Side Pot Ideas for a Club Championship

Keep the Pots Separate From the Entry

The championship itself should have a clear entry fee and a clear prize. Run the side pots on top of it, with their own buy-in, so a player can enter the championship without having to join every pot. Write the pots and their rules down before the first tee.

Net and Gross Skins

Skins are the most popular side pot. Run two: gross skins for the low handicappers and net skins for everyone. Each hole goes to the lowest score in the field, only if nobody ties it. Carryovers make the late holes valuable.

theStick can run gross and net skins side by side across the whole field, splitting the skins pot between them, and settles both when the round is finalized.

Closest to the Pin and Long Drive

One closest to the pin on every par 3 and a long drive on one or two par 5s give the whole field a shot at a prize, whatever their score. They can pay from the side pot or be sponsored, with a member's business putting up the prize.

Flight Purses

If the championship is stroke play, flight the field by handicap and pay each flight its own purse. A 20-handicapper who plays well can win the C flight, which is a far better incentive than a distant 30th place overall.

In theStick, a Stroke Play tournament can be flighted by handicap, with a pot that pays each flight separately and keeps the totals across every round of the championship.

A Calcutta for Match Play

If the championship is a match-play bracket, a Calcutta is the side pot that gets the whole club involved. Members bid on the players in an auction, and the owners of the players who go furthest share the pot. It turns the bracket into something the whole club follows.

theStick runs a Calcutta on a Bracket tournament: a live auction, sealed bids or a pari-mutuel pool, with the payouts settled from the bracket results. Check what is allowed where you play before you run one.

Pick'Em for Spectators

Members who aren't playing can still join in with a pick'em: pick the players you think will finish highest, and the best picks win the pot. It works best in a league event with a Low Net board to rank the field.

Who Holds the Money

The organizer collects the side pot buy-ins and pays the winners. Any rake is the organizer's money. theStick never holds money or takes a cut: it records who owes what, and players and the organizer settle directly.