Competition formats
Parful runs thisBest 3 of 4
Also called Three best balls, Best three of four, 3 of 4, Drop the worst.
Best 3 of 4 is a team format for four players in which everyone plays their own ball and keeps their own card, and on each hole the three lowest net scores are added for the team, so only the single worst score is dropped. Each player receives 85% of their Course Handicap™.
- Played as
- Own ball, own card, teams of 4
- Team score
- The three lowest net scores on each hole, added; the worst is dropped
- Ranked by
- Team net total, lowest wins
- Allowance
- 85% of Course Handicap™ per player
- Net par for the team
- Three times the card par, 216 on a par 72
- Runs on
- Parful Clubs competitions
How best 3 of 4 works
Four players form a team and each plays their own ball on every hole. When the hole is done, each gross is reduced by the strokes that player receives there, the four nets are sorted, the highest is dropped and the other three are added. That sum is the team score for the hole. On a par 4 the team's net par is 12.
Dropping only one score makes this the sternest of the counted-score family. Three of four players have to play a decent hole for the team to score, and a team with two weak players is exposed on every hole. It suits a members' day where the committee wants team play without letting the team hide anyone, and it is close in spirit to a full aggregate with one safety valve.
The dropped score does not have to belong to the same player all day. On one hole it is the person who found the water; on the next it is whoever three-putted. That is the whole point of the safety valve: one bad hole per person per hole is free, a second is not.
Handicaps and where the strokes fall
Each player takes their own strokes at 85% of Course Handicap™, placed by the stroke index of their own tee. An 8 receives 7, a 14 receives 12, a 20 receives 17 and a 26 receives 22. The allowance matches the rest of the four-ball family in the World Handicap System™ tables, and a committee can change it per competition.
Because three scores count, high handicappers matter more here than in best 1 of 4. A 22-stroke player receives two strokes on the four hardest holes and their net scores count on most of them, so a team's result depends far more on its weaker players playing to their handicap than on its best player shooting a low round.
Ties and ranking
Teams rank on net total, lowest first. A tie on net is broken on the Parful leaderboard by the lower gross total of the counted scores, then shared. A club can apply countback on the team card under its own conditions.
How Parful scores it
Best 3 of 4 runs on Parful Clubs competitions. Every player scores their own ball on the group scorecard, and the counted-scores engine builds the team card as the scores arrive: it sorts the four nets on the hole, drops the highest, adds the rest and updates the team total and the leaderboard. The result records which three players counted on each hole and which score was dropped.
While a hole is incomplete the engine counts what it has, up to three scores, and the total settles once the fourth card is in. A corrected score reruns the team card from hole one. Every player plays their own ball from the tee, so the full set of own-ball side games is available alongside the competition.
Worked example
A worked example: holes 1 to 6
Ana, Ben, Cal and Dee play off Course Handicaps of 8, 14, 20 and 26, receiving 7, 12, 17 and 22 strokes at 85%. Net scores are shown; the highest on each hole is dropped and the other three are added.
| Hole | Par | Ana net | Ben net | Cal net | Dee net | Dropped | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | Cal or Dee, 5 | 12 |
| 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | Cal or Dee, 6 | 16 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | Ben or Dee, 4 | 10 |
| 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | Ana or Cal, 6 | 16 |
| 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | Dee, 5 | 12 |
| 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | Ben or Dee, 4 | 10 |
- The same four cards are level par in best 1 of 4, one over in best 2 of 4 and seven over here. Each extra counted score exposes another ordinary net.
- When two players tie for the worst score, as on hole 1, it does not matter which is dropped: the three that count add to the same number.
Common variants
- Aggregate (all four count)
- No score is dropped; the team total is every net added. Parful runs a points aggregate as the Team Stableford format; a stroke aggregate with no drop is a variant Parful does not score.
- Best 2 of 4
- Two scores count and two are dropped. More forgiving, and the more common choice for a charity day. A page of its own.
- Maxwell
- The same drop-the-worst rule for a squad of five: the best four nets count on each hole. A page of its own.
- Gross best 3 of 4
- No strokes; the three lowest gross scores are added. A scratch setting rather than a different format.