Golf Games for Twosomes, Threesomes and Foursomes

[Kilroy]

Games for Twosomes, Threesomes and Foursomes

Scramble In a Scramble, each foursome is a team competing against all other foursomes. Each player in the group drives off the tee, then all four golfers play their second shots from the best-driven ball. All then play their third shots from the best second ball, and so on. Each player in a foursome must have at least four of their drives used by the group. Don't wait until the end! Handicaps are not used during play, but they are used to create teams. All players should split into four handicap groups (lowest to highest). Use four hats, and pick a player from each hat to form a team. "A" and "B" players should tee off from the back markers. A Scramble usually calls for a shotgun start, preceded by lunch or followed by dinner. Seven-or-eight-under is usually the score to beat. Best Ball All players on a team play the hole independently. At the end of the hole, the team uses the best players score as their team total. The team with the best stroke total at the end of the round wins. Diablo Got it's name from the number 666 since it is divided into 3 - 6 hole matches. Three 6 hole matches are played. Match play rules apply No gimmies Each hole won is a point for the winner. Holes must be won outright. Two tie - all tie. No carry overs. One point for a hole won. The winner of each match wins $2 from the 3 others. If a match is tied the winners split the loser's coins If a 3 way tie for the match occurs the loser pays $1 to each player rather than try to split $2 three ways. We call that getting "Darrelled" since Darrell was the first guy we stuck with the extra dollar. Greenies on all par threes - Closest to the pin. The ball must be on the green. $1 per player. No carry overs. If nobody hits the green it's a freebie for all. Total max loss per player is $10 assuming 4 par threes. Stableford Points are allocated based on the net score of each hole. Handicaps are allocated based on the index of each hole. You deduct the allocated handicap per hole from the score on the hole and the points are allocated against the equivalent net score for the hole. The exact points which are allocated seem to vary. Par Similar to Stableford as far as the allocated shots are concerned but you either win, halve or lose the hole (+ 0 -). Its a little tougher, as anything worse than a net par is a loss. At the end you add up your wins against your losses. Chapman - (Two man teams) Each player hits a tee shot. They then each play a second shot using their partner's ball. At this point, they select the best ball and the player who did not hit it plays, alternating shots until the ball is holed (only the first two shots are hit by both players). Pinehurst - (Two man teams) Pinehurst is similar to the Chapman format, except that each player hits a drive, and the best drive is then chosen and players alternate in from there. Unlike the Chapman, players do not BOTH hit second shots from their partners drives. Hero & Bum - (Four man teams) The best and worst scores are counted (net or gross). Alternate Shot (Ryder Cup) Played as two-person teams with each player alternating who drives on each hole. The player who doesn't drive hits the second shot and the players alternate shots until the ball is in the hole. The first hole is used to determine the tee honors for the round. Whoever's drive is selected on the first hole will tee off on the odd-numbered holes while the partner will tee off on the even holes. Normal stroke totals are kept; the team with the best total wins the round. You must put some thought into who drives which holes. Do the holes that require a good carry tend to be odd or even? Put your long hitter on those tees. Do the par-threes fall on the odds or evens? Put your target hitter on them. Alternate Shot (Scotch Foursome) Scotch Foursomes are the most popular gambling format in Great Britain, where it's simply called a "Foursome." Played as two-person teams where each member of the team alternates taking EVERY shot. If Player One hits the ball in the hole, Player Two would tee off on the next hole. Normal stroke totals are calculated for each team. Use one-half of combined handicaps. The Scotch Foursome is an excellent game. It really brings a team together, for better or worse. It's also a fast game, as players tend to walk ahead of their partners in a leapfrog fashion. The popularity of this format is one of the main reasons golf is played faster overseas, where a quick pace is the norm. Most players in the North America could use a dose of this mentality. Wolf Also called "Wolfman", Wolf is a three-player game. The golfer with the middle-distance drive, regardless of where it lands, is the "wolf". His opponents are the "hunters". The wolf must match twice his net score on the hole against the combined net scores of the hunters. If the amount wagered on each hole is a dollar, the wolf puts up two dollars against one each for the hunters. If the wolf wins, he collects two dollars, whereas the hunters get only one each. On par-three holes, the wolf is the second-closest to the pin after the first shot. If there's a tie, players decide whether the stakes carry to the next hole. Any amount carried over goes to the next winning "team", whether it's the wolf or the hunters. Carry-overs make Wolf a more interesting game. Large pots make it advantageous to be the wolf, because the wolf doesn't split the pot. Thus, strategy off the tee becomes important, and players will jockey to become the wolf. Honor off the tee is established by the net score on the previous hole. Play with full handicaps. Ticks A variation on Bingo, Bango, Bongo, alternate Shot Scotch Style - You and your partner alternate hitting each shot. It's $2 for hitting the longest drive in the fairway. $2 for the 1st player in the hole. $2 for the 1st player on the green and $1 for being closest to the hole once all golfers are on the green. If you sweep all of these events for the hole, your team gets $10. Pick Up Sticks Pick Up Sticks requires some strategy other than just playing good golf. It's also quite entertaining. For each hole a player loses (play is match play), he may take one club in his opponent's bag out of play. The opponent may reclaim his clubs one at a time, in any order he wants, as he wins holes back. Half-handicaps should be used. Players should decide before the match whether they can take away putters. Most choose to give the putter immunity, because it's too much of a handicap not to have one. Accomplished players can work around the absence of other clubs by choking up, hitting fades, and so forth, but it's almost comical not to have a puttter. In any event, assuming the putter gets immunity, what are the best clubs to take from your opponent? Though many golfers immediately pick the driver, it's probably the worst club