Our regular foursome usually plays a side game during a round just to keep interest up, with the main one being "Wolf." For those not knowing about this game, it's pretty simple. Players rotate through the foursome -- and through the round -- as the Wolf on a hole, with the order for the day being designated on the opening tee box via a tee flip (the player the tee points at when hitting the ground).

The first player off the tee is the Wolf, and after teeing off, he has to select a playing partner for the hole after watching another player's tee shot. Using the first tee as an example, if the second player hits a nice tee shot,
the Wolf can then declare that player his partner and the two compete against the remaining two players on that hole. However, the Wolf must choose a playing partner for the hole before the next person tees off. In this example, once player three hits, player two is no longer an option to be chosen.

If the Wolf watches all players hit and doesn't like any of the tee shots, then he can declare himself a Lone Wolf and compete against the other three players.

Scoring is based on low ball, low total, with a point given for each. For Lone Wolf, the points are doubled. This type of scoring helps equal things out if players of varying abilities are partnered -- for instance, partners can easily make a combined higher score (total) than the other two, but one of the partners can still have the individual lowest score (low ball) for the hole, canceling the points out. 

We like Wolf, but it gets tiresome.

We've also played Bingo, Bango, Bongo (BBB), which is a more random, luck-based game. Each BBB counts one point. Regardless of honors on the tee, the first player to hit the fairway gets a Bingo, then the first player to hit the green gets a Bango, and the first person to hole out (no gimmes) gets the Bongo. Bangos on par 3's are awarded for closest to the hole (must be on the green to count) -- Bingos are not in play.

Because of the random nature of BBB, it's proven to be less competitive and usually doesn't hold our interest for an entire round.

So we've "created" a new game -- we'll, actually we've just modified another game called "Disaster." I found Disaster, and many other games, at this website golf.about.com/cs/golfterms /a/formatsbets.htm. There are many golf side games detailed at the site, including the two previously mentioned. We're calling our new game "Redemption," and here's how we're going to play it:

Penalties -- 1 point each
Splashy (water ball)
Goner (OB)
Woody (hit a tree)
Beachy (bunkered)
Fooby (Failed Out Of Bunker)
Three-Jack (3 putt)
Wipes
* Par on hole wipes all penalty points for that hole only
* Birdie (or better) wipes penalties for that hole and previous hole
* Back-to-back birdies (or better) wipes all penalties up to that point in round
Rules
* Redemption scoring kept separately from regular stroke score
* Player with fewest points after 18 holes is the winner
* In case of tie(s) after 18 holes, single ball, closest-to-hole chipping  contest, with order of play determined by tee toss

We haven't had the opportunity to try this game out yet, but I'm kinda' looking forward to it. I like the idea of trying to make positive things happen to eliminate (wipe) the points given for negative shots. For instance, on a par 5, a player could hit a tree off the tee (1 point), hit his second in a bunker (1 point), fail to get out the bunker on the next shot (1 point), and then knock the fourth shot on and drain the par putt -- 3 points wiped for that hole alone! Or if he misses that par putt, he'd card the 3 points, but could then wipe them by birdieing the next hole. The big one, of course, is the back-to-back birdies, wiping all points -- what a great incentive to score well and stick it to your opponents.

For higher-handicapped players, the "wipes" could be changed to bogeys and pars, instead of pars and birdies. Like most side games, modifying the rules and scoring helps to better accommodate different types of golfers, just as long as everybody is in agreement before teeing off. I rarely wager anything when playing side games. It's been my experience that gambling on a golf course makes you lose more friends than money, and brings out the worst in people. Playing for something trivial, like a soda or something, works best, I think.
It's more a pride thing, anyway.

Not sure how the Redemption scoring is going to work on our home course. There's not much water, and the bunkers are positioned mostly out-of-play. There are plenty of trees, though, enough out-of-bounds to keep you honest, and three putts are in everyone's bag. We'll see how this Redemption goes and I'll blog an update. I also plan to start a subject in the Golf Gab forum about side games, so post a reply. I'm always looking for something different.