How does a round robin work in golf?

Every entrant plays every other entrant once in match play. Points are awarded for each result, 3 for a win and 1 for a draw by default, and the standings after the final fixture decide the winner.

How many matches are in a round robin?

n x (n minus 1) / 2 for n entrants: 6 players play 15 matches over 5 rounds, 8 players play 28 matches over 7 rounds.

What happens with an odd number of players?

One entrant has a bye each round. The bye can be worth nothing, a win or a draw, as the competition decides; Parful records it in a byes column.

How are ties on points broken?

By the head-to-head result between the tied players first, then by net difference across all recorded results. Still level and the position is shared.

Do walkovers count in the table?

Yes. A walkover has a decided winner and counts like a completed match, but the table badges it so everyone can see it was not played. A void fixture does not count.

Competition structures

Parful runs this

Round robin

Also called Round-robin league, League table, All-play-all, Match play league, Pool play.

A round robin is a match play competition in which every player or team plays every other once and the standings are ranked on points, 3 for a win and 1 for a draw. Ties on points are broken head to head, then on net difference across recorded results.

Fixtures: Every entrant plays every other once; n entrants means n minus 1 rounds
Points: 3 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss, both configurable
Odd fields: One bye per round, scored as nothing, a win or a draw
Counted: Completed, walkover and conceded fixtures; void fixtures are not
Ties: Head to head, then net difference, then a shared position
Deadline: 21 days per fixture by default, as a reminder

How a round robin works

A round robin, or all-play-all, gives every entrant a match against every other entrant. Nobody is eliminated; the standings after the last fixture decide the result. It is the structure behind club singles leagues, winter foursomes leagues and the group stage of a larger competition. With n entrants there are n minus 1 rounds of fixtures and n x (n minus 1) / 2 matches in total: 6 players means 5 rounds and 15 matches, 8 players means 7 rounds and 28 matches.

Parful builds the fixture list by the circle method. One entrant stays fixed and the others rotate around a circle one step per round, so every pairing appears exactly once and each round has every entrant playing. An odd field gets a phantom entrant, and whoever is drawn against it has a bye that round.

Points and the table

Each fixture is a match play contest and ends in a win for one side or a draw. The table awards 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw by default; a club can set both. A bye is worth whatever the competition says: nothing by default, or the points for a win, or the points for a draw, so an odd field can be kept fair. The standings show played, won, drawn, lost, byes, points, and the net difference between the scores recorded for and against each entrant.

Completed fixtures count. So do walkovers and concessions, which have a decided winner.
A void fixture never happened and is left out of the table entirely.
A fixture with no result yet counts for nothing until it is scored.

Breaking ties

Two entrants level on points are separated first by the result of the match between them: whoever won it ranks higher. If that match was drawn or has not been played, the net difference across all recorded results decides. If that is level too, the entrants share the position. A club can instead choose to share positions from the start, or to settle a tie with a sudden-death match recorded outside the table.

Head to head is only meaningful between two entrants. When three are level, Parful compares pairs in the order the table sorts them, so a club that wants a strict three-way rule should say so in its conditions and settle it by hand if needed.

How Parful runs it

A round robin on Parful is a competition with fixtures rather than a bracket, played across outings or self-scheduled by the players. The admin sets the team size, the maximum field, the points for a win and a draw, the bye scoring and the tiebreak, and Parful generates every fixture with its round number. Each fixture carries a deadline of 21 days from its scheduled date by default. An overdue fixture is flagged to the admin and by the nightly sweep; nothing is forfeited automatically, and the admin extends, awards a walkover or voids.

The standings recompute atomically every time a result lands, so the table members see in the portal is always the table the fixtures produce. Walkovers and concessions are badged in the table so a win by default is visible as one.

Worked example

A worked example: four players, three rounds

A four-player singles league. Circle method fixtures: round 1 Ana v Dee and Ben v Cal, round 2 Ana v Cal and Dee v Ben, round 3 Ana v Ben and Cal v Dee. Results recorded as holes up: Dee beat Ana 2 up, Ben beat Cal 3 and 2 (recorded 3 up), Ana halved with Cal, Ben beat Dee 1 up, Ana beat Ben 4 and 3 (recorded 4 up), Cal beat Dee 2 and 1 (recorded 2 up). Win 3, draw 1.

Position	Player	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Net difference	Points	How placed
1	Ben	3	2	0	1	0	6	Most points
2	Ana	3	1	1	1	+2	4	Level with Cal, halved head to head, better net difference
3	Cal	3	1	1	1	-1	4	Level with Ana on points
4	Dee	3	1	0	2	-1	3	Fewest points

Ben: 3 + 0 + 3 = 6. Ana: 0 + 1 + 3 = 4, net difference minus 2 plus 0 plus 4 = +2. Cal: 0 + 1 + 3 = 4, net difference minus 3 plus 0 plus 2 = minus 1. Ana and Cal halved their match, so net difference places Ana second.

Ben lost to Ana 4 and 3 and still tops the table: two wins beat one win and a draw. A round robin rewards consistency over one big result.
Had this been a five-player league, each round would carry one bye and the table would show a byes column with whatever the bye is worth.

Common variants

Double round robin: Everyone plays everyone twice, home and away. Parful generates a single round robin; a club wanting two legs runs the competition twice or builds a season standings table.
Points for holes won: Some leagues award the margin of the match as points, so a 5 and 4 win is worth 5. Parful awards fixed points for a win and a draw and uses the recorded scores only for net difference.
Stableford league: Fixtures decided by Stableford points rather than match play. Parful runs Stableford leagues as season standings, not as a round robin.
Round robin into a knockout: The top finishers advance to a bracket. Parful runs this as a group stage competition.