A "Four-Ball" contest is a two-person team competition played among a group of golfers of any size. Each member of a team plays their own ball. The best score among the two players on a team is recorded for each hole. The team with the lowest 18 hole score wins! If playing for money, the prize pool is divided in a way that is predetermined by the outing coordinator for a competition using this format.
This competition takes some work to set up but is a really fun way to compete for the players. It promotes cameraderie between teammates. At the same time, it promotes friendly competition with other teams both head to head in the same foursome and overall in the clubhouse after the round. Scores are often much lower for a team than the two individual teammates would have made separately. The HAF League usually does at least one of these per year, usually in the fall months when score posting in Colorado is suspended for the winter.
The outing coordinator for a four-ball competition will create teams from among the people that choose to participate in one of three ways. One is for players to choose their own teammate, entering as a team. Another is for the outing coordinator to choose teams, generally trying to ensure the total handicap of each team is as close as possible to the others to try to ensure the most evenly balanced competition. A third method of organizing teams is to do it randomly, maybe in the order in which players enter or by random draw. Any combination of these methods may be used.
Once the outing coordinator creates two-person teams, the next step is to decide handicap allowances. Handicaps will almost always be employed in a four-ball competition. However, if teams are very close in skill level, the tournament may be played without handicaps. When handicaps are used, the outing coordinator will make two decisions - whether a maximum handicap will be employed and what percentage of each player's handicap will be allowed (the "playing handicap). Maximum handicaps are important because players with very high handicaps can dramatically skew a competition on a good day. Maximum handicap is usually set at 36 (two strokes per hole), meaning a player with a handicap higher than that would be allowed 36 strokes. Handicap allowance is typically used because a course is "easier" when playing in a two person team: either player could score well on a hole rather that relying solely on one player's skill. Handicap allowance is almost always used in team competitions and usually set at 90% of a player's course handicap (handicap index adjusted for the tees being played). The handicap allowance is applied to the course handicap to create a playing handicap.
The outing coordinator will decide how to allocate the playing handicap to the various holes on the course. The outing coordinator will nearly always use the USGA convention of applying the greatest numbers of handicap strokes to the hardest holes as determined by each hole's handicap rating from the course scorecard. For instance, if a player has a playing handicap of 5, that player would get one handicap stroke each on the holes with handicap ratings of 1 through 5 and no strokes on the other holes. If an outing coordinator chooses a different basis for allocating the strokes of the playing handicap, the method of allocating those strokes will be explained in the annoucement of the outing.
The outing coordinator will have access to the USGA handicaps of all players that are official members of the HAF League. For other players, the outing coordinator will help determine the handicap that may be used. The league uses the 18Birdies app for all of its competitions. Players that are members of 18Birdies have access to a "My Handicap" that is calculated by the 18Birdies app. It is not an official handicap and it is usually slightly higher than a player's USGA handicap would be (because it takes all posted scores into account rather than a subset). However, because 18Birdies is well known in the League, the 18Birdies "My Handicap" may be used when a player doesn't have an 18Birdies account. If a player has neither a USGA or 18Birdies My Handicap, the player and outing coordinator will work together to establish a handicap to be used. For instance, if the player has recent 18 hole scores, the outing coordinator may ask the player to provide the scores and tees to the outing coordinator to calculate a handicap.
After determining the playing handicap of each player the outing coordinator will determine how ties will be broken, whether the competition will be played for a prize pool, the entry fee for each player and the way prizes will be payed out. Ties need not be broken; competitions can end with teams tied for one or more places. When ties are broken, the typical method is to determine the winner based on comparing the scores on the most difficult holes, starting with the 1 handicap hole, and going hole by hole until one team has a lower hole score than the other. The number of prizes awarded will typically vary based on the number of teams particpating in the tournament (more teams = more places awarded). A typical allocation of prizes would be:
| Number of teams particpating |
1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | 100% | N/A | N/A |
| 5-6 | 70% | 30% | N/A |
| 7+ | 60% | 25% | 15% |
The outing coordinator may choose to award more or fewer places or to change the allocation of the prize pool among the places for any given tournament. The outing page will provide the prize allocations for each tournament that uses this format. When playing for monetary prizes, ties will typically result in splitting the prizes between the tied teams. For instance, if two teams tie for second and third, the prizes for second and third would be combined and split evenly between the tied teams.
