Competition formats
Parful runs this, with a caveatFoursomes match play
Also called Alternate shot match play, Foursomes match.
Foursomes match play is pair against pair with one ball per side: partners hit alternate shots and alternate the tee shots by hole, and the lower net score on each hole wins it. Each pair plays off 50% of its combined Course Handicap™, and the higher pair receives the difference between the two team handicaps as strokes.
- Played as
- Pair against pair, one ball per side, one card per side
- Team handicap
- 50% of the pair's combined Course Handicap™, rounded
- Strokes
- The higher pair receives the difference, by stroke index
- Hole result
- The lower team net wins the hole; equal nets halve it
- Level after 18
- Halved in a cup; sudden death in a knockout
- Runs on
- Club knockouts and cup sessions
How foursomes match play works
Two pairs play a match, each pair sharing one ball. Within each pair the partners hit alternate shots, and the tee shots alternate by hole: one partner drives the odd-numbered holes, the other the even. The order does not change after a penalty; if a drive is lost, the partner plays the next stroke from the tee under stroke and distance. Each side records one score per hole, and the lower net score wins the hole. Equal nets halve it.
The match ends when one side leads by more holes than remain, and the margin is written in the usual way: 4 and 3, 2 and 1, 1 up. It is the sharpest of the team match play formats because a pair has no second ball to fall back on, and because a hole is often decided by which partner had the tee.
The team handicaps and the strokes
Each pair's team handicap is 50% of its combined Course Handicap, rounded to a whole number. A pair on 8 and 18 has a combined 26 and a team handicap of 13; a pair on 12 and 24 has 36 and a team handicap of 18. The strokes are then taken on the difference: the higher pair receives 5 strokes, on stroke index 1 to 5, and the lower pair plays off scratch. This is the same relative method singles match play uses, applied to two team handicaps instead of two players.
Parful applies the 50% split by default on every foursomes match. A club can change the pair's handicap rule in the competition settings, to an average, the lower or the higher of the two, or a custom split, and the strokes on the difference follow from whichever rule is in force.
How a match ends, and what happens all square
Parful walks the holes in order on net and stops when one side is up by more holes than remain. A hole is only counted when both sides have a score for it. A match that is level after eighteen is a half in a cup session, worth half a point to each team. In a knockout a half cannot stand, so the bracket sends the match to sudden death by default and the result is entered when the extra holes are played.
Concessions of a putt, a hole or the match are allowed at any time.
How Parful runs it
Choose Match play foursomes when you build a club knockout, or Foursomes as a session format in a team cup. Each pair scores on its own team card, one number per hole, and Parful builds the two team handicaps, takes the difference, places the strokes by stroke index and derives the match state as the cards fill in. The result is written in match notation when it is decided and feeds the bracket or the cup scoreboard.
Foursomes match play is a Parful Clubs format. It runs on club competitions and cup sessions and is not offered on Events. The team card carries no individual scores, so side games that read a player's own ball are unavailable; a Custom bet is the one side game the pairs can carry. Nothing from the match is posted to a handicap record.
Worked example
A worked example: two pairs, front nine
Pair A, Una and Vic, play off Course Handicaps of 8 and 18: combined 26, team handicap 13. Pair B, Wes and Xia, play off 12 and 24: combined 36, team handicap 18. The difference is 5, so Pair B receives a stroke on stroke index 1 to 5, which on this front nine is holes 2, 4 and 7.
| Hole | Par | Stroke index | Pair A gross | Pair B gross | Pair B stroke | Pair B net | Hole | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | Halved | All square |
| 2 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 5 | Halved | All square |
| 3 | 3 | 17 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 4 | Pair A | Pair A 1 up |
| 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 4 | Pair B | All square |
| 5 | 4 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 5 | Pair A | Pair A 1 up |
| 6 | 3 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | Pair B | All square |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 5 | Pair B | Pair B 1 up |
| 8 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 5 | Pair A | All square |
| 9 | 4 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | Halved | All square |
- Pair A plays off scratch for the match. Its own team handicap of 13 matters only as the baseline the difference is taken from.
- On hole 4 both pairs took 5; Pair B's stroke on stroke index 1 made it a net 4 and won the hole.
Common variants
- Greensomes match play
- Both partners drive, the pair chooses one and alternates in. The team handicap is 60% of the lower plus 40% of the higher. Parful runs it on club competitions and cup sessions.
- Foursomes stroke play
- The same alternate-shot game ranked against the field on the team card rather than against one opponent. Parful runs it as the foursomes format on clubs and events.
- Mixed foursomes match play
- A man and a woman as partners, often from different tees. Parful designates one tee for each pair and does not run two tees inside one team card.