What Are Dots (Junk)?
Dots is the most popular bonus-points game in golf, and it goes by many names — junk, trash, garbage, or rubbish. It is not a format on its own. Instead, it is a set of small achievements you bolt onto whatever you are already playing, and each achievement is worth an agreed number of points.
The point of dots is to reward good shots that the main game does not capture. You might be playing stroke play, where only your total score matters — but a brilliant up-and-down from a bunker, or sticking an approach a foot from the pin, earns no extra credit. Dots fix that. Every one of those moments becomes a 'dot' you can claim and tally.
Before the round, the group agrees which dots are in play and what each is worth. You count them as you go, and at the end you compare totals. Most dots wins. It is a game for bragging rights — just points, never money.
How dots work, in four lines
- 1.It's an add-on. Run dots alongside any format — stroke play, a scramble, a match, anything. The main game keeps going; dots run in parallel.
- 2.Each dot is worth points. Pick a value per dot — most groups use 1 point each. Some dots are negative and cost you points.
- 3.You earn dots for specific feats. A greenie, a sandie, a barkie and the rest each have a precise rule. Hit the feat, claim the dot.
- 4.Most dots wins. Tally every dot over the round, settle the totals at the end, and the player with the most points takes the bragging rights.
Dots reward what your scorecard can't see
A clean fairway-and-green hole, a chip holed from the fringe, a par saved from the sand — none of these change your gross score, but all of them are great golf. Dots put a point on them so the round rewards the shots you are proud of, not just the number in the box.
The Most Common Dots
Here are the dots golfers ask about most, each defined precisely. The point value is up to your group — the 1 point shown below is the common default. The first seven are positive dots you want to earn. The last two are negative dots that cost you points.
Pick the dots your group enjoys and agree the values before you tee off. Many groups treat the par-3 greenie as 'must make par to keep it' — settle that up front.
How Scoring Works
Scoring dots is simple bookkeeping. As each hole plays out, anyone who earns a dot calls it, the group agrees, and it goes on the tally. Positive dots add to your total; negative dots subtract. At the end of the round you add everything up and the highest total wins.
Say your group is playing the standard set at 1 point per dot, with greenies, sandies, barkies, hogans, chippies, plus the snake and fish in play. Here is how a few holes might fall for one player, Maria.
Maria's dots over five holes
- •Hole 2 (par 3): She sticks her tee shot to six feet, closest of the group, and two-putts for par — greenie, +1.
- •Hole 4: Her drive finds a fairway bunker, but she splashes out and makes par — sandie, +1.
- •Hole 6: She finds the fairway and hits the green in regulation — hogan, +1.
- •Hole 7: She misses the green but holes her pitch from the fringe for par — chippie, +1.
- •Hole 9: A long approach leaves her 60 feet away and she three-putts — snake, −1.
Maria's running tally after these holes is +3 (four positive dots minus one snake). Everyone else is keeping their own tally the same way. Carry on through 18, settle the totals, and the most dots wins. Because the dots are independent of the main format, Maria's stroke-play score — or her match — is unaffected; the dots are pure bonus points on top.
How to Set It Up
Agree the dots before you tee off
- 1.Pick your dots. Choose which achievements are in play. A simple, popular set is greenie, sandie, barkie, and a snake for three-putts. Add hogans, arnies, chippies and polies if your group wants more to chase.
- 2.Agree the point values. The easy default is 1 point per positive dot and −1 point per negative dot. You can weight rarer feats higher — say a chippie or a hole-out worth 2 — but keep it simple your first time.
- 3.Settle the edge-case rules. Decide the things that cause arguments later: does a greenie require you to make par to keep it? Does a barkie count if the tree helped you? Does the snake pass to the next three-putter? Agree these now.
- 4.Track as you go. Call dots honestly on the hole they happen, get a quick nod from the group, and mark them down. Don't wait until the turn to reconstruct who earned what.
- 5.Settle at the end. Add up each player's positive dots, subtract the negatives, and compare. Most dots wins the bragging rights for the round.
Keep your first game small
If the table of terms looks like a lot, start with just greenies, sandies, and the snake. Three dots are enough to make every par 3 and every bunker shot interesting, and you can add more once everyone knows the rhythm.
Etiquette & Strategy
Call your dots honestly
Dots run on trust. Claim what you earned and nothing you didn't — and own your snakes and fish too. A group that calls dots honestly has more fun than one that argues over them.
Agree the gray-area rules upfront
Most disputes are about edge cases: must you make par to keep a greenie, does a putt off the fringe count as a chippie, does the tree have to genuinely deflect the ball for a barkie. Decide before the round, not in the moment.
Watch each other's shots
Many dots — closest-to-the-pin greenies, who was in the bunker, whose ball hit the tree — depend on the group having seen it. Pay attention to your playing partners' shots so dots can be confirmed cleanly.
Press your strengths
If you are a sharp wedge player, chippies and polies are there for the taking. A straight driver collects hogans. Lean into the dots that suit your game rather than chasing every one.
Protect against the negatives
Snakes and fish quietly erase your good dots. A safe lay-up short of the water or a conservative lag putt to avoid the three-putt is often worth more than an aggressive line.
Keep play moving
Calling and recording dots should take seconds. Confirm the dot, mark it, and play on — dots are meant to add fun, not slow the group down.
Variations
Negative dots only
Flip the game on its head: only the bad dots count. Players collect snakes for three-putts and fish for water balls, and the goal is to finish with the fewest points. A self-deprecating, low-pressure way to keep a round lively.
Best for: Groups who want laughs over a serious contest.
Doubling (loud dots)
Certain dots are worth double when they are especially good or especially public. A chip holed in front of the whole group, or a greenie on the hardest par 3, counts as 2 points instead of 1. Agree which dots double before you start.
Best for: Adding drama to the standout shots.
Layered on stroke play
Run dots alongside a normal stroke-play round. Everyone keeps their gross score as usual, and dots run as a completely separate points tally. You can win the dots and still lose the medal — two games for the price of one round.
Best for: A regular foursome who already keep score.
Layered on a scramble
In a team scramble, award dots to the player whose ball earned the feat — the one who hit the green-in-regulation tee shot for the greenie, or holed the chip. It rewards individual brilliance inside a team format.
Best for: Scrambles where you still want individual recognition.
Carry the snake
Instead of simply costing a point, the snake is an object passed from player to player. Whoever three-putts most recently 'holds the snake'; the last person holding it when the round ends takes the penalty. A traveling hot potato that keeps everyone watching the greens.
Best for: Groups who like a running, suspenseful side story.
Playing Dots on Cleek
Dots are easy to play but fiddly to track — a stack of small achievements across four players over 18 holes is exactly the kind of mental bookkeeping that gets dropped by the 14th tee. Cleek keeps the tally so you can stay focused on the golf.
Because dots layer on top of any round, you set up your main game on Cleek — a casual round, a scramble, a match — and add dots as a side tally. Mark a greenie, a sandie or a snake as it happens, and Cleek keeps a live running total for every player. There is no debate on the last tee about who is ahead, and your gross scores stay clean and separate.
When the round ends you get a tidy scorecard and a shareable result that settles the dots at a glance. It is the kind of artifact that makes a random Tuesday foursome worth a rematch — and on Cleek, guests can follow the whole thing on a shared link without installing anything.