Golf games
Parful runs thisFewest Putts
Also called Putts game, Low putts.
Fewest Putts is a side game in which every player records their putts on each hole and the lowest total wins. Parful ranks the players over the holes where every player in the game has a putt count recorded, so nobody falls behind because a number has not been entered yet.
- Players
- 2 or more, in any group across the outing
- Scoring basis
- Gross putts, no handicap
- Holes counted
- Only holes where every player in the game has a putt count
- Ceiling
- Putts can never exceed the gross score on the hole, and never exceed 12
- Ties
- Shared position
- Settlement
- One stake per putt saved against each opponent
How Fewest Putts works
Every player counts their putts on every hole. A putt is a stroke made from the putting green; a chip from the fringe is not a putt, even with a putter in hand, and the group agrees on that before the first hole. At the end of the round the totals are compared and the fewest wins.
The game is independent of the score: a 7 with one putt scores the same as a 3 with one putt. That makes it a fair game between very different handicaps, because the gap between a 4 and a 20 shows up in the long game far more than on the green.
Putts are a shared game fact: recorded once per hole and read by every game that needs them, so a group also playing Trouble or Snake enters putts once.
Which holes count
Parful ranks the players over the common holes: the holes where every player in the game has a putt count recorded. A hole where one player's putts are missing is left out of everyone's total until it is entered. The live standings show how many holes are counted so the group can see the basis.
The rule exists so that live standings never punish the player whose putts simply have not gone in yet. Once the missing count is entered the hole joins the total for everyone and the standings recompute from hole one.
The official scorecard never changes. Putts live in the games layer, not on the competition card, and a club competition on the same day is unaffected.
Try it
Can we play Fewest Putts 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 fact (putts, fairway) a shared ball cannot supply
The strokes-first rule
Strokes go in before facts. Until a player's gross score for the hole is recorded, the putts control for that player is locked and the server refuses the entry. Putts can never exceed the gross score on the hole: three putts on a hole scored as a 3 is refused. A pickup stores the hole's cap as the gross, and putts are checked against that cap.
The absolute ceiling on one hole is 12 putts. Anyone in the game can record the group's putts after each hole, and re-entering a hole replaces the earlier count rather than adding to it.
How Parful scores it
Start Fewest Putts from the group scorecard as a private challenge, or let a manager run it as a club pool for the outing. The roster can be anyone in the outing: players do not have to be in the same group, because a putt count needs no witness from another group.
Putts are gross only; there is no net version. Standings sort ascending on total putts over the counted holes and a tie shares the position. With a stake attached, Parful shows a zero-sum ledger: each player's units are the field's total putts minus their own total multiplied by the number of players, which works out to one stake per putt saved against each opponent. Parful shows who owes whom and never moves money.
Fewest Putts needs each player's own putt count, so it runs on own-ball rounds, four-ball style outings and shambles. It is unavailable on a scramble or an alternate-shot format, where the group shares one ball.
Worked example
A worked example: three players, nine holes
Ana, Ben and Cal are playing Fewest Putts for one unit a putt. Cal's putts on hole 6 have not been entered yet, so that hole is left out of every total until they are.
| Hole | Ana | Ben | Cal | Counted | Ana total | Ben total | Cal total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Yes | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Yes | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Yes | 5 | 7 | 5 |
| 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Yes | 8 | 9 | 7 |
| 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Yes | 10 | 11 | 9 |
| 6 | 2 | 1 | Not entered | No | 10 | 11 | 9 |
| 7 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Yes | 11 | 13 | 11 |
| 8 | 2 | 2 | 3 | Yes | 13 | 15 | 14 |
| 9 | 2 | 3 | 1 | Yes | 15 | 18 | 15 |
- Settlement over the eight counted holes: the field total is 48 and there are three players. Ana is 48 minus 3 times 15, which is plus 3 units; Cal is also plus 3; Ben is 48 minus 3 times 18, which is minus 6. The three figures sum to zero.
- When Cal's 2 putts on hole 6 are entered, the hole counts for everyone: Ana 17, Ben 19, Cal 17. Nothing else changes.
- Ana's 3 putts on hole 4 were accepted because she scored a 5 there. A 3 on a hole where she had scored a 2 would have been refused.
Common variants
- Most one-putts
- Only one-putts count and the most wins, which rewards the good chip as much as the good putt. Parful does not score this variant; it scores total putts.
- Snake
- The three-putt game: the last player to three-putt holds the snake and the holder at the end pays. Parful scores Snake as its own game from the same putt counts.
- Putts on greens in regulation only
- Some groups count putts only on greens hit in regulation, to take chip-and-one-putt luck out of it. Parful does not score this variant; Fairways and Greens tracks greens in regulation separately.
- Net putts
- A putting allowance by handicap, usually a putt or two for the higher handicap. Parful scores Fewest Putts gross only.