How to Settle Up After Golf Without the Awkwardness

Agree Everything Before the First Tee

Almost every settling-up argument starts on the first tee. Before anyone hits, agree:

Thirty seconds on the tee saves twenty minutes at the bar.

Keep One Card

Two people keeping score is two chances to disagree. Pick one scorer per group, keep one card, and if you're using an app, everyone looks at the same numbers on their own phone.

Net It to One Number per Person

A foursome playing three games can produce a dozen separate debts: Nassau matches, presses, skins, dots. Paying them one by one is how people lose track. Net everything to one amount per person: what each player is up or down overall, and the fewest payments that settle it.

theStick does this at the end of every round: each game is settled hole by hole, then everything is netted to one figure per player with a list of who pays whom.

Pay the Same Day

Debts get awkward with time. Settle before you leave the parking lot, or that evening at the latest. With a payment app there is no reason to wait for cash.

In theStick's Bank, everything you owe or are owed across rounds is combined into one amount per person, and items that go in opposite directions cancel out. The Venmo button opens Venmo with the amount filled in. Tap Mark paid when you've sent it, and the other player taps Got it when it arrives, which clears it for both of you.

Keep Stakes Where Nobody Minds Losing

The easiest settling up is the one nobody worries about. If someone in the group is visibly uncomfortable with the stakes, lower them. A game is only fun if losing is fine.

A Note on Who Holds the Money

Nobody should be holding the group's money. Each player pays the others directly. theStick never holds or moves money: it keeps the record of who owes whom, and players pay each other however they like.