Golf games
Rules and explanation only1-2-3 Waltz
Also called 1-2-3, Waltz, One Two Three.
1-2-3 Waltz is a team game in which the number of counting scores rotates every hole: one ball counts on the first hole, two on the second, three on the third, then back to one. Over 18 holes the pattern repeats six times and the team with the best total wins.
- Players
- Teams of 3 or 4
- Counting balls
- Hole 1: best 1; hole 2: best 2; hole 3: best 3; then repeat
- Scoring basis
- Net strokes or net Stableford points
- Holes where everyone counts
- 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 in a team of three
- Winner
- Lowest team strokes, or highest team points
How 1-2-3 Waltz works
A team of three or four plays its own balls. On the first hole the team records its single best net score. On the second hole it records its best two. On the third hole it records its best three. On the fourth hole the pattern starts again at one. Six full cycles fill 18 holes. This is the common form of the game.
With a team of three the three-count holes use every score, so those holes are the ones where a blob cannot be hidden. With a team of four one score is always dropped, which makes the game a little kinder and is why some clubs use a 1-2-3-4 pattern for four-player teams instead.
Scoring is either net strokes, lowest team total wins, or net Stableford points, highest team total wins. The Stableford form is easier to run because a pickup is a zero rather than a score that has to be invented.
The rhythm of the game
The name comes from the three-beat rhythm. Every third hole is a pressure hole for the whole team, and every player knows in advance which ones they are: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18. The one-count holes just before them are free attacking holes.
A good team plans the order of its risk. The weakest player attacks on the one-count holes, where a poor score is dropped, and plays safe on the three-count holes, where it is not.
Ties
A tie on the team total is normally settled on countback over the last full cycle, holes 16 to 18, then the cycle before it. Some clubs settle on the three-count holes alone, since those are where every player counted.
What Parful does
Parful does not score 1-2-3 Waltz. Like Irish Four Ball, it is score-derived and needs no new facts, but it needs named teams picked from the field, and the owner ruled against building a throwaway team picker or a temporary data shape for it. The game is deferred to the team and group topology phase and will be built on the same team selection the group games use.
The rules on this page are the common form. When Parful builds the game the ruleset will be ratified first and this page will change to say exactly what the resolver does.
Worked example
A worked example: the first six holes
A team of three playing net strokes. Each row shows the three net scores, which of them count and the team score. Lowest total wins.
| Hole | Counts | Ana | Ben | Cal | Counting scores | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (par 4) | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Ana 4 | 4 |
| 2 (par 5) | 2 | 5 | 4 | 7 | Ben 4, Ana 5 | 9 |
| 3 (par 3) | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | All three | 12 |
| 4 (par 4) | 1 | 6 | 4 | 5 | Ben 4 | 4 |
| 5 (par 4) | 2 | 4 | 4 | 6 | Ana 4, Ben 4 | 8 |
| 6 (par 5) | 3 | 5 | 6 | 8 | All three | 19 |
- Holes 3 and 6 carry the whole team, which is why they contribute 31 of the 56 strokes.
- A four-player team playing the same card would drop one score on every hole, and hole 6 would have scored 11 instead of 19.
Common variants
- 1-2-3-4 for teams of four
- The cycle runs one, two, three, four so that every fourth hole counts the whole team. It fits 18 holes as four full cycles plus a final one and two. Parful does not score this either.
- Stableford points
- Highest team points wins and a pickup scores zero for that player. This is the easier version to administer and the one most clubs use on society days.
- Reverse waltz
- The cycle runs three, two, one so that the round opens under pressure and finishes free. It plays the same way in reverse.