Golf games
Parful runs thisPar Is Your Partner
Also called Par partner, Par is my partner.
Par Is Your Partner is a side game in which every hole counts the lower of your score and par, so par is the worst you can record on any hole. The adjusted totals are compared and the lowest wins. It is a stroke-play game with a ceiling, not match play against par.
- Players
- 2 or more, anyone in the outing
- Scoring basis
- Gross or net, chosen when the game is created; net by default
- Each hole counts
- The lower of your score and par
- Winner
- Lowest adjusted total over the holes everyone has scored
- Ties
- Shared position
- Settlement
- One stake per adjusted stroke saved against each opponent
How Par Is Your Partner works
Play the hole and record the normal score. Then look at par: if you beat par the score counts as it is; if you make par or worse, par counts instead. A 3 on a par 4 counts 3. A 5, a 6 or an 8 on the same hole all count 4. Par is the partner who picks up your ball when the hole goes wrong.
Add the adjusted hole scores together and the lowest total wins. Because no hole can count worse than par, the adjusted total can never be higher than the par of the counted holes, and the game is decided entirely by birdies and better. A player with two birdies and nine double bogeys beats a player with seventeen pars and one birdie.
Parful also counts how often par bailed each player out and shows it in the standings as par saves, so the group can see who leaned on the partner most.
Not match play against par
The name is sometimes used for a different game, match play against par, where each hole is won, lost or halved against the card and the result is so many holes up or down. That game is a format in the library under Par/Bogey. Par Is Your Partner as Parful runs it is a stroke-play game with a ceiling, ratified that way on 2026-08-28, and the two should not be confused.
Try it
Can we play Par Is Your Partner 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
Gross or net, and which holes count
Gross or net is chosen when the game is created. In the net game the comparison with par uses the net score after Playing Handicap™ strokes, so an 18 handicap's 5 on a par 4 is a net 4 and counts 4, and a net 3 counts 3. Parful defaults to net.
A hole counts only when every player in the game has a real score on it and the par is known. Until then it is left out of everyone's total, so the live standings stay comparable while the groups are at different points on the course. A picked-up hole has no eligible score. The standings show how many holes are counted.
How Parful scores it
Start Par Is Your Partner from the group scorecard as a private challenge, or a manager runs it as a club pool. Anyone in the outing can join, in any group: the game reads hole scores from the card and needs nothing else entered.
Standings sort ascending on adjusted total, and a tie shares the position. With a stake attached, settlement uses the same inverted formula as Fewest Putts: each player's units are the field's adjusted total minus their own adjusted total multiplied by the number of players, which is one stake per adjusted stroke saved against each opponent. The ledger is zero-sum; Parful shows who owes whom and never moves money.
It runs on own-ball rounds, four-ball style outings and shambles, and not on a scramble or an alternate-shot format.
Worked example
A worked example: three players, nine holes, gross
Ana, Ben and Cal play the front nine, par 36. Each hole shows the gross score and the score that counts, which is the lower of the gross and par.
| Hole | Par | Ana | Ana counts | Ben | Ben counts | Cal | Cal counts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 2 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 |
| 8 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
- Par saves: Ana 4 (holes 1, 2, 5 and 8), Ben 5 (holes 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8), Cal 4 (holes 4, 6, 7 and 9). Ana's 8 on hole 5 cost her nothing beyond a 4.
- Cal's adjusted 33 is three under the par of 36, which is exactly his three birdies: holes 1, 3 and 8. Ben's two birdies make 34 and Ana's one makes 35.
- Settlement at one unit: the field's adjusted total is 102 and there are three players. Cal is 102 minus 3 times 33, which is plus 3; Ben is 102 minus 102, level; Ana is 102 minus 105, minus 3.
Common variants
- Match play against par (Par/Bogey)
- Each hole is won, lost or halved against par and the result is holes up or down. Parful runs this as the Par/Bogey competition format, not as this game.
- Bogey is your partner
- The ceiling is bogey rather than par, so a par counts as a par and the game is decided by pars and better. Parful does not score this variant; the net game does the same job for higher handicaps.
- Strokes under par
- Count only strokes under par: one for a birdie, two for an eagle, most wins. Parful does not score it as a separate game, but the order is identical to Parful's adjusted total, since every hole at par or worse counts par.
- Net Par Is Your Partner
- The comparison with par uses the net score after strokes. Parful scores this: choose net when the game is created, which is the default.