Competition formats
Parful runs thisGreensomes
Also called Scotch foursomes, Greensome, Select drive foursomes.
Greensomes is a two-player, one-ball format: both partners drive on every hole, the pair chooses the better drive, and the partner whose drive was not chosen plays the second shot, with alternate shots from there. The pair keeps one card and plays off 60% of the lower Course Handicap™ plus 40% of the higher.
- Played as
- Two players, one ball after the drives, one card
- Order
- Both drive; the partner whose drive was not chosen hits the second; alternate from there
- Team handicap
- 60% of the lower Course Handicap™ plus 40% of the higher, rounded
- Tee
- One committee-designated tee for the pair
- Ties
- Countback on the team card
- Runs on
- Club competitions, events, cup sessions
How greensomes works
Both players tee off on every hole. The pair walks to the two drives and chooses one. The player whose drive was not chosen plays the second shot, the other plays the third, and they alternate until the ball is holed. On the next tee both drive again and the order is set afresh by the choice of drive, so there is no odd-and-even split as there is in foursomes.
The format keeps the alternate-shot character of foursomes while removing its harshest feature. A bad drive no longer costs the pair the hole, because there is a second one to fall back on. It is the usual choice for a club's mixed pairs day and for invitation events where the guests may not have played together before.
The team handicap
Because the pair chooses the better of two drives, it plays a little better than a plain foursomes pair. The allowance is weighted toward the stronger player: 60% of the lower Course Handicap plus 40% of the higher, rounded to a whole number. A pair on 9 and 21 gets 5.4 plus 8.4, which is 13.8, so the pair plays off 14. That is the split Parful applies by default. The pair then receives strokes by stroke index like a single player, and the team net is the team gross minus those strokes.
Some older tables print the split the other way round, 40% of the lower plus 60% of the higher. That gives a larger team handicap and rewards the weaker partner's handicap more than the format warrants. The correct direction weights the lower handicap more heavily; on the pair above the reversed split would have given 16 instead of 14.
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
A tied greensomes stroke play or Stableford competition goes to countback on the team card: the back nine first, then the last six holes, the last three and the eighteenth. Pairs level after that share the position. In greensomes match play a match level after eighteen goes to extra holes or is halved, depending on the competition.
How Parful runs it
Choose Greensomes 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 greensomes round; a Custom bet is the one side game the pair can carry. Which drive was chosen is not recorded and the alternation is kept by the pair on honor. Nothing from a greensomes card is posted to a handicap record.
Worked example
A worked example: a greensomes pair, front nine
Ivy plays off a Course Handicap of 9 and Jon off 21. Team handicap: 60% of 9 is 5.4, 40% of 21 is 8.4, total 13.8, rounded to 14. The pair receives a stroke on stroke index 1 to 14, which on this front nine is every hole except the third and the sixth.
| Hole | Par | Stroke index | Drive chosen | Second shot by | Team stroke | Team gross | Team net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 7 | Ivy | Jon | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| 2 | 5 | 3 | Jon | Ivy | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| 3 | 3 | 17 | Ivy | Jon | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 | 1 | Ivy | Jon | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | 4 | 11 | Jon | Ivy | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| 6 | 3 | 15 | Ivy | Jon | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | Jon | Ivy | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| 8 | 4 | 9 | Ivy | Jon | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| 9 | 4 | 13 | Jon | Ivy | 1 | 5 | 4 |
- On hole 2 Jon's drive was chosen, so Ivy played the second shot and the pair alternated from there. On hole 3 Ivy's drive was chosen and Jon played next. The order resets on every tee.
- The reversed split, 40% of 9 plus 60% of 21, would give 3.6 plus 12.6, or 16. Parful uses 14.
Common variants
- Chapman
- Both drive, each plays the partner's ball for the second shot, then the pair chooses one ball and alternates in. Same 60/40 handicap split. Parful runs it as its own format.
- Foursomes
- One drive per hole, alternating by hole. The plain alternate-shot format with a 50% combined handicap. Parful runs it as its own format.
- Gruesomes
- The opposing pair chooses which drive you must play, always the worse one. Parful does not score gruesomes; a pair playing it can record the round as greensomes and keep the rule on honor.
- Greensomes 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.