Competition formats
Parful runs this, with a caveatFour-ball (best ball)
Also called Best ball, Fourball, Better ball.
Four-ball is a team format in which every player plays their own ball and keeps their own card, and on each hole the team records only the better net score of its two players. In stroke play each player receives 85% of their Course Handicap™; in match play, 90%.
- Played as
- Own ball, own card, sides of 2
- Team score
- The better net score of the two on each hole
- Ranked by
- Team net total over 18, lowest wins
- Allowance
- 85% of Course Handicap™ in stroke play, 90% in match play
- Ties
- Countback on the team card, back 9 first
- Runs on
- Parful Clubs competitions; Events as best 1 of 4
How four-ball works
Two players form a side. Each plays their own ball from the tee to the hole, exactly as in singles stroke play, and each keeps a full individual card. When the hole is finished the side compares the two net scores and writes the lower one on the team card. That single number is the side's score for the hole, and the eighteen of them add up to the side's round.
A player who is out of the hole can pick up. Their partner's score is the only one that can count, so nothing is lost by walking to the next tee, and the pace of play is why clubs lean on the format for busy Saturdays. The one thing a pickup costs is a handicap return: a player who picks up records the hole at net double bogey for posting purposes, and Parful does that automatically.
Handicaps and allowances
Each player takes strokes from their own Course Handicap™, not from a blended team figure. The stroke play allowance is 85%: a 12 receives 10 strokes (10.2, rounded), a 20 receives 17. Strokes fall by stroke index from the player's own tee, so on a hole where the higher handicapper receives a stroke and the lower does not, the higher handicapper can post the better net score with the worse gross.
In four-ball match play the allowance is 90% and the strokes are taken relative to the lowest handicap in the match, which is the standard match play convention. Parful stores both figures on the format and applies whichever the competition's scoring method calls for.
Because each side's score is a net best, the format is generous to unbalanced pairs. A scratch player paired with a 24 wins the holes the 24 gets two strokes on, and the scratch player covers the rest. The 85% allowance exists to trim that advantage, and committees can set the figure per competition.
Settling a tie
Sides on the same team total are separated by countback on the team card: back nine, then the last six holes, the last three, then the eighteenth. The comparison is on the team's counted scores over each stretch, not on either individual card.
How Parful runs it
On Parful Clubs, four-ball is its own competition type. Players are entered in sides of two, every player scores their own ball on the group scorecard, and the team card is synthesized from the individual cards: the leaderboard shows each side's better net per hole and the running total, recomputed on every score. Strokes are placed by stroke index from each player's tee at 85% by default, and the competition can set a different percentage.
On Events the same idea is offered as best 1 of 4: a team of four plays own ball and the single best net on each hole counts. It uses the counted-scores engine rather than the Clubs four-ball path, which is why this page carries a caveat rather than a plain supported mark. The arithmetic on the leaderboard is identical.
Because every player keeps their own ball from tee to green, every own-ball side game in the library is available on a four-ball day: Wolf, Skins, Dots, Snake and the rest can run alongside the competition from the same card.
Worked example
A worked example: the front nine
Ana plays off a Course Handicap™ of 12 and Ben off 20. At 85% Ana receives 10 strokes (10.2 rounded) and Ben 17. Ana strokes on stroke index 1 to 10; Ben strokes on every hole indexed 1 to 17, which is all nine here.
| Hole | Par | Stroke index | Ana gross | Ana net | Ben gross | Ben net | Counts | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | Either, tied | 4 |
| 2 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 6 | Ana | 5 |
| 3 | 3 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | Either, tied | 3 |
| 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | Ana | 4 |
| 5 | 4 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | Ana | 4 |
| 6 | 3 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | Ben | 2 |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | Ana | 4 |
| 8 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | Ana | 3 |
| 9 | 4 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | Either, tied | 5 |
- Hole 6 is the format in one line: Ben's gross 3 with a stroke is a net 2, and it beats Ana's 4 even though Ana is the better player.
- Ana's own nine was 41 gross and 36 net; Ben's was 48 gross and 39 net. Neither card would have won on its own, and the side scored 34.
Common variants
- Four-ball match play
- The same format scored hole by hole against another side: the better net on each side is compared and the hole is won, lost or halved. Allowance 90%, strokes relative to the lowest handicap. Parful runs it as its own match format.
- Best 1 of 4
- Four players a side rather than two, still one best net per hole. This is how Events run the format, and it is a page of its own.
- Aggregate four-ball
- Both net scores are added instead of taking the better one. As a competition format it is a variant Parful does not score; the Better Ball and Aggregate side game awards a point for the better ball and a point for the aggregate on every hole from the same card.