Golf games
Parful runs thisEnglish
Also called 6-Point, Split Sixes, Six Point Game.
English, also called 6-Point or Split Sixes, is a three-player points game in which every hole is worth six points split by finishing order: 4 to the lowest score, 2 to the middle and 0 to the highest. Ties pool the points for the shared positions (3-3-0, 4-1-1 or 2-2-2), so every hole totals six.
- Players
- Exactly 3, in one group
- Points a hole
- 6, split 4, 2, 0 by finishing order
- Ties
- Two tied low 3, 3, 0; two tied high 4, 1, 1; all tied 2, 2, 2
- Scoring basis
- Gross or net, chosen when the game is created
- Carryover
- None; every hole is settled on its own
- Wins
- Most points after the last hole
How English works
English is the three-player game where the worst score on a hole gets nothing. Everyone plays their own ball; on each hole the three scores are ranked and six points are split: 4 to the low score, 2 to the middle, 0 to the high. It goes by 6-Point, Split Sixes and Six Point Game, all the same game.
The zero is the point of the game. In Nines the last player on a hole still collects 1, so a bad hole costs 2 against the middle; in English the last player collects nothing, the gap to the middle is still 2, but the gap to the winner is 4. A hole won outright is worth twice the middle share.
Over eighteen holes 108 points are awarded, so 36 is an even share. Played net, each player's hole score is reduced by the strokes received there from their Course Handicap™ before the ranking; played gross the raw scores are ranked.
How ties are shared
Each line totals six. Tying for high is not the same as coming last: the two tied players take 1 each rather than 0, because the middle position's 2 points are shared between them.
- All three different: 4, 2, 0.
- Two tied for low: 3 each, and the third player 0. The 4 and the 2 are pooled and split.
- Two tied for high: the winner takes 4 and the tied pair 1 each. The 2 and the 0 are pooled and split.
- All three tied: 2 each.
Try it
Can we play English in our format?
Derived from the same compatibility rules the scorecard uses, so it cannot drift from the product.
Own ball, individual
Available
Four-ball, best ball, counted scores
Available
Shamble, bramble, cha cha cha
Available
Scramble, foursomes, greensomes, chapman
Needs a score per player; this format keeps one per side
English or Nines
The two games share one method and differ only in the table. Choose Nines when the group wants a gentler spread, since a last place still scores and a round is decided by many small edges. Choose English when the group wants each hole to matter more: an outright win is worth 4 against 0, and two clear wins in a row can swing a game that Nines would keep close.
Because English uses a zero, a player who is regularly last can finish with a very low total, which is why a mixed group usually plays it net.
How Parful scores it
English is one of the side games a member can start from the group scorecard on a club outing, for exactly three players in one group. The person starting it chooses gross or net and can attach a stake per point. The hole scores the group is already keeping are the only input.
Parful runs English and Nines through the same ranking with a different points table, so the behavior is identical: each hole's three scores are ranked, the table above allocates the points, and the standings recompute on every score entered. A hole counts only once all three players have a recorded score; a pickup or a missing score skips the hole, and the standings show how many holes have counted. A correction reruns the game from hole one. Equal totals share a position.
English needs each player's own hole scores and nothing else, so it is available on individual rounds, on four-ball and counted-score formats, and on shamble-style rounds. It is not available on a scramble, foursomes or any format that records one score per team.
Worked example
A worked example: six holes
Ana, Ben and Cal play net. Each hole's three net scores are ranked and six points are split.
| Hole | Ana | Ben | Cal | Ranking | Points (Ana, Ben, Cal) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 4 | 5 | Ana and Ben tied low | 3, 3, 0 |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | Ben and Cal tied high | 4, 1, 1 |
| 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 | All different | 2, 4, 0 |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | Ben and Cal tied high | 4, 1, 1 |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | All tied | 2, 2, 2 |
| 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | All different | 0, 4, 2 |
- Ana and Ben are level on 15 even though Ana has been last only once: Ben's two outright wins on holes 3 and 6, at 4 points each, matched Ana's steadier holes.
- Cal finished last or tied high on five of the six holes and has 6 points. With Nines scoring the same six holes would have given Cal 12; the zero is what makes English sharper.
Common variants
- Nines (5-3-1)
- The sister game with nine points a hole: 5, 3, 1, with ties of 4, 4, 1 or 5, 2, 2 and 3, 3, 3. Parful scores Nines as its own game.
- Sixes, the four-player rotation
- Not the same game. Sixes (also Round Robin or Hollywood) is a four-player game of three six-hole four-ball matches with rotating partners. Parful scores that under Sixes; English is the three-player points table.
- Birdie doubles the hole
- Some groups double the six points on a hole won with a birdie. Parful scores the standard table only; a group playing the double settles it between themselves.
- Money per point
- Groups attach a stake per point. Parful can carry the stake as a wager on the game, shows who owes whom at the end and never moves money.