How Does Four-Ball Better-Ball Golf Format Work?

Four-ball better-ball is a popular team golf format, traditionally used in the Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup, Presidents Cup, and elite amateur events like the Walker Cup and Curtis Cup.

Take the Ryder Cup, for example. Eight of the 28 matches at the biennial showdown are four-ball games, with two sessions of four matches taking place over the first two days.

In four-ball (or fourball), players compete in pre-determined pairs, and each plays their own golf ball - hence the 'four-ball' name.

The player with the lowest score in each pair provides the team's score for that hole, hence the name 'better-ball'.

In foursomes, another popular team format, a pair of golfers play alternate shots with just one ball (don't leave your partner behind a tree or dump the ball in a water hazard).

How Is Four-Ball Better-Ball Scored?

Four-ball can be played using stroke play or match play, but the latter is used in the Ryder Cup and is more common at the professional and club levels.

A team's best score, their 'better-ball', counts for that hole, and they can win, tie, or lose the hole.

A team wins the hole to go 1UP, and the match then goes back to ALL SQUARE or tied if the opposing team wins the next hole - or 2UP if the leading team wins another hole.

Once one team is more holes up than there are left to play, they win the match. This is why some matches don't reach the 18th hole.

How Does Four-Ball Better-Ball Work In Amateur Golf?

At amateur level, each pair records their gross score on a hole on a single scorecard, but must identify which player contributed. Often, this is because the two players have different handicaps, so the score can be valued differently.

On each hole, the team can elect to record both players’ scores or only one. If one player cannot beat their partner's score, then he or she doesn't need to hole out. For this reason, you'll often see a player picking up.

How Do Handicaps Work In Four-Ball Better-Ball?

Under the World Handicap System, each player receives 85% of handicap allowance in four-ball stroke play or Stableford competitions. In four-ball match play, it's 90%.

Although each player must play their own ball, the players are treated the same in some respects. Thus a player may, for example, mark his partner’s ball, or lift and clean it, or drop it under penalty. (If these are done incorrectly, the player whose ball it is is the one who is penalised.)

Similarly, a player and the player’s caddie may also give help to the partner in the same way that the partner's own caddie would be allowed. One partner can also act for the team in actions such as conceding a putt or a hole.

Or indeed, in playing a hole. If one partner fails to turn up on time, his or her partner can play alone for that team until the latecomer turns up. Partners may also play in the order the side considers best when it is one of their turn to play.

So if Alex and Sam are a four-ball team, and Sam would have the next putt as his ball is the furthest away from the hole, the team can elect that Alex plays first, and then Sam, if they wish.

It might sound complicated, but it's a very simple format once you've played a couple of matches - and good fun.

Foursomes, meanwhile, is also a very popular format. Many clubs will have their own foursomes competitions that date back many years.

Give it a go the next time you tee it up in a fourball with your friends - it can break up the monotony of individual Stableford.