Competition structures
Parful runs thisTeam cups (Ryder Cup® style)
Also called Ryder Cup® format, Team match play weekend, Club Ryder Cup, Two-team cup, Captains cup.
A team cup in the Ryder Cup® style is a match play contest between two teams played over sessions of singles, four-ball, foursomes, greensomes, chapman or scramble matches. Each match is worth 1 point to the winner or a half to each side, and a team wins the cup by reaching more than half the points available.
- Teams
- Exactly 2, with captains
- Sessions
- Singles, four-ball, foursomes, greensomes, chapman or scramble matches
- Points
- 1 for a win, 0.5 each for a halve, 0 for a loss
- Points to win
- Half the points available plus a half: 16 points needs 8.5
- Weighted sessions
- Allowed; a session can be worth more per match
- Tied cup
- Shared
How a team cup works
A team cup takes two sides, gives each a captain, and plays them against each other in sessions of match play. The famous version is the Ryder Cup between the United States and Europe. The club version is the same shape on one or two days: a session of four-ball in the morning, foursomes after lunch, singles on Sunday. Every match is worth a point. Win it and your team scores 1; halve it and each team scores a half. The scoreboard is the running total, and the cup goes to the side that reaches more than half the points on offer.
Points to win is half the total plus a half. Sixteen matches means 8.5 to win; twenty-eight matches means 14.5. A side that reaches the number has clinched the cup even with matches still on the course, and a side that cannot reach it is out.
Sessions and formats
A session is a block of matches with one format, one points value and one handicap rule. Parful runs six match formats inside a session: singles, four-ball (better ball of two), foursomes (alternate shot), greensomes, chapman and scramble match play, plus a manual-only custom match. Pair formats need exactly two players a side; singles one. The handicap allowance for each session comes from the format's registry default and can be changed per session; singles is always the full difference in Course Handicap™.
Sessions can be weighted. A club that wants Sunday singles to matter more sets 2 points per match for that session and the total available, and the points to win, move accordingly. The wizard offers named session presets that the admin can then edit.
- Classic club: four-ball, then foursomes, then singles.
- One-day cup: four-ball then singles, or four-ball, foursomes and singles in one day.
- Full cup: foursomes, four-ball, foursomes, four-ball, then singles over two or three days.
- Custom: an empty list the admin builds session by session.
Captains, lineups and ties
Each team has a captain who submits a lineup for every session: which players sit out, who pairs with whom, and the order of the matches. Lineups are set per session, so a player can sit out the foursomes and play the singles. Parful tracks how often each player has played and warns when someone has not been used.
A halved match scores half a point each. If the cup itself finishes level, the cup is shared. The committee should say so in the conditions before the first tee shot; a shared cup is the only tie outcome Parful resolves on its own.
How Parful runs it
A team cup on Parful is a competition with a multi-session structure. The wizard walks the admin through the two teams, the roster, team assignment by draft, handicap balance or by hand, the sessions with their formats and points, and the pairings. Each session's matches are scheduled onto outings; singles and four-ball matches become grouping constraints so the two sides share a group, and the pair formats score on team cards.
The scoreboard is rebuilt on every result: team totals, per-session totals, matches completed, points remaining, the points needed to win and whether each side can still get there. A cup is marked clinched the moment a side reaches points to win or cannot be caught. Walkovers and concessions are recorded per match with a reason; void and bye matches are removed from the total available so the points to win adjusts.
Worked example
A worked example: a 16-point weekend
Red against Blue, eight players a side. Saturday morning four-ball (4 matches), Saturday afternoon foursomes (4 matches), Sunday singles (8 matches). Sixteen points available, so 8.5 wins the cup.
| Session | Format | Matches | Red | Blue | Red running | Blue running | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Four-ball | 4 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 1.5 | Two wins and a halve for Red |
| 2 | Foursomes | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3.5 | 4.5 | Blue leads overnight |
| 3 | Singles | 8 | 5 | 3 | 8.5 | 7.5 | Red reaches 8.5 and clinches |
- Had the singles been weighted at 2 points a match, the total would be 24 and points to win 12.5. Red's 5 singles wins would be worth 10 for a final of 13.5 to 10.5.
- Had the singles finished 4 to 4, the cup would have ended 7.5 to 8.5 to Blue. A 4.5 to 3.5 singles session would have tied it at 8 each and the cup would be shared.
Common variants
- No halves
- Every match must produce a winner, with extra holes or a scorecard tiebreak. Parful records the resolution and the reason on the match; the standard cup allows halves.
- Defender retains a tied cup
- The holder keeps the trophy when the score is level. Parful shares a tied cup; a club wanting the holder to retain settles that outside the scoreboard.
- Three or more teams
- A triangular or four-team cup where every team plays every other. Parful runs cups between exactly two teams; a three-club contest is run as separate competitions.