What does Three Ball mean in golf?

In the Rules of Golf a three-ball is match play in which three players each play one match against each of the other two at the same time, one ball each, the score counting in both matches.

How many matches are there in Three Ball?

Three: A against B, A against C, and B against C. Every player is in two of them, and the maximum score is 4 points from winning both.

Do I need to enter a separate score for each match?

No. One score per hole feeds both of your matches. On Parful the hole scores the group is already keeping are all the game needs.

What happens when two players tie on points?

They share the position. Groups that want one winner usually agree beforehand that the match between the tied players decides it.

Why do the points move during the round before any match is finished?

Parful shows provisional points while matches are in progress: a lead counts as a win, level counts as a half, trailing counts as a loss, as if the round ended now. Once every match is decided the points are the final record.

Is Three Ball the same as Three Ball Better Ball?

No. Three Ball Better Ball is a competition format where three players make one team score per hole. Three Ball here is the match play game: three separate singles matches in one group.

Golf games

Parful runs this

Three Ball

Three Ball is a match play game for three players in which each plays two separate singles matches at once, one against each of the others, using the same hole scores in both. Three matches run over the same 18 holes; a match win is worth 2 points and a half 1.

Players: Exactly 3, in one group
Matches: Three at once: A v B, A v C, B v C
Scores: One score per hole per player, counted in both of their matches
Points: 2 for a match win, 1 for a half, 0 for a loss
Live standings: A lead counts as a win and all square as a half until the match is decided
Scoring basis: Net by default, gross as an option

How Three Ball works

Three Ball is the Rules of Golf meaning of the term: three players, each playing a separate match against each of the other two at the same time over the same holes. Three matches, and every player is in two of them.

A player enters one score on each hole and it counts in both of that player's matches. If A makes 4, B makes 5 and C makes 4, then A wins the hole against B, A halves the hole with C, and C wins the hole against B. Each match keeps its own running state, one up or one down per hole won, and each match ends on its own when one player leads by more holes than remain, or after the eighteenth.

A match level after the eighteenth is halved, and margins read as in any singles match: 4 and 3, 2 up, all square.

How the points work

The final standings are a record of wins, halves and losses. Two players on the same points share the position; a group that wants a single winner agrees a tiebreak beforehand, usually the match between the two.

Win a match: 2 points.
Halve a match: 1 point.
Lose a match: 0 points.
Each player is in two matches, so the maximum is 4 and the whole group shares 6 points between them.

Try it

Can we play Three 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

The live standings

A record of wins and losses says nothing for seventeen holes, because no match has finished. Parful therefore shows a provisional position while play is on: a match a player is leading counts as a win, a level match counts as a half, and a match a player is trailing counts as a loss, as if the round ended now. The standings line reads the live state of both matches, for example 2 up on Fred and all square with Juan.

The moment every match is decided the provisional points become the final record, identical to the classic count of wins, halves and losses.

How Parful scores it

A member starts Three Ball from the group scorecard and picks exactly three players from the same group. Net is the default, using each player's net score from the outing card, and gross can be chosen instead. There is nothing extra to enter: the hole scores the group is already keeping feed all three matches.

Each pairing is scored by the canonical singles match play engine, the same one that scores club knockout matches, once per pair, with no Three Ball arithmetic on top: hole won, hole halved, running lead, early close when the lead exceeds the holes left, halved at the eighteenth if level. A pairing missing a score from either player on a hole stops there until the score arrives.

The standings recompute on every score entered and show the provisional points and live match lines described above, along with a hole-by-hole record for each match. A corrected score reruns all three matches from hole one. A stake can be attached as a wager on the points; Parful shows the settlement and never moves money.

Three Ball needs every player recording their own hole score, so it is available on individual, four-ball and shamble outings but not on a scramble or alternate shot format.

Worked example

A worked example: three matches over 18 holes

Ann, Bo and Cy, net scores. Each column on the right is one match and shows who leads after the hole. Once a match is decided its column says so and later holes do not count toward it.

Hole	Ann	Bo	Cy	Ann v Bo	Ann v Cy	Bo v Cy
1	4	5	4	Ann 1 up	All square	Cy 1 up
2	5	4	5	All square	All square	All square
3	3	4	4	Ann 1 up	Ann 1 up	All square
4	5	5	4	Ann 1 up	All square	Cy 1 up
5	4	6	5	Ann 2 up	Ann 1 up	Cy 2 up
6	4	4	4	Ann 2 up	Ann 1 up	Cy 2 up
7	5	4	6	Ann 1 up	Ann 2 up	Cy 1 up
8	4	5	4	Ann 2 up	Ann 2 up	Cy 2 up
9	3	4	4	Ann 3 up	Ann 3 up	Cy 2 up
10	5	4	4	Ann 2 up	Ann 2 up	Cy 2 up
11	4	4	5	Ann 2 up	Ann 3 up	Cy 1 up
12	4	5	4	Ann 3 up	Ann 3 up	Cy 2 up
13	5	4	5	Ann 2 up	Ann 3 up	Cy 1 up
14	4	5	5	Ann 3 up	Ann 4 up	Cy 1 up
15	4	4	4	Ann 3 up, dormie	Ann wins 4 and 3	Cy 1 up
16	4	5	5	Ann wins 4 and 2	Decided	Cy 1 up
17	5	4	5	Decided	Decided	All square
18	4	4	4	Decided	Decided	Halved

Final: Ann 4 points (2 wins), Bo 1 (1 half, 1 loss), Cy 1 (1 half, 1 loss). Bo and Cy share second.

After hole 9 the live standings read Ann 4 (leading both matches), Cy 2 (2 up on Bo, 3 down to Ann), Bo 0. Cy's 2 became 1 when Bo pulled the last match back to a half.
Ann's match with Cy closed on hole 15 at 4 and 3, and her match with Bo on hole 16 at 4 and 2. Her scores on 17 and 18 counted for nothing in the game.
Bo won hole 17 and halved 18 to square the last match, which is worth 1 point each rather than 2 to Cy.

Common variants

Three Ball as a threesome Nassau: Three matches each split into front nine, back nine and overall, so nine bets in total. Parful scores each pairing as one 18-hole match, so the nine-hole splits are not scored as such.
Tiebreak on the head-to-head: When two players finish on the same points, the result of the match between them decides the winner. Parful shows the tie as a shared position and leaves the tiebreak to the group.
Points per hole: Some groups award a point for every hole won in each pairing rather than scoring matches, which is closer to Nines or English. Parful scores Three Ball as three matches; a group wanting hole points should start Nines or English.