51 Club - A Poll

[BrotherDave]

The other day a guy in my group hit the basket off the tee and I gave him a dollar. He's been playing DG since basically DG has existed and he had never heard of the 51 club. So that made me wonder, how popular is it?

51 Club is generally a custom where folks on your card/group will give you $5 for an ace and $1 for hitting metal. So if you hit the pole on one hole and get an ace on another, and have 3 witnesses abiding by the custom, you'd get $18 ($1x3 + $5x3).

 

[Grippenripp]

Never heard of it. But I think it's cool and I think I'm going to carry this custom on with me.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Heard of $5 for an ace.

But the payout for metal hits is basically, "Damn! Helluva run man. I thought you were gonna splash chains."

 

[brutalbrutus]

Every Sunday for the past 5 years or so my weekend doubles group has been doing this. We used to just have an ace fund but it got to be rather unwieldy at one point and we started doing this instead... We only pay the first ace though. Its never actually happened yet but if someone were to get an ace in the same round it would just cancel out his debt. We like to gamble a little but not so that it actually hurts anybody, lol. Most ever owed in one round was $16. I was the odd man and decided to pay double. One kid hit an ace and his partner got a metal. Plus they had 4 skins(25cents a piece) and won the game for a $1. It stung a bit...

 

[blake833]

i've heard of the game (or policy?), but never referred to as 51 club. It never had a name, just something we did

 

[wellsbranch250]

I've had a home course in 3 different cities (Austin TX, Tampa FL and Huntsville AL) and most regulars in each place knew what it was. I'll throw someone a buck even if it isn't announced, before starting the round. They literally almost had an ace, they deserve a buck for putting on a show.

poll hits generally don't count. Basket cage, chastity belt or chain outs only.

if there's an ace pot, we don't play 51. there's already money coming for the ace.

each city just called it "51"

 

[timj5304]

Zero interest in paying $$$ for bad metal hits and aces. I have never taken money for aces or metal hits but I have paid money on good aces. Good aces to me are a super tight tunnel or 300+ ft open hole, maybe a big elevation change up or down.

My home course has a couple holes that are 150-200 ft that get aced at times 3 times in leagues certain weeks. One hole I have aced 7x. No thanks, I don't even celebrate that ace anymore, just put it down in my ace records

 

[ru4por]

Pretty common in league play. Heard of it, play it occasionally. Which is kind of a whine about the poll, but I did not vote that way.

 

[thrembo]

Heard of it, don't participate.

 

[Jay Dub]

We used to play that but only if agreed before the round started.

 

[biscoe]

Used to play all the time- variant was $1 for pole hit, $3 for basket hit, $5 for ace. Chris Hysell took many of my dollars that way.

 

[zontar]

hitting metal just means a poor shot. an ace just means a lucky shot....

 

[DavidSauls]

hitting metal just means a poor shot. an ace just means a lucky shot....

It's not intended to be a performance reward, like winning. It's more for fun, almost a joke.

A couple of decades ago, in a tournament I was on the exile card---last person in my amateur division, grouped with the last players in the open division, where none of us would fit on a card of our own divisions. I hit a basket, and they each handed me a dollar. As soon as I took it, they told me it worked like the Mafia---once you take the money, you're in, and you can't get out.

For those who do it, it's just a bit of gambling, like gambling on anything else you don't really control. Football, for example. With stakes so low as to be nothing but ceremonial.

 

[mj20300]

We do it all the time and we up the ante and play you have to pay out $5 to everyone in the group if you hit a black ace

 

[Discette]

I have played 51 (fifty-one) in the Midwest and during casual rounds in California. Metal hits are for tray and up. No dollars for poles, locks or mulligans.

In So Cal, many tournaments do not have an organized ace fund. At these events, players are "expected" to pay 51 (Five One) for Aces. Players pay $5.00 if they are on the same card with acemaker and $1.00 if they were on another card. If there is an organized ace fund, players still pay $5.00 if acemaker is on the same card, but everyone else is off the hook.

 

[giles]

I pay 51. My rules: I must be on the card, I think I've paid for shots I've seen on another card but don't feel obligated. Pole doesn't count for the dollar. If you have never been paid, you aren't obligated to pay. I don't pay the $5 for an ace if their is an ace pool, but will pay the $1 for metal (basket & above).

My wife hit and paid out a black ace at our club member drive round this year. Another card near by was trying to get in on the payout but we weren't having it. I don't think the black ace should be paid if it is a course with multiple baskets on the same hole. (like a red & blue location, both present).

 

[ThunderEagle]

I was "inducted" into the 51 club last weekend. The way it was explained to me, if you are in the club, and you witness on your card a tee shot metal hit or ace, then you give that person a $1 or $5 and they are now "inducted" into the club and are obligated to do the same. If you are not in the club yet, you are not obligated to pay.

I now have a 5 and a few ones in a stash mini for just such an occasion now. Bonus was my ace was in a tournament.

 

[DavidSauls]

I was "inducted" into the 51 club last weekend. The way it was explained to me, if you are in the club, and you witness on your card a tee shot metal hit or ace, then you give that person a $1 or $5 and they are now "inducted" into the club and are obligated to do the same. If you are not in the club yet, you are not obligated to pay.

I now have a 5 and a few ones in a stash mini for just such an occasion now. Bonus was my ace was in a tournament.

I often don't have the $1s at hand, so have to commit myself to hitting my own metal, before the round ends, to even the score.

*

Yeah, that's the induction process I'm familiar with. With the caveat that we offer payment to the inductee, with an explanation, and give him the option of accepting it and being inducted, or declining both.

 

[ThrowBot]

I play this "rule" mostly for casual rounds with friends. Or I guess it's more of a running side-bet.

Somehow it seems redundant to pay extra during league/tournament rounds when there's a formal ace pot (which I've almost certainly paid into).

Around here, it seems like a minority of the players are familiar with the practice. I don't really go out of my way to "induct" people into the "club". Although the people who seem to get metal hits and aces are also the folks who already know about it.

 

[lyleoross]

I got exposed to this two tournaments ago. Meh. Doesn't thrill me. It used to be that a compliment for doing something good was enough. I'm thinking I'll just start carrying small trophies with me. "You Aced!" and "You Can Throw Straight!"