Lastly, the outing coordinator needs to decide on the method of obtaining each team's scores. Often, the outing coordinator will distribute a scoresheet specially prepared for the tournament. Such a scoresheet would have each player's handicap stoke allowance on each hole and a way to record each players gross (actual strokes made) and net (gross - handicap stroke) scores on each hole. However, many alternative methods are posible, ranging from simply using paper scorecards provided by the course and collecting them after the around to using a mobile phone app like 18Birdies. The outing coordinator will describe the method of collecting scores on the outing page for each outing that uses this format. As each team finishes their round, the team will submit their scores to the outing coordinator to be tallied.
In four-ball, each player is a member of a two-person team assigned by the outging coordinator. Players will play their round with their teammate. On each hole:
At the end of the round, each team will submit their scoresheet to the outing coordinator. The outing coordinator will verify the math on the team's scoresheet (correct subtraction of handicap strokes if used, correct selection of the better score on each hole, correct total of better ball strokes). Once all rounds are complete, the outing coordinator will declare winners of places. The first place team will be the one with the lowest better ball total. Second place will be the team with the next lowest better ball total and so on.
There is a variation to normal stroke play rules that applies to most team competitions, including four-ball. When a player's teammate has made a better score than the player could possibly make, that player can pick up their ball. For instance, if a player has already made 4 strokes and their teammate has holed out on the teammate's 4th stroke, the player can just pick up. The player's teammate must have holed out before the player picks up - no assumptions must be made about whether a stroke will go in the hole except for putts "inside the leather" if a given outing is using that rule. If a player picks up and is recording the round for handicap purposes, they may record their "most likely score" according to the Rules of Golf.
An outing of 12 people,6 teams, are playing a four-ball tournament using handicaps, as follows:
| Player | Handicap | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Alan | 13.5 | 1 |
| Barb | 8.7 | 1 |
| Charlie | 20.4 | 2 |
| Donna | 7.6 | 2 |
| Ed | 14.8 | 3 |
| Fran | 19.9 | 3 |
| George | 27.1 | 4 |
| Hannah | 6.3 | 4 |
| Ivan | 11.1 | 5 |
| Jen | 17.4 | 5 |
| Kevin | 20.1 | 6 |
| Lisa | 10.0 | 6 |
They play a course with the following attributes from the tees the tournament coordinator has chosen:
|----------------|------------|
|Course|Patty Jewett Peak/Plains|
|Men's Tee|Burgundy|
|Men's Tee Slope|120|
|Men's Tee Course Rating|70|
|Men's Par|72|
|Women's Tee|Cream|
|Women's Tee Slope|124|
|Women's Tee Course Rating|70.2|
|Women's Tee Par|73|
|Handicap Allowance|90%|
The outing coordinator sets an entry fee of $20 decides for a total prize pool of $240 with a prize allocation as follows:
| Place | Percent of Prize Pool |
|---|---|
| 1st | 50% |
| 2nd | 30% |
| 3rd | 20% |
Players go out and play their rounds using scoresheets provided by the outing coordinator that look like the following. NOTE: the holes on which to award handicap strokes is up to the outing coordinator.
| Player | HCP index |
Course HCP |
Allowed | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Totals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alan | 13.5 | 12 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 80 |
| Alan HCP | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Alan Net | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 69 | |||
| Barb | 8.7 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 78 |
| Barb HCP | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||||
| Barb Net | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 72 | |||
| Team Best Ball | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 65 |
These scoresheets are turned in to the outing coordinator who checks them over and tallies them along with the results from the other scoresheets. At the end, the results look like this. The second and third place prizes are split between the two teams tied for 2nd.
| Team | Best BallScore | Finish | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alan/Barb | 65 | 1st | $120 (50%) |
| Ed/Fran | 68 | 2nd (tie) | $60 (30% + 20%/2) |
| Ivan/Jen | 68 | 2nd (tie) | $60 (30% + 20%/2) |
| Kevin/Lisa | 72 | 4th | |
| Charlie/Donna | 75 | 5th | |
| George/Hannah | 80 | 6th |