The rules
How Sneakies plays.
Sneakies is two teams, four players, and a stack of points that change hands every hole. The app does the counting. Here's what counts.
Team points
Win the hole.
Two ways to win a hole, two ways to keep winning it. These are the points everyone is playing for.
Low Net Ball
The single lowest net score on the hole wins low ball for that player's team. Strokes from the handicap come off the gross before we look. If the best ball is tied across teams, low ball pushes — no points awarded.
Low Net Team Score
Add both partners' net scores together. The team with the lower combined number takes low total. Two payouts per hole, scored independently — you can win one, both, or split.
Takes
When the team that wins the hole is different from the team that won the previous hole, that's a Take — full 2 points. The first hole of the round is always a Take.
Keeps
When the same team wins back-to-back holes, the second hole is a Keep — 1 point. Win streaks are worth less than swings. If a hole is tied, the previous winner Keeps to hold their points.
Action points
Win the moments.
Side action layered on top of the hole. Stuck approaches, draining putts, escapes from sand — the shots that turn a normal round into a story.
Greenies
On a par 3, hit the green in regulation. One point to your team. The most common action point of the round.
Proxies
Closest to the pin on a par 3. Replaces the Greenie for that player on that hole — pick one or the other, you get the bigger payout.
Sneakies
Make a birdie or better while receiving a handicap stroke on the hole. The point that gives the game its name.
Sandies
Get up and down for par (or better) from a greenside bunker. One per sandie — you can stack them on a single hole.
Poleys
Sink a putt from off the green. Fringe, collar, apron, first cut — if the ball is off the green when you putt and it drops, that's a Poley.
Birdies
Score one under par on the hole. Two points on top of any team points the birdie helped win.
Eagles
Two under par on the hole. Double a birdie, double the noise from the cart.
Albatross
Three under par. Sneakies has a payout if you do it; you have to hit the shot.
Bridges
Press the bet.
The Bridge is the lever. Call it before a hole tees off and every point on that hole counts double. Re-bridge if you really want to make somebody sweat.
The press
Bridge
Either team can call a Bridge before the hole starts. Every team point and every action point on that hole pays double. Greenies become 2. Sneakies become 2. A Take becomes 4. The momentum on a Bridged hole is bigger than the math.
Take
Birdie
Sneakie
The press on the press
Re-Bridge
Already Bridged? The other team can answer with a Re-Bridge — same rules, 4× the points. One hole can swing a round. This is where Sneakies stops being a friendly bet and starts being a story.
Take
Birdie
Sneakie
Worked examples
How it shakes out.
Three quick rounds, three different ways the points fall.
Example 1
Team 2 takes the hole, Team 1 sneaks a side point.
The shots
Team 1
Brett +1 (gets 1 stroke), Sal +0
Sneakie on Brett — birdie with strokes
Team 2
Lloyd +0, Harry −1 birdie
Birdie
The points
| Low Net Ball | Team 2 (Harry net −1) | +2 |
| Low Net Total | Team 2 | +2 |
| Take | Team 2 | +2 |
| Birdie · Harry | Team 2 | +2 |
| Sneakie · Brett | Team 1 | +1 |
Example 2
A Bridge that paid off.
The shots
Team 1
Sal hits the green from the tee
Greenie
Team 2
Harry closest to the pin from the tee, makes the birdie putt
Proxy + Birdie
The points
| Low Net Ball | Team 2 (Harry net −1) | +2 → +4 |
| Low Net Total | Team 2 | +2 → +4 |
| Take | Team 2 | +2 → +4 |
| Birdie · Harry | Team 2 | +2 → +4 |
| Proxy · Harry | Team 2 | +2 → +4 |
| Greenie · Sal (replaced by Proxy) | — | 0 |
Example 3
A Keep when the hole pushes.
The shots
Team 1
Won Hole 10 with a low ball.
Previous winner
Both teams
Card a net 5 best ball, net 11 team total.
Tied on both lines
The points
| Low Net Ball | Tied — push | 0 |
| Low Net Total | Tied — push | 0 |
| Keep · Team 1 | Team 1 | +1 |
Screenshots from the app coming soon. In the meantime, open Sneakies, start a practice round, and watch the ledger move hole by hole.
Ready to play