins game is decided one hole at a time. An outright low score wins the available skin; tied low scores can carry it to the next hole. Before playing, agree whether you are using gross or net scores, whether ties carry, and what happens to anything unclaimed after the last hole.
Competitive Play · Updated October 22, 2026
Follow the carryovers
A tie keeps
the next hole open.
17 awarded + 1 unawarded = 18. The full card below records every score. This version leaves the final unresolved skin unawarded.
The short version
- An outright low score wins the available skin in this example.
- Tied lows carry forward; the full card accounts for eighteen skins.
- The group agrees gross/net treatment and the last unresolved skin before play.
Follow the card
| Hole | Ava | Ben | Cara | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 5 | 6 | Tied low: carry 1 |
| 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | Ava: 2 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | Tied low: carry 1 |
| 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | Tied low: carry 2 |
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | Ben: 3 |
| 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Tied low: carry 1 |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | Cara: 2 |
| 8 | 4 | 5 | 5 | Ava: 1 |
| 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | Cara: 1 |
| 10 | 5 | 4 | 6 | Ben: 1 |
| 11 | 4 | 4 | 5 | Tied low: carry 1 |
| 12 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Ava: 2 |
| 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | Tied low: carry 1 |
| 14 | 4 | 5 | 3 | Cara: 2 |
| 15 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Tied low: carry 1 |
| 16 | 5 | 4 | 5 | Ben: 2 |
| 17 | 3 | 4 | 4 | Ava: 1 |
| 18 | 4 | 4 | 5 | Tied low: carry 1 |
Final tally: Ava 6, Ben 6, Cara 5; one skin unawarded. Seventeen awarded plus one unresolved accounts for all eighteen holes.
Read the moments that change the game
Hole 2 pays two skins. Ava's 4 is the only low score. She collects the skin from hole 1 and the new one from hole 2. Ben and Cara both scoring 5 does not block an outright winner.
Hole 5 pays three. Hole 3 tied for low, as did hole 4. Ben's 3 on hole 5 claims those two carryovers plus the current skin. A tied low matters even when another player makes a worse score.
Hole 18 stays unresolved. Ava and Ben tie for the low 4. Under the agreement printed above, nobody receives that last skin. The example does not quietly give it to the earlier winner or invent an extra hole.
Gross, net and the rule you write down
Gross uses the strokes recorded on the hole. In net skins, apply the group's agreed handicap treatment before deciding the low score. Put the stroke allocations on the card first; changing between gross and net during the round changes who wins. This page does not prescribe a universal handicap allowance for every skins competition.
TheGrint's own skins explanation documents carryovers and its app's variants. Those implementation choices are useful examples, not one mandatory rulebook for every group. An organized event's published terms take precedence over the example here.
Copy this first-tee agreement
- Players: ____
- Gross or net, with agreed stroke allocations: ____
- One skin per hole, or another stated unit: ____
- Tied low carries, or does not carry: ____
- Final unresolved skin: ____
- Any birdie-only or other variation: ____
A no-carryover version needs a fresh tally; do not apply this example's final 6/6/5 to different terms.
Keep reading
For the comparison with other formats, use Golf Tournament Formats Explained. For three separate front/back/overall matches, see Nassau scoring. Prize and eligibility questions belong with amateur-status rules, not an assumption based on this points-only card.
Your next move
Read the published source
Check the stated version and conditions before using the worked example.
Read the published source(Official source), opens in a new tab