How to play best ball in golf: rules, scoring and money

Best ball is a team game for two teams of two where everyone plays their own ball and the lowest score on each team is the team score for the hole. Lower team score wins the hole in a match, or the lowest team total wins in stroke play. A partner’s par covers your double.

It is one of the most common fun golf games for a foursome, and in a match it is often called four-ball.

How best ball works

1. Split into two teams of two.
2. Everyone plays their own ball from the tee into the hole, every hole.
3. On each hole, the lower score on your team is the team score. The other score doesn’t count.
4. In a match, the lower team score wins the hole and equal scores halve it. The match ends when one team is up by more holes than are left.
5. In stroke play, add the team scores up and the lowest total wins.

Because only one score counts, a player who is out of the hole can pick up once their partner has a better score in, which keeps the pace up.

Scoring example

Jim and Mike play Dana and Priya in a net match over nine holes, $5 a player. For the nine, Jim gets 2 strokes, Mike 4, Dana 0 and Priya 6, on the hardest holes. A star marks each stroke.

Hole 2 is the one to look at. Jim makes a 5 on a par 5 that is his second-hardest hole, so his stroke makes it a net 4. Dana’s 5 has no stroke, and Mike’s and Priya’s 6s are net 5s. Jim’s net 4 beats them all and his team goes 1 up, even though nobody made a birdie.

On hole 4, both Jim and Mike get a stroke on the hardest hole and both make 5, so the team score is a net 4 against Dana’s 5. That puts them 3 up. After hole 6 they are 3 up with three to play, dormie, and the halve on 7 ends the match: Jim and Mike win 3 and 2. Dana and Priya each pay their opposite number $5.

Strokes: playing best ball net

In a best ball match, each player gets strokes on the hardest holes by the stroke index on the card. Two habits keep it fair:

• Off the low. The lowest player plays off zero and everyone else gets the difference. A 4 and a 10 means six strokes for the 10, not ten.
• A reduced allowance. Because the team keeps only its better score, higher handicaps help more in best ball than in singles. Groups often use 90 percent of each player’s strokes.

Picnic does both: Percent handicaps sets the allowance (90 by default for best ball) and Net strokes switches between Off the low and Full handicap.

Variations

• Match or stroke play. Picnic: yes (How it plays: Match or Stroke).
• Best ball Stableford. The better points score on each team counts. Picnic: yes (How it plays: Stableford).
• Gross best ball. No strokes. Picnic: yes (Handicaps: Gross).
• Two best balls of four. In a team of four, the two lowest scores count. Picnic: not yet for best ball; Stableford’s Best 2 team setting does this for points.
• Shamble. Everyone plays their own ball after the team picks the best drive. See how to play a shamble.
• Scramble. One team ball, best shot every time. See how to play a scramble.

Best ball vs scramble

Best ball and scramble are the two team formats people mix up most.

In best ball, you and your partner each play your own ball the whole way, and the lower score is the team score. In a scramble, the team picks the best shot every time and everyone plays the next one from there, so the team plays one ball.

That changes how it feels. In best ball, your partner’s par covers your double, but you still hit every one of your own shots. In a scramble, a bad shot just disappears, which is why it suits a mixed group. If your usual foursome has a wide gap in ability, play the scramble. If you and your partner want a real match, play best ball.

The money

A best ball match is usually a straight bet: each player on the losing team pays their opposite number. $5 a player is a common stake for a regular game. Many groups add a Nassau on top, betting the front nine, the back nine and the 18 as three separate matches.

In the example, Jim and Mike win, so Dana pays Jim $5 and Priya pays Mike $5. Picnic keeps the tally and shows who owes whom; your group settles up. In Picnic the stake applies to a best ball match. Stroke and Stableford best ball keep the score only.

Tips

• Play your partner’s situation. If they are safely on in two, you can fire at the flag.
• Putt first when you are further away and your partner has a tap-in; you get a free run at the hole.