The Most Dangerous Game In Golf Explained ⚠️

*Warning ⚠️*

You play Wolf Hammer at your own risk.

It’s highly addictive and should never be played for more than you are willing to lose.

A hammer must not be taken personally and the name of the game is to have fun.

Format:

Wolf Hammer is the combination of two games, Wolf and Hammer. 

Not only that but you have different versions of Wolf Hammer:

• Wolf Hammer (Lite) 

• Wolf Hammer (Regular)

• Wolf Hammer (Gauntlet)

Let’s talk about Wolf first:

Wolf is a game where each hole is its own bet and the team changes on every hole. The player who tees off first gets to determine the team for the hole and you can play 3,4,5 or even 6-man wolf if the course allows it. 

You determine the order of play on the 1st Tee by throwing balls. Once the order is set, players rotate every hole. (player 1 drops back to player 4 and player 2 now gets to select his team for the hole) in 4 man wolf, each player will get 4 times to go first and pick his team. 

The last two holes are always saved for the most down to go first, followed by 2nd most down, and 3rd most and so on…

Picking Partners:

1. Calling Wolf means you go alone vs all the other players in the group.

2. Calling Wolf before you hit = bet triples

3. Calling Wolf after you hit = bet doubles

4. You can’t call Wolf once the 2nd player hits their shot

5. You must pick your partner before the next player hits, once player 3 has hit you can’t pick 2

6. This rule above applies to each player until the last player is left then you automatically are paired with that player

 There is one more twist if you’re up for it, it’s called Squirrel.

Squirrel gives any player that has been picked as a partner the ability to call squirrel and drop the original wolf who selected him. They now “go alone”.

Albino squirrel (or just albino) is very rare and the opportunity presents itself when no playing partner has been selected by player 1 and he is forced to go with the final player… 

This now gives the last player the option of calling albino squirrel before they hit, which triples the bet, of course they can wait and call squirrel after they hit, then the bet it doubles.

Price of the bet:

What are we playing for? And why so little…?

In Wolf, each hole is its own bet and the bet is always to be determined on the first tee before the first shot is struck. 

You also need to determine how many lines you can draw (increase the bet) the industry standard is 2 lines, for example:

The game is $20 Wolf, hammer, squirrel with 2 lines and 1 eLine (emergency line)

This means the starting bet will be $20 and the amount will increase automatically twice during the round, after hole 6 to $40 and hole 12 to $80 and that’s it… this prevents the loser from being able to double the bet every hole hoping to win his money back. 

The twist is the eLine which allows the starting bet to increase to $160 on holes 17 or 18.

Hammer:

Hammering your opponents means double the bet. Simple, don’t overthink it.

Any team at any time can drop the first hammer (aka double the bet) 

Once a team has hammered the other team, (the receiving team) now has the hammer and can hammer back at any time, no team can hammer twice in a row.

Hammer Gauntlet:

• There is no limit to how many hammers per hole

• You can’t decline a hammer

 Hammer Lite:

• A limit of 2 hammers per hole

• A team may decline a hammer before the next shot, but results in instant loss of hole. If no decline is said it’s an automatic acceptance.

Wolf Hammer Example: (And How It Can Get Out of Hand)

Game: 

$20 Wolf, Hammer, Squirrel with 2 lines and one eLine

Tally:

After 16 holes 

Player 1 $200 up 

Player 2 $500 up

Player 3 $500 down

Player 4 $200 down

Scenario:

Hole 17 par 4

Player 3 is most down and gets to go first

All lines have been drawn – he calls eLine

Starting bet is now $160

He calls Wolf before he hits = Bet tripled $160 -> $320 -> $740

He hits the fairway and has a stroke -> he hammers -> bet is now $1480

Player 4 hits next followed by Players 2 and 1 -> player 4 strokes and hits a nice drive -> they hammer back -> bet is now $2960

Player 3 hits first -> hits the green to 10 feet -> Hammers back -> bet is now $5920

Players 4,2 and 1 hit approach shots and player 4 (who stokes) hits it to 6ft (doesn’t hammer yet) pressure builds 

Players 2 and 1 both make 4’s and and without strokes they are irrelevant -> 

The stage is set for player 3 to putt for birdie and put huge pressure on player 4 -> The put is worth $5920 3 ways ($17,760) as he is alone

He lips out -> Player 4 now hammers back -> Bet is now $11,840 -> 

He makes and crowd goes wild 

Player 3 just lost $35,520

And this is why Wolf Hammer is the most dangerous game in golf

FINAL THOUGHTS

The best way to learn the game is to keep the score, as it makes you think through the hole and the strategy. 

To score, keep a running tab of the dollar amount per person per hole. 

Player 1 up 120

Player 2 up 120

Player 3 down 120

Player 4 down 120

The total will always be a live total and should always add up to zero.