Play along
Start Your Own Sandbaggers League
The schedule, the points system, the majors and the forfeit — everything we run, free to copy. Bring four friends and a standing tee time and you have a season.
Six steps to a season
- 1
Lock one day, every week
Same day, same tee time, standing booking. A league dies the week it becomes a group chat negotiation. Ours is Friday at 10:30, nine holes.
- 2
Get four to six players
Four play, one films, and the spare seat absorbs a missed week without cancelling the round. Everyone commits to the season, not to individual Fridays.
- 3
Award points by finish, not by score
10 / 6 / 3 / 1 for an individual week; 8 and 3 for team weeks. Because points come from finishing position, you can play a different format every single week and the season table still makes sense.
- 4
Rotate the format every week
We rotate 12 formats so no two Fridays feel the same. All twelve are written up in the format library, free to copy.
- 5
Put a major every 13 weeks
Four majors a year, all players in, points tripled, a trophy that means something. It gives the season a shape and gives the standings a reason to matter in week 9.
- 6
Give last place something to fear
A forfeit turns the bottom of the leaderboard into the best part of the round. Keep it filmable and keep it safe — nobody should be injured for content.
The points system, in full
| Week type | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
| Team (2v2) | 8 each winner | 3 each loser | ||
| Major (triple) | 30 | 20 | 14 | 9 · 5 |
Bonuses stack on top in every format: birdie +1, eagle +3, albatross +6, chip-in +1, sandy +1, closest-to-pin on a par 3 +1, and a clean card with no double bogey or worse +2. The week's filmer earns the field average, so the camera never costs anyone the season.
Take the formats
Twelve games, each written up with rules, scoring and handicap allocation for a small group playing nine holes.
Questions people ask
How do you start a golf league with friends?
Pick one day and defend it — a standing weekly tee time is the only thing that actually keeps a league alive. Then agree three things: how many holes, how points are awarded, and what happens to whoever finishes last. Everything else is decoration. Our version is nine holes on Friday, 10/6/3/1 points a week, and a forfeit for last place.
How many players do you need for a golf league?
Four is the minimum that makes a real leaderboard; five is better, because one person can film, sit out an injury or miss a week without cancelling the round. Above eight you need flights or the handicap spread stops being fun.
What is a fair points system for a weekly golf league?
Award points by finishing position rather than by score, so the format can change every week without breaking the season table. We use 10 for first, 6 for second, 3 for third and 1 for fourth, with team weeks paying 8 to each winner and 3 to each loser, and majors paying triple.
How do you handle handicaps between friends?
Use net scoring and allocate strokes by the stroke index on the card, not by the first holes. Recalculate every few weeks from actual rounds played. If someone is winning everything, the handicap is wrong — fix the number, don't change the format.
Can we film our league for YouTube?
Yes, and one camera is enough. The trick is that the filmer must not be punished for filming: we award them the field average of points for the day, so picking up the camera never costs anyone the season. Rotate the seat so everyone gets the same number of weeks behind it.
Get the weekly card
Send us your league and we'll put it on the show
Join the list for the weekly episode, the standings shake-up and next Friday's format — and reply with your own league's card. The best ones get read out at the press conference.
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