The Nassau is a type of

wager Wager can refer to: Gambling * Wager, the amount of a valuable staked when gambling on an event with an uncertain outcome, with the primary intent of winning money or material goods * Legal wager, required by both parties at the preliminary hearin ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

that is essentially three separate bets. Money is wagered on the best score on each of the front nine (holes 1–9), back nine (holes 10–18), and total 18

hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

s. The Nassau is one of golf's most classic and best known wagers. It is also known by the size of the bets, e.g. "2-2-2" or "5-5-5", and "Best Nines." The Nassau bet gets its name from the ''Nassau Country Club'' on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, where the format is said to have been invented in the early 1900s by club captain John B. Coles Tappan. In the 1900s because the players at Nassau CC were much better than the surrounding country clubs and always won matches against the other clubs. In fact, the other clubs would not play Nassau CC because they were tired of losing everything. To encourage future competitions, Nassau CC adopted the Nassau bet. The Nassau bet is most usually wagered in

match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 h ...

but can also be applied to many other playing or scoring formats. As with any golf game, players of greatly differing abilities can compete with handicaps being used to determine how many strokes one player must give another.

Nassau press

The Nassau press is a side bet, in addition to the original bet, offered during a Nassau match by the side that is losing in an effort to even their money for either the front nine, back nine or overall. If the player who "presses" (offers the press) then beats his opponent over the remaining holes on a given nine or the overall, he wins the press bet. In effect it is a double-or-nothing proposition. When a side/overall is two or more points down in the match, they may request a press. The opposition has the option to accept or reject the press, although it is usually accepted. The press bet runs for only the remaining holes to be played on either the front nine, back nine holes or overall. In addition, a press on overall (the entire 18 holes) by the losing opponent will continue throughout the match as a new bet even up at the time of the press. Press bets can themselves be pressed if the player falls two points behind on the press bet. The amount of the press bet is the same as the original match bet. For example, in a $2 Nassau, presses are for $2. This is basically a double-or-nothing proposition for the player in the lead.

References

{{Reflist Golf terminology Wagering