to select. You'd be doing most players a favour by making them tee off with a three-wood or a two-iron. Obviously, a lot depends on your opponent's strengths and weaknesses, as well as the specific challenges of the holes immediately ahead. In general, the sand wedge is the best club to take away. Many good players use it for nearly every shot inside 100 yards. Also, it's tough to recover from greenside bunkers using any club but a sand wedge. On the other hand, if the player carries a lob wedge, taking his sand wedge won't matter much. A variation is not to use "stroke" handicaps at all but instead have a club handicap from the start. The suggested method is for the higher-handicapped player to remove one club from his opponent's bag for every two strokes in their handicap differential. So if player A has an eight-handicap, and player B has a 14, player B can remove three clubs from player A's bag. The game then progresses in the same manner described above, with clubs coming in and out of play with won and lost holes. Pick Up Sticks may seem a silly game, but I highly recommend it for beginners. Many of the golf greats learned to play with incomplete bags. The game forces you to create shots, such as "punch fading" a four-iron to hit it as far as a six, or hitting a "running hook" with a six to send it as far as a four. We all tend to get lazy, carrying specialty clubs for every possible lie (yes, I mean you with the "Divine Nine"), so Pick Up Sticks is a healthy and fun diversion. No Alibis Instead of using handicaps in the normal fashion, No Alibis players may replay a certain number of shots during the round. Usually, the number of replays is three-fourths of a player's handicap. When replaying, the golfer must use the second shot, regardless of where it goes. He can't decide to play his first ball, and he can't replay the same shot twice. No Alibis is also known as "Criers & Whiners" because it's the ideal game to play with those prone to such behavior - the sort who always follows rounds with comments like, "if I could just have that one shot back when the wind came up..." This game will shut them up. Bridge At the tee, one pair makes a "bid" on how many strokes (play net or gross) it will take their team to complete the hole. For instance, if they bid 10, they are betting they can play the hole in 10 strokes or fewer combined. The bet is typically a dollar a player. The other team then has three options: 1. Bid lower than 10. 2. Take the bet 3. Take the bet and double it. The first team may then double it back, if they wish. Once the bidding finishes, play the hole. One option is to add a penalty point/dollar for each stroke the winning bidder incurs over bogey. Flag Tournament In a Flag Tournament, each player receives a certain number of strokes - usually the course par plus two-thirds of the player's full handicap. So, a 15-handicapper on a par-72 course gets 82 strokes. He then plays 82 shots and stops, planting a flag on the spot where his 82nd shot landed. The flags should be provided on the first tee by the tournament director. Each participant should have his name taped to his flag. This way, as players make their way through the back nine, they can see where others bit the dust. If a player finishes all 18 holes before using his total strokes, he should either keep playing until he's out of strokes or stop. Under the first option, the winner is the player who plants his flag farthest on the course. Under the second option, the winner is whoever has the most strokes remaining after 18 holes. The reason two-thirds handicap is used, though, is so most people will finish somewhere inside of regulation. One additional rule: You can't plant a flag past a hole that you haven't completed. In other words, if you're five feet short of a green with one stroke left, you can't blast the ball with your 2-iron onto the next fairway. Also, if the farthest two players both finish on the same green, the winner is the golfer closer to the hole. A flag tournament is essentially Stroke Play with a handicap, but the twist makes it a little more interesting. The USGA notes, appropriately, that American flags should never be used as markers. Pink Ball To play Pink Ball, use teams of four. Each foursome has a hideous, bright pink ball that rotates among players. Of course, the ball can be any color, but the more obnoxious, the better. Player One uses it on the first hole, Player Two on the second, and so on. Take the best two net scores on each hole and add them. Whoever has the pink ball on a given hole must contribute one of the two scores. One variation: The golfer with the pink ball is automatically disqualified if he loses it. This is perhaps too harsh, so I don't recommend it. Players should have a reason to stay interested, after all. Another, less harsh, variation: Keep the overall net score for the pink ball separately, and give a prize to the team with the best pink ball score. If a team loses the pink ball, it's out. This makes for considerable camaraderie (and tension) if you're playing on a course with a lot of water. Trouble Also known as "Disaster". Trouble is a point game in which your actual score isn't relevant, at least not directly. The goal is to collect the least number of "trouble points" possible during a round. Players shoot for a set amount per point, often a dollar. Thus, a player accumulating three trouble points owes each of his opponents three dollars. Points are assigned as follows: Out of bounds = 1 point Water hazard = 1 point Bunker = 1 point Three-putt = 1 point Leaving ball in bunker = 2* points Hitting from one bunker to another = 2 points Four-putt = 3 points Whiffed ball = 4 points *Take an additional two points if you leave the ball in again and so on. A player can erase all the points accumulated on a given hole by making par. At the end of the round, simply net all the points against each other and settle up. Trouble is an excellent game for the intermediate player. Often, such players are feeling pretty smug as their handicaps drop, and they need to be taken down a notch or two. Trouble encourages smart golf (again, not to be confused with fun golf) and might just produce some surprisingly low round for all those would-be daredevils out there. Chicago Chicago is essentially a creative handicapping method. Players receive a negative quota of points, called a "hurdle", based on their handicaps. Scratch players get -39 points, one handicaps get -38, two-handicaps get -37, and so on to 36-handicaps, who get -3. Then, based on their performances, players receive positive points as follows: Bogeys = l point Pars = 2 points Birdies = 4 points Eagles = 8 points The player who clears his "hurdle" by the most points wins. Wagering can involve a fixed sum to the winner or an amount based on point differentials. You can also add a bonus for anyone clearing his hurdle.

