Chapman (Pinehurst®)

How Chapman works

Both players tee off. They then swap: Kim plays the second shot with Lee's ball and Lee plays the second shot with Kim's. There are now two balls in play, each having been struck once by each partner. The pair chooses the better of the two, and the partner who did not hit that second shot plays the third. From there the pair alternates on one ball until it is holed.

The format is named for Dick Chapman, the amateur champion who popularized it, and for Pinehurst, where it was played. It sits between foursomes and four-ball. Both partners are involved in every hole for two shots, the pair gets a choice after the second shot rather than the first, and a good approach can rescue a mediocre drive. It rewards partners who know each other's games, because the choice of which ball to carry on with depends on who will be hitting the next shot.

The team handicap

Chapman uses the greensomes split: 60% of the lower Course Handicap plus 40% of the higher, rounded to a whole number. A pair on 4 and 16 gets 2.4 plus 6.4, which is 8.8, so the pair plays off 9. The format differs from greensomes in the shape of play, not in the handicap arithmetic. Parful applies the same 60/40 rule to both. The pair then receives strokes by stroke index like a single player and the team net is the team gross minus those strokes.

The pair plays one tee, designated by the committee. Parful designates the tee with the lowest Course Rating™ among the tees the two players hold and works both Course Handicaps from it.

Ties and the order of play

A tied Chapman stroke play or Stableford competition goes to countback on the team card, back nine first. The order after the second shots is fixed by the choice: if the pair carries on with the ball Kim struck second, Lee plays the third. Playing the third shot with the wrong partner is a breach of the order of play and costs the general penalty.

How Parful runs it

Choose Chapman when you set up a club competition, an event round or a cup session. Parful takes the two Course Handicaps, applies 60% to the lower and 40% to the higher, places the strokes from the designated tee and gives the pair one card. Clubs can run it as stroke play or Stableford; the scorer enters one score per hole and the leaderboard ranks gross and net with countback.

The card carries no individual scores, so side games that read a player's own ball are unavailable on a Chapman round; a Custom bet is the one side game the pair can carry. Which ball was chosen is not recorded and the alternation is kept by the pair on honor. Nothing from a Chapman card is posted to a handicap record.

Worked example

A worked example: a Chapman pair, front nine

Kim plays off a Course Handicap of 4 and Lee off 16. Team handicap: 60% of 4 is 2.4, 40% of 16 is 6.4, total 8.8, rounded to 9. The pair receives a stroke on stroke index 1 to 9, which on this front nine is holes 1, 2, 4, 7 and 8. The chosen ball is named by the partner who hit its second shot.

• infoOn hole 1 the pair carried on with the ball Kim hit second, so Lee played the third, Kim the fourth. Two shots each on two balls, then one ball alternated.
• infoThe team handicap of 9 is the same number a greensomes pair on 4 and 16 would play off. The formats share the split.

Common variants

Greensomes

Both drive, the pair chooses a drive and alternates from the second shot. One choice earlier than Chapman. Parful runs it as its own format.

Foursomes

One drive per hole, alternating by hole, no choice at all. Parful runs it as its own format with a 50% combined handicap.

Chapman with own second shot

A local variant in which each player hits their own ball twice before the pair chooses. Parful does not score it separately; the handicap and the card are the same as Chapman.

Chapman match play

Pair against pair, hole by hole, with strokes on the difference between the two pairs' team handicaps. Parful runs it on club competitions and cup sessions.