The fish golf betting game explained

The fish golf betting game is based upon a common fishing bet

golf fish
Credit: Getty Images
(Image credit: AFP/Getty Images)

The fish golf betting game, sometimes also known as the fishing golfing betting game, is based upon a common sports fishing bet.

Check out our Golf Betting Tips home page

The fish golf betting game can be played by two, three or four players and by fourballs, foursomes or greensomes.

The fishing bet in question offers three prizes: to the person who catches the first fish, to the person who catches the biggest fish and to the person who catches the most fish.

The golf version is not about netting fishes but accumulating birdies - or sometimes pars depending upon the skill and expectations of the golfers.

Therefore the bet is translated straight across to golf except with the word ‘birdie’, or sometimes ‘par’, is substituted for fish.

The second bet no longer makes sense as the ‘biggest birdie’ and so that bet becomes the ‘longest birdie’ instead. This is defined as the person whose has holed out for a birdie from the furthest distance.

Each of the three bets or prizes normally carries the same amount of money.

If two or more golfers tie for the most number of birdies the standard tiebreaker is the total length of birdies. If you and your golfing mates are in the habit of pitching in, a distance measuring device might come in handy here. Otherwise just pace out the successful birdie putts and record these distances.

In some versions of the fish golf betting game, eagles are counted as being two birdies in terms of the cumulative prize.

In other version the ‘fish’ to be caught and recorded can be different for different players. Thus for the better players in a game it is a birdie; for the high handicap players a par.

In awarding prizes for three distinct elements, the fish golf betting game has some similarities to the golf betting game Bingo Bango Bongo, which is also sometimes known as Bingle Bangle Bungle.

Roderick Easdale

Contributing Writer Golf courses and travel are Roderick’s particular interests and he was contributing editor for the first few years of the Golf Monthly Travel Supplement. He writes travel articles and general features for the magazine, travel supplement and website. He also compiles the magazine's crossword. He is a member of Trevose Golf & Country Club and has played golf in around two dozen countries. Cricket is his other main sporting love. He is the author of five books, four of which are still in print: The Novel Life of PG Wodehouse; The Don: Beyond Boundaries; Wally Hammond: Gentleman & Player and England’s Greatest Post-War All Rounder.