[bbafundo]

Regarding determining the wolf. if 1 or 2 players drives out of bounds, how do you deternine the wolf?

[Brewcee]

The game "wolf" that I have played before is different.

You play as a 3some and the wolf rotates. You determine the wolf rotation on the 1st tee. The wolf always tees off last, the other players tee off in order of honors (throw a tee or alphabetical on 1st tee).

The role of the wolf is to determine whether to play the hole alone or with a partner. So player A hits and before player B hits the wolf must determine whether to pass on player A, or partner with him. Next player B hits, etc. If the wolf picks players A after player A hits, the wolf and player A play best ball against player B. If the wolf goes alone he plays against Player A and B (best ball).

Note: by best ball I don't mean scramble, I mean best score on hole, like fourball.

At the end of the hole, the scoring is a follows: If wolf and partner win hole they both get 2 points and player B gets 0. If player B wins hole, they get 2 points and the wolf and player A get 0. If wolf goes alone and wins, they get 4 points and everyone else gets 0. If wolf goes alone and loses all other players get 2 points and the wolf gets 0. If hole is tied, everyone gets 1 point.

Everyone is wolf 6 times.

Its a fun game and it allows a weaker player to potentially win since they can pick a stronger partner each time they are wolf, which can get them points.

[bbafundo]

I understand your version. Need your opinion. The wolf I play, all 3 players hit their drives. The player with the middle distance is the wolf and plays against the other 2 players. I need your opinion on what to do when 1 or more players hits out of bounds, to determine the middle distance drive. What we been doing is the out of bounds players hit again, then we determine who the Wold is. Basically, we say, there has to be a ball in play form all before we can determine the Wolf. Need your thoughts on that.

The game "wolf" that I have played before is different.

You play as a 3some and the wolf rotates. You determine the wolf rotation on the 1st tee. The wolf always tees off last, the other players tee off in order of honors (throw a tee or alphabetical on 1st tee).

The role of the wolf is to determine whether to play the hole alone or with a partner. So player A hits and before player B hits the wolf must determine whether to pass on player A, or partner with him. Next player B hits, etc. If the wolf picks players A after player A hits, the wolf and player A play best ball against player B. If the wolf goes alone he plays against Player A and B (best ball).

Note: by best ball I don't mean scramble, I mean best score on hole, like fourball.

At the end of the hole, the scoring is a follows: If wolf and partner win hole they both get 2 points and player B gets 0. If player B wins hole, they get 2 points and the wolf and player A get 0. If wolf goes alone and wins, they get 4 points and everyone else gets 0. If wolf goes alone and loses all other players get 2 points and the wolf gets 0. If hole is tied, everyone gets 1 point.

Everyone is wolf 6 times.

Its a fun game and it allows a weaker player to potentially win since they can pick a stronger partner each time they are wolf, which can get them points.

[Brewcee]

In my opinion, if 1 player hits out of bounds its no big deal, they are "short drive" and you take the lesser of the 2 drives in play.

If 2 players hit out of bounds, I guess you can have them re-load and then take the middle drive. The "rules" say middle drive regardless of where it lands. So, if you have a point of entry off the tee, you can determine who the middle drive is, unless they both enter OB at same spot.

If 2 players hit into a hazard, you take the middle drive based on their drops, assuming the didn't hit into the hazard at the exact same spot.

[Travis]

Re: the game "Flag Tournament"- Is every Country as touchy about their flags touching the ground or is it just an "American thing".

I first became aware of this when I worked at a golf course in Virginia and was absolutely chewed out by some guy for letting a part of the American flag touch the ground when i took it down from the pole for the night. I explained that I wasn't familiar with their tradition as I was Canadian but that didn't seem to make him any less upset. Needless to say I haven't made that mistake again.