A press is the most useful tool in a friendly bet and the fastest way to sour one. Called at the right moment it keeps a beaten player in the round; called at the wrong one it tells three people exactly what you think of them. The mechanics take a paragraph. The etiquette is the actual subject. If you need the format underneath first, the Nassau guide has the rules.
What a press actually is
It is a second bet, not an adjustment to the first one. The original match keeps running to the end of its segment; the press runs alongside it, at the same stake, over whatever holes are left. Win the press and you have clawed back the segment without ever winning the original bet.
That is the whole appeal. A player who is 3 down on the back nine has nothing to play for over the last five holes, and a bet nobody is playing for is worse than no bet. The press gives him a live match again.
The four presses you will meet
What auto-presses do to a $5 Nassau
Here is one round, two players, $5 a side, a press opening automatically whenever a side goes 2 down on either nine. Nobody did anything unusual and nobody pressed out of spite.
You are 2 down after 4
Your press opens for holes 5 through 9. You win it 1 up and still lose the front nine 1 down.
He is 2 down after 12
His press opens for holes 13 through 18, running underneath the back-nine bet.
You are 2 down in his press after 15
Now you press his press, for holes 16 through 18. You win two of the last three and lose one.
Four bets close on 18
You take the back nine 1 up, he takes his press 1 up, you take yours 1 up, and the total eighteen finishes all square.
| Bet | Result | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Front nine | You lose, 1 down | −$5 |
| Your press · 5–9 | You win, 1 up | +$5 |
| Back nine | You win, 1 up | +$5 |
| His press · 13–18 | He wins, 1 up | −$5 |
| Press on his · 16–18 | You win, 1 up | +$5 |
| Total 18 | All square | Push |
| Settle | Net for the day | +$5 |
A quiet round of golf with three presses in it. The final number is small; the exposure was not.
Three rules that keep it friendly
A press should give a beaten player something to play for. If it is doing anything else, do not call it.
When to say yes, and when to decline
If your group plays presses on request rather than automatically, accepting is the default. Declining a press from a player who is 3 down with four to play is technically your right and socially expensive — you are choosing to protect $5 at the cost of the next hour being awkward.
The exception is stakes. If a press would take the round past what somebody in the group can comfortably lose, say so out loud and cap it. “Happy to press, but that is the last one” is a completely normal sentence and it protects everybody, including the guy asking.
If it is not written down, it did not happen
Presses are where friendly bets go wrong, and almost never because somebody cheated. It is because a press called on the 13th tee is remembered on the 18th green as starting on the 14th, and now two people are describing different bets with equal confidence.
Mark it when it is called. On GoLo’s Overall Match game, each press is stamped to the hole it opened on, runs alongside the original match or settles it where it stands, and nets into one number at the end. The app does not do automatic presses yet, and its Nassau takes none. The etiquette is still your job. The bookkeeping is not.
