# Golf formats



## Big Hobbit (Nov 2, 2010)

Was talking to BT last night and we got on to different formats of the game.

Singles Strokeplay, matchplay, stableford, bogey(par) - its basically match play against the course, Chairman - its played in groups of 3 and whoever wins the hole gets 3pts, 2pts for 2nd & 1pt for 3rd.

Pairs Better ball strokeplay, matchplay, stableford, bogey. Foursomes, greensomes, Canadian greensomes, yellowsomes - like greensomes but rather than you choosing which ball to finish the hole with, your opponents choose.

Team games 4&3 man Texas scramble - everyone drives off, then you choose the best ball. The other guys go and collect their balls and you all play from were the best ball finished. This is repeated till you hole out. 2 man Mexican scramble - as above. 3 man waltz - on the 1st hole best one score from 3, 2nd hole best 2 from 3, 3rd hole all score, then revert to best 1, then best 2... its a waltz, 1,2,3,1,2,3,1,2,3. 3man team, best 2 on each hole - can be played as stroke or stableford.

There are a whole host of quirky games out there that can be great fun, e.g. strings - lets say you have a handicap of 20. You are given a 20' length of string and you can use it 20 times. You might be under abush, use the string and you can move you ball from under the bush at no penalty but you've only got 19 goes left. "Theiving"- played as matchplay, either pairs or singles. If you win a hole you go 1 up but the losing side gets to take 1 club from your bag, but not the putter. When they win a hole you have the choice of taking your club back or taking 1 of theirs.


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

The difficulty in discussing off center games is that different regions have different names for the same game, and in some cases the same name for different games. 

There are different iterations for a Scramble

1 man - each player is a team unto himself, he hits 2 shots from each position and gets to choose the better result, but he is only playing for his own score.
2 man - self explanatory
3 and 4 man modifications - each player tees off, then only the players whose drives weren't selected get to hit the second shot - this helps to average out the advantage of the long hitters or "A" players on each team.
Shamble - Each player plays from the tee, the best drive is selected, then all players play a best ball format from that point for the rest of each hole. Scored just like a best ball or fourball format.

There are so many games that golfers play that I doubt that any one player could name them all, no matter how long he has played the game.


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## Big Hobbit (Nov 2, 2010)

You're right FP. We have a 40 page book in the comps room with a ton of different games I haven't mentioned. And then there's the variations in the games discussed, e.g. for a 4 man scramble we always say that each player must get 4 drives in, leaving 2 spare holes.


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

Big Hobbit said:


> You're right FP. We have a 40 page book in the comps room with a ton of different games I haven't mentioned. And then there's the variations in the games discussed, e.g. for a 4 man scramble we always say that each player must get 4 drives in, leaving 2 spare holes.


We also did a mod that each player's drive must be used once on each side. In my opinion, a bit more fun because you get more holes where you have to decide "Use this drive because it's in the best position, or use this one that's not great, but the guy doesn't put that many tee shots in play so you take what you can get. Our club Spring Scramble was always a 5 man, with the teams computer paired from the entries by handicap, with an A, B, C, D, and E player on each team. Usually the best "A" players would be on the teams with the worst "E" players, with the team total handicaps within a fairly close range.


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