The rulebook
How Sneakies plays.
Two teams, four players, and a stack of points that changes hands every hole. The app does the counting. This is what it is counting.
Two teams of two
Four players, split into two partnerships, playing the same round on the same course. Nine holes or eighteen — you choose at setup.
Everything scores net
Each player's handicap allocates strokes across the holes using the course's own handicap rotation. Points are decided on net scores, so a 6 and an 18 can partner and still win.
Every hole pays twice
Team points settle who won the hole. Action points pay individuals for the shots they hit. Both land on the same card, and both can be doubled.
Points become money
Set a dollar value per point at setup. The app multiplies the point differential by the stake and keeps a live balance of who owes whom.
Team points
Winning the hole.
Two lines settle who played the hole better. Then possession decides what that win is actually worth.
Low Ball
2 ptsThe single best net score on the hole.
Enter your gross score and Sneakies works out who got Low Ball for the team. Tied across teams and it pushes — nobody scores.
For instance · Brett nets 3 and nobody touches it. His team takes 2.
Low Total
2 ptsBoth partners added together.
Combined net score, team against team. Scored on its own, right next to Low Ball.
For instance · Nets of 7 and 9 against 8 and 9. Sixteen beats seventeen — 2 points.
Take
2 ptsYou flipped the hole.
Win a hole the other team won last, and the swing pays the full 2. The first hole of the round is always a Take.
For instance · They won 6, you won 7. That flip is a Take.
Keep
1 ptsYou held what you had.
Same team wins back to back and the second hole is a Keep. If the hole is dead even, the previous winner Keeps it — possession has value, just less than a swing.
For instance · You won 7, then halved 8. The half is your Keep.
The possession rule
Take and Keep are the same mechanic seen from two sides. Beat the team that won the last hole and you Take it for 2. Win it again yourself, or tie a hole you already hold, and you Keep it for 1. Swings are worth more than streaks — which is why nobody in a Sneakies group ever concedes a putt.
Action points
Winning the moment.
Paid to the player, added to the team. These stack on top of whatever the hole itself was worth.
Greenie
1 ptsYou stuck the approach.
Green in regulation. Available on every hole, not just the par 3s.
For instance · Par 4, you are on in two. That is a Greenie.
Prox
2 ptsClosest to the pin.
Closest to the pin of everyone who hit the green in regulation, any hole, once a hole. Two for the Prox, one for the green — it replaces your own Greenie, everybody else keeps theirs.
For instance · Three of you find the green. Yours is inside — 2 for you, 1 each for them.
Sneakie
1 ptsThe quiet one. The namesake.
Getting it up and down for par. Simple as that — gross par, strokes have nothing to do with it.
For instance · Short-sided in the rough, chip on, one putt, par. Sneakie.
Sandie
1 pt eachUp and in from the beach.
Out of the bunker in one shot, then the first putt drops. Birdie, bogey, quadruple bogey — the score does not matter. The only point that stacks: in the sand twice and up and in twice is worth two.
For instance · Plugged lie, one out to eight feet, drain it for double. Still a Sandie.
Poley
1 ptsThe long one dropped.
Your first putt of the hole goes in from longer than a flagstick. Any score on the card — the first putt is the point.
For instance · Forty feet across the green for a 6. Still a Poley.
Birdie
2 ptsOne under, gross.
Gross only, never net. Make a real birdie and take 2 on top of whatever the hole already paid.
For instance · Par 5 in four with a stroke in hand? Net eagle, gross birdie — 2 points.
Eagle
4 ptsTwo under, gross.
Everybody knows what an eagle is. Four points.
For instance · Par 5 in three. Four points.
Albatross
8 ptsThree under, gross.
The rare double eagle. Eight points, and a story for the rest of your life.
For instance · Par 5 in two. Buy the cart girl a drink.
Two things people get wrong
Greenies and Prox are not par-3 rules. Any green in regulation is a Greenie, on any hole. The Prox is whoever of those is closest to the flag, once per hole — two for the Prox, one for the green. It only replaces the Greenie for the player who won it.
A Sneakie is a gross par, not a birdie. Get it up and down for par — that scrappy save is the Sneakie. An actual gross birdie is already paying you as a Birdie.
Bridges
Press the bet.
The Bridge is the only lever in the game, and it applies to everything on the hole — team points and action points alike.
The press
2× pointsBridge
The team that's down calls the Bridge, before the hole is played — they tee off last, so they always get the shout. Every point that hole produces pays double: a Take becomes 4, a Birdie becomes 4, a Greenie becomes 2. The pressure it creates on the tee is bigger than the arithmetic.
Take
Birdie
Sneakie
The press on the press
4× pointsRe-Bridge
Bridged, then sprayed one off the tee? The team that got bridged answers with the Re-Bridge and takes the hole to four times. This is where a comfortable afternoon turns into a story somebody tells for a decade.
Take
Birdie
Sneakie
Worked examples
How it shakes out.
Three holes, three different ways the points fall — including the one where nothing happened and the ledger still moved.
Example 01
A swing hole, and a point nobody saw.
The shots
Wood Ticklers
Brett misses the green but gets up and down for 4 on a hole he gets a stroke on. Sal makes 5.
Sneakie — up and down for gross par
Grip It & Rip It
Harry rolls in a 12-footer for 3. Lloyd makes 5.
Birdie
The points
| Low Ball | Grip It & Rip It — Harry, net 3 | +2 |
| Low Total | Grip It & Rip It — net 8 to 8 | 0 |
| Take | Grip It & Rip It — flipped hole 6 | +2 |
| Birdie | Harry | +2 |
| Sneakie | Brett | +1 |
Example 02
The press that paid.
The shots
Wood Ticklers
Sal finds the green from the tee, two-putts for par.
Greenie
Grip It & Rip It
Harry stuffs it to four feet and makes the putt.
Prox + Birdie
The points
| Low Ball | Grip It & Rip It | 2 → 4 |
| Low Total | Grip It & Rip It | 2 → 4 |
| Take | Grip It & Rip It | 2 → 4 |
| Birdie | Harry | 2 → 4 |
| Prox | Harry | 2 → 4 |
| Greenie | Sal | 1 → 2 |
Example 03
Dead even, and it still moved the ledger.
The shots
Wood Ticklers
Won hole 10 outright, so possession is theirs coming in.
Holding
Both teams
Net 5 best ball each. Net 11 combined each. Nothing separates them.
Tied on both lines
The points
| Low Ball | Tied — pushes | 0 |
| Low Total | Tied — pushes | 0 |
| Keep | Wood Ticklers hold possession | +1 |
Settling up
What a point is worth is entirely your business.
At setup you name a dollar value per point, and optionally a ceiling. The scorekeeper can move the stake hole by hole within those bounds — useful when the match needs livening up on the back nine. Sneakies multiplies the point differential by the stake and shows a running balance.
The app never touches money. It counts points and does arithmetic. Whatever gets settled, gets settled between friends in the car park — exactly as it always has.