There are certain aspects of different sports that can be difficult to get your head around if you don’t tend to either play them or watch them regularly. What happens at line-outs in rugby, for example, and what is the offside rule? Golf has plenty such examples of its own, thanks to the fact that the sport has been played since the 15th century and has barely changed since then. One of the aspects of golf that some people struggle to get their heads around is that of foursome and fourball play, in addition to threeballs.
The Ryder Cup is a really good example of a competition in which understand how fourballs and foursomes works can be really important. Given the fact that that is one of the most exciting events in the golfing calendar, getting your head around it can very much add to your enjoyment of it as a whole. In essence, both involve four players heading onto the course as two teams of two, with each player having their own ball in fourballs, hence the name, whilst in foursomes the players on each team share a ball and take alternate shots.
Fourballs Explained
In cases of match play, a fourball is a competition in which two teams that have two golfers on each go up against one another. They play 18 holes and each golfer plays their own ball throughout. At the end of each hole, the scores of each player is collated, with the team that had the lowest scoring golfer winning. They then get a point added to their total, which rolls over from hole to hole as the round goes on. In other words, if Team A’s first player scored 5 and their second player scored 3, with Team B’s players both scoring 4, Team A would win the point.
If a player from each team happens to score the same ‘winning’ number of shots, the hole ends up being halved. For example, if on the next hole Team A’s first player scores 4, their second player scores 5, one of Team B’s players gets 4 and the other gets 6, the point for the hole is shared because one player on each team got the same and it was lower than the other players. There are 18 points up for grabs across the course of a round, so if a team manages to win enough holes the round can finish before it has been concluded.
In other words, if Team A wins seven of the first 16 holes, four are drawn and Team B wins the other five, Team A will have a score of nine points (seven plus four halves). Team B, meanwhile, will have a score of seven points (five plus four halves), meaning that if Team A wins the 17th then it is impossible for Team B to win and the match will be declared in favour of Team A without the 18th needing to be played. Equally, if one player is already looking likely to score too highly, they don’t need to finish the hole if their partner is scoring better.
Things are slightly different when it comes to stroke play. In this instance, each golfer still plays their own ball, but the team’s score is that of the better golfer. In other words, if Team A’s first player scores four and their second scores three, the team’s score for the hole is three. This is usually referred to as fourball better ball. The winning team is the one that has the lowest aggregate score over the course of the 18 holes, meaning that all holes are played regardless of the situation as there are no points to be won.
As you might have figured out by now, stroke player games can see three or four players on a team instead of two, given that it is just about the player with the lowest score at the end of the hole that matters. This score is added to the team’s overall score, with the scores of the other players in the team being irrelevant. You could even, if you wanted to, have a situation in which two players are up against one, with the solo player’s score counting every time but only the best score of the pair counting.
Foursomes
Whilst some might think that a foursome sounds like a night well spent, in the world of golf it is a slightly different proposition. This version of golf is sometimes referred to as alternate shot, but it is definitely more commonly known as foursomes. Once again, golfers compete in two teams of two, though this time they only play one ball per team. One player on the team takes the first shot, then the next player on the team takes their next shot. This is often sorted by having one player tee off on the even numbered holes and the other tee off on odd numbered holes.
It is most typical for foursomes to be played in matchplay golf, meaning that the team with the fewest shots between them wins each hole. It can be played as stroke play, meaning that the team’s score on each hole is added together, but it is less common. There is also a variation of this game, often called ‘Scotch Foursomes’, in which both players on the team tee off on a hole and they then use the better-placed ball from the two, taking alternate shots from that point onwards to complete the hole.
Another twist on that is Bloodsomes, which works in much the same way as Scotch Foursomes, except for the fact that the other team decides which ball should be played. The final variation worth mentioning is American Foursomes, sometimes called Chapman or Pinehurst. This involves both players teeing off, each player playing their partner’s ball for their second shot and then deciding which of the balls should be used to complete the hole. The third shot is played by the player that hit it off the tee, with the players then alternating for the rest of the hole.