Presses

• Manual — somebody has to call it, and traditionally only the side that's down gets to. Tap Press on the bet card and it starts on the next unplayed hole.
• Automatic — agree up front that a press opens itself the moment a side goes a set number down (2 down is the classic). No one has to remember to ask.

A press is a real match, so it can be pressed too. Go 2 down in the press and another one opens — this is how a quiet $5 Nassau turns into a scorecard full of little bets by the 16th. Each match springs at most one press of its own, and only one new press opens per hole.

$5 Nassau, auto-press at 2 down. You're 2 down after hole 4, so a press opens covering holes 5–9. You win those 5 holes to 1: the front nine is still lost (−$5) but the press is won (+$5), and you walk to the 10th tee level.

• Available on Nassau, Match and Sixes — switch presses on when you create the bet, then pick manual or automatic at N down.
• A press never outlives the match it pressed. On a Nassau or Match that means the front and back nines, not the overall 18; in Sixes it means the six-hole stretch — six holes later everyone has a new partner, so there's no match left to carry it.
• A press carries the stake of the match it's on, and only pays once its holes are played out (or it closes out, in a Match or Sixes).
• Presses are played straight up by default. Switch on carry strokes into presses and a press counts whatever strokes fall on its holes — a nine's strokes are spread across that nine (hardest holes first, by stroke index) and the press takes the ones inside its range, so the nine's total never changes.
• A pressing bet needs hole-by-hole scores, so a totals-only golfer can't be in one.