Take Money From Your Buddies with The Skins App

There is a lot of cool gear in the golf equipment world that doesn’t always fit neatly into Most Wanted Tests or Buyer’s Guides. You still want to know how it performs. In our We Tried It series, we put gear to the test and let you know if it works as advertised. 

What We Tried

The Skins App.

For diehard golfers who like (or need) a little action when they play, Skins is an on course gamification app that features a slate of popular betting games with correct rules (not the made-up ones your buddy tries to impose in the middle of the third fairway), real-time scoring capability and even a direct-to-winner(s) from loser(s) payout platform. 

Wallet forgetters, no more excuses!   

Who Tried It 

Rick Young. One of MyGolfSpy’s Canadian contributors and three buddies, Rob, Gerry and Deuce (don’t ask).  

As a matter of transparency, only Deuce regularly partakes in weekend money games but, according to data, a whopping 83 percent of the world’s 67 million players engage in a little on-course money action on the first tee. 

What’s the Story? 

The Skins App is the brain-child of  Arizona-based Ryan Morrison, son of a PGA professional and a competitive plus-4 handicap. He was living in Colorado when the proverbial light bulb went off during COVID.  

Part of a group of 18 to 20 scratch or better players who almost always played for a little something during their weekly games, Morrison says  “we were keeping track of all this stuff on scorecards. We played Skins but you also had a bunch of other low man games or Banker happening. I got thinking one day: Why keep all this stuff on scorecards when everyone carries these devices in their pockets now that have more computing capability than the Apollo 13 mission?”   

A Little Help from Some Friends 

For the build-out of The Skins App, Morrison reached out to two buddies in San Diego, Calif.  

Mike Oristian, a Stanford educated engineer, built the initial prototype and React engineer James Gilmore got the project across the finish line.  

The threesome of entrepreneurs based everything on providing solutions for the most common issues when you play with buddies for money:  

What game are we playing?  What are the rules?  Where do we stand in the game?  Will Brian run to his car again and not settle his bets?  Is Brad really a 10 handicap when he plays like a 4? 

Games Golfers Play:   

With a nod to the Alan Parsons Project, there’s a nice selection on this app.  

Like to keep it simple? What about a traditional match or nassau? Looking for a bit more action? Maybe you’d prefer Wolf, Banker or Nine Point with side bets.    

The Skins App comes with 13 games and, according to Morrison, several more will be added in the weeks and months ahead. Rules descriptions are straightforward and pretty simple to follow.  If you haven’t played a certain game, getting familiar with it might only take a hole or two.  

Oh, and that guy who tries to make up new rules as you go along? Yeah, this app shuts that down real fast.     

Look at this way: This app on your phone is a lot handier than keeping a copy of Sam Snead’s book Pigeons, Marks and Hustlers in the bottom of your golf bag.   

Getting Started 

The Skins App is pretty seamless. After downloading it on the range (IOS and Android), I provided the guys with a four-digit code which allowed everyone to join and follow the game.  

There’s a flag icon in the upper corner which also takes you to a Settings page. That’s where you set up your game rules: which tees are in play, how you want to score (gross versus net), the wager(s) and how the payouts are to be allocated after the final putt drops.  

Skins is an obvious go-to game but testing the app meant something with a bit more spice. Nothing like a round of Wolf to keep everyone from losing interest. Having not played it in a while, I’d forgotten how much fun that game can be, especially the team component.      

Does the Paper Scorecard Have a Future?    

Golfers collect these little works of art like baseball and hockey cards but, let’s face it, the traditional paper scorecard has slowly been disappearing. As the capability of devices and power cart GPS systems has evolved, scoring has turned increasingly virtual especially with younger golfers who were born with a mobile phone as another appendage.  

Morrison was determined to be part of that evolution. 

Instead of a scorecard looking like someone had tried to recreate Einstein’s Theory of Relativity after a game of Banker, The Skins App keeps everything up-to-date as you play. It allows on-the-fly editing of scores and bets (if necessary). That’s great because, at one point, I messed up inputting a couple of scores. Rob helped me with a quick save and we got back on track.     

Here’s the best part: All of the potential grounds to argue over a score or a rule are eliminated because the app tells you how to play, keeps score and tells you where the game(s) and bets are all at—in real time.  

Settling Up Made Easy  

By the end of our game of Wolf,  not a lot of money changed hands.  

Gerry was the big winner banking about $60. Rob and I each lost a few bucks but Deuce had one of those forgettable days—driver going left, putts going right.  

Since there wasn’t much on the line, we paid Gerry in cash.  

For high rollers playing for bigger bucks, The Skins App makes it convenient and practical to settle your bets. You can connect with Venmo, PayPal, Zelle or Cash App and pay up or get paid right away without IOUs, someone conveniently forgetting his wallet or sneaking out the back door of the clubhouse.  

Wrapping Up The Skins App  

Full disclosure: I only had a chance to use this once for this ‘We Tried It’ but the experience was pretty impressive. 

Alternative apps for scoring are fairly limited on the gaming side (beyond standard match play), making this app some pretty damn cool forward-thinking technology.  

When I reached out for a clarification on something regarding set-up, Morrison mentioned that the app is transitioning to do more.   

“We just updated it and there’s a tournament side to it now,” he said. “And don’t forget the app is a layered games system which means anybody can go off and create a 100-man skins game right now, get a four-digit code where everyone can easily get pulled in.

“You set it up yourself and for Skins but groups can have games like Banker or Wolf or Hammer going on in their individual foursomes. It’s great for a buddies’ trip. Doing everything very easily from the first tee to the 18th green to when it’s time to pay up is where the app is today but we see bigger things in the future.” 

I’m betting on it.  

This article was written in partnership with The Skins App.

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