Silk: Skins Decided by Birdies and Eagles

Updated 13 September 2026 · 3 min read

Silk is skins with the scorecard thrown away. Pars do not matter, bogeys do not matter, and the player grinding out level golf all afternoon wins nothing. A side takes the hole by making birdies — and the more of them, the better. It is the format for a group that would rather watch someone have a go at a par 5 in two than watch four people lag-putt for par.

The basics

Silk is played by sides — pairs or foursomes — against the field. Each hole, compare what every side made in birdies and eagles. Best haul takes the skin. Everything else on the card is ignored.

That is the part worth sitting with: a side can make four pars and lose the hole to a side that made one birdie and three double bogeys. Silk does not reward safety. It rewards someone taking it on.

The ladder depends on your side size

This is where Silk catches people out. The ranking is not the same in pairs as it is in foursomes, and the difference is the eagle.

Foursomes

In a foursome an eagle is the top of the ladder outright. Three birdies from three different players is a fine hole and it still loses to one player holing a second shot.

Pairs

In pairs an eagle is worth exactly two birdies — enough to beat a pair who both birdied, and no more. With only two players a side, two birdies is already the maximum realistic haul, so the eagle sits level with it rather than above everything.

Agree your side size before the first tee and the ladder follows from it. Groups that switch between a pairs game and a foursomes game across a season should know these are genuinely different formats, not the same one with more people.

Ties carry

Sides with the same best combination tie the hole. Nobody wins it and the full value carries forward, stacking on the next hole in the usual way.

Ties are common in Silk, and more common than new players expect — most holes, no side makes anything. A par 3 where everyone makes 3 is a tie at zero birdies apiece, and the skin rolls on. That is the engine of the game: value piles up through the quiet holes and lands on whoever finally makes something on a reachable par 5.

A worked hole

Two pairs, $10 a hole, and the 7th has already carried twice — $30 on it.

• Side A: a birdie and a par. One birdie.
• Side B: an eagle and a triple bogey. One eagle.

Side B takes all $30. The triple bogey is irrelevant — Silk never looks at it. A side can play the hole appallingly and still win it, provided one of them does something remarkable.

Who it suits

Silk works best in a group with a spread of ability and at least one player who cannot help going for it. It is a poor choice for a group of steady bogey golfers on a hard course, where whole rounds can pass with almost nothing made and the skin carries to the 18th untouched.

If your group makes birdies rarely, play it over nine holes, or pair a strong player with a weaker one so every side has a realistic chance of making something.

How SkinsMate handles it

SkinsMate knows which ladder applies from the side size you set, compares each side's best combination as scores go in, and carries the value when nobody wins. Birdies and eagles feed the group's birdie register at the same time, so the round counts towards the quarter whether or not it wins a single skin.

Settle it before the first beer.