Skins

What are "Skins"?

Skins is a betting game where the winners are those who have the best score on a hole without ties. If 2 or more people have the best score on a hole, that hole is "halved" and no skins is won. The pot is then divided by the number of skins, and winners are paid out.

Variations

There are many variations to the skins game, but Golf League Tracker supports the two most popular. One is paying to join the game only when you play. With this method, the pot may change each week based on how many players joined the skins game. The other is a preset pot, where players pay to join the skins game up front at the start of the season.

Scoring

You can run a "GROSS" skins game, where handicaps are not used, or a "NET" skins game, where a player's handicap is used to calculate a net score on each hole, and the net score is used to determine the outcome. Each pot is separate, and both games can be run concurrently. A player can be entered into none, one, or both games at the same time.

Setting It Up

Paying Only When You Play

If you collect money from the players only when they play, use this option. This means the pot amount from round to round can changed based on how many people are entered into the skins game. For example, if you have 12 players in at $5 each, the pot would be $60. The following week you might have 15 players in at $5 each, so the pot would be $75.

• You can preset the dollar amount for each player by editing each player in their player profile, and typing in the dollar amount. This does NOT affect previous rounds that you entered
• When you enter scores, that dollar amount appears next to the player's name. This indicates they are in the skins game for that week. You can also override this amount to add or remove a player from skins
• After scores are entered, you can adjust who is in skins for a given round under Administration -> Contests -> Edit Skin Contestants. 

Playing with a Fixed Pot Each Week

Some leagues collect skin money from their players in full before the season starts, and the pot is consistent from week to week, even if players are absent. Let's say you had a 20 week season, and skins are $5 per player for each week. That means each player would be putting $100 into the pot for the entire season. If you had 14 players in the skins game, the total pot is 14x5, or $70 for each week, regardless of whether those players played or were absent.

• Edit the pot amount in your league settings. This is the TOTAL pot amount for a given week, not a per player amount
• You can then preset who is in skins by editing each player in their player profile. The dollar amount box will be changed into a checkbox to indicate if the player is in skins
• When you enter scores, that checkbox appears next to the player's name. This indicates they are in the skins game for that week. You can also override the checkbox to add or remove a player from skins, but with a fixed pot, the idea is that the same players are in skins for the whole season and that status doesn't change
• After scores are entered, you can adjust who is in skins for a given round under Administration -> Contests -> Edit Skin Contestants. 

Change Who is In Skins for a Given Week

You can alter a skins entry for players for a specific week one of two ways:

• When you enter scores on the scorecard, you'll see the skins entry box (either a dollar amount or a checkbox depending on how you have skins set up). You can alter the amount or toggle the checkbox to add/remove them from skins
• After the fact, you can go to Administration -> Contests -> Edit Skin Contestants. Choose the round you want to change, and make your changes as needed.

Net Skins Options

Golf League Tracker has many configurable options for Net Skins. For example, you can use a percentage of handicap, limit the number of strokes a player can receive in total or per hole based on the Par of the hole (e.g. no strokes on par 3s), or setting a "worst score" which can win a skins (e.g. if you don't want bogeys to win skins).

See the Settings List for a full explanation of your options.

Breaking Out By League Group

If your league uses "League Groups" (found under Weekly Admin / League Setup / Manage League Groups) you can turn on the option in your skins settings to break out the skins by group. This makes it so that each group has their own pot and own winners.

Viewing Skins Winners

Skins winners can be viewed in a number of ways:

• Stats -> League Standings, will show hole by hole view of the winners for a specific round
• Stats -> several reports under the "League Contests" section
• You can add a contest widget for your home page dashboard