Golf games
Parful runs thisMoney Ball
Also called Yellow Ball, Lone Ranger.
Money Ball, or Yellow Ball, is a team game between two groups. On each hole one player in each group carries the money ball, and the team score is that player's score plus the best of the rest. The carrier rotates in a fixed order or is picked by a captain before the hole. Lowest total wins.
- Players
- Two groups of 2 or more players each
- Team score per hole
- The money ball carrier's score plus the best of the other scores
- Carrier
- Fixed rotation in tee-sheet order, or a captain's pick locked before the hole
- Comparison
- Totals over the holes both groups have completed
- Winner
- Lowest total; equal totals tie
- Scoring basis
- Net by default, gross as an option
How Money Ball works
Two groups compete as teams over the round. On every hole one player in each group carries the money ball, the yellow ball in the version where the group passed an actual colored ball around. The carrier's score counts no matter what, plus the best score among the other players; that two-score total is the team's score for the hole.
The carrier changes every hole. In the classic form it rotates through the group in order: player one on hole 1, player two on hole 2, and around again. In the captain's pick form the group names the carrier before the hole, usually putting its best player on the hardest holes, never after seeing who made the birdie.
The rest of the group plays as normal; one non-carrier's blow-up costs nothing as long as someone else scores. The pressure sits on the carrier.
How the winner is decided
Team hole scores are added over the round and the lower total wins. Because the groups may be at different points in the round, the comparison is over the holes both have completed: a hole only one group has played counts for nobody until the other finishes it. Equal totals halve the game.
A hole where the carrier has no score, or no other player has one, has no team score for that group and does not count for either side until it does.
Try it
Can we play Money Ball 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
Where the game is won
In the rotation form the game is about the carrier avoiding a double bogey on their hole. In the captain's pick form the captain is choosing whose score is guaranteed to count, so the strongest player tends to carry on the long par fours and the steadiest putter on the short par threes.
A group of four has it easier than a group of three, because the best of three non-carriers usually beats the best of two, so most clubs match the sizes.
How Parful runs it
A member creates Money Ball between their own group and one other group on the outing and chooses the carrier mode at creation: fixed rotation, the default, or captain's pick. One acceptance from the other group activates the game and freezes both rosters and the rotation order, which is the group's tee-sheet order: the first player listed carries on hole 1 and the order repeats.
In fixed rotation there is nothing to enter beyond the hole scores. In captain's pick mode the group records its carrier before the hole; once any score exists on that hole for anyone in the group the pick is refused, and a hole with no locked pick contributes nothing until a manager records one with a reason. Parful never guesses.
The team hole score is the carrier's score plus the best of the others, net by default from the outing card, or gross. Both the carrier and at least one other player need a score for the hole to count. The standings compare the groups over the holes both have completed, for example 51 thru 6, recomputed on every score; a corrected score reruns the game from hole one.
Money Ball needs every player recording their own hole score: individual, four-ball and shamble outings, not scramble or alternate shot. A wager can be attached; Parful shows the settlement and never moves money.
Worked example
A worked example: two groups over six holes
Group 1 is Pat, Quinn and Rae, in that tee-sheet order; Group 2 is Sol, Tia, Uma and Vic. Fixed rotation, net scores.
| Hole | Group 1 carrier | Group 1 scores (Pat, Quinn, Rae) | Group 1 team | Group 2 carrier | Group 2 scores (Sol, Tia, Uma, Vic) | Group 2 team | Running totals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pat | 5, 4, 4 | 5 + 4 = 9 | Sol | 4, 5, 4, 6 | 4 + 4 = 8 | 9 v 8 |
| 2 | Quinn | 4, 6, 5 | 6 + 4 = 10 | Tia | 5, 4, 5, 5 | 4 + 5 = 9 | 19 v 17 |
| 3 | Rae | 3, 4, 3 | 3 + 3 = 6 | Uma | 3, 4, 5, 4 | 5 + 3 = 8 | 25 v 25 |
| 4 | Pat | 4, 5, 5 | 4 + 5 = 9 | Vic | 4, 4, 5, 4 | 4 + 4 = 8 | 34 v 33 |
| 5 | Quinn | 5, 4, 6 | 4 + 5 = 9 | Sol | 6, 4, 5, 5 | 6 + 4 = 10 | 43 v 43 |
| 6 | Rae | 4, 4, 4 | 4 + 4 = 8 | Tia | 4, 5, 4, 4 | 5 + 4 = 9 | 51 v 52 |
- On hole 2 Quinn carried and made 6. Pat's 4 was the best of the rest, but the 6 had to count, and the hole cost Group 1 a stroke.
- On hole 3 Uma carried for Group 2 and made 5 while Sol made 3. Sol's 3 counted as best of the rest, but the 5 counted too; a captain would have picked Sol.
- On hole 5 Sol's 6 as carrier counted with Tia's 4 the best of the rest, which is how a four-player group lost a hole to a three-player group.
Common variants
- Captain's pick
- The group chooses the carrier before each hole instead of rotating. Parful scores this mode when chosen at creation and locks the pick before the hole has any score.
- Yellow Ball with a lost ball
- In the physical version the team is out, or takes a fixed penalty, if the yellow ball is lost. Parful scores the carrier's recorded score with no lost-ball penalty, so this variant is not scored as such.
- Three scores count
- Some clubs count the carrier plus the best two of the rest in groups of four. Parful counts the carrier plus one best score, so this variant is not scored.
- Money Ball as a full-field event
- Run across every team on the day rather than two groups head to head. On Parful the game is between two groups; a field-wide version is a counted-scores team format.