Best Ball

Best Ball — known as fourball in match play and as Bola Baja across Mexico and much of Latin America — is the most popular team format in social golf. The rule is as short as it is powerful: each player plays their own ball for the entire hole, and the team records only the best score.

It is the format that lets a 30-handicap join the same team as an 8 without either of them having a miserable day. The 30 plays all eighteen holes, with no pressure about ruining anything, and when that miraculous par lands on the 12th, it is the one that counts.

Best Ball is not a scramble

This is the most common mix-up, so let us settle it before anything else:

• In Best Ball, everyone plays their own ball from tee to cup. At the end you compare and record the best one.
• In a Scramble, everyone hits, you pick the best position and everyone plays again from there. The team plays a single ball from the second shot on.

Best Ball takes longer, is more individual and is far more honest about everyone’s real level. A scramble is faster, more of a party, and produces much lower scores. There is a full scramble guide if you want the detail.

How to play it, step by step

1. Form the teams. Two (pairs) or four is standard, and the goal is to spread handicaps so no team is lopsided.
2. Decide how many scores count per hole: the best one (the standard), or the best two if teams are of four.
3. Everyone tees off and plays their own ball normally, with no helping and no team order.
4. Each player finishes their hole. If a player is already above their team’s best score and cannot improve it, they can pick up: their score no longer contributes and everyone saves time.
5. On the green, compare: the team records the lowest score among its members on that hole.
6. Add up the 18 holes. The lowest team total wins.

Picking up is the unwritten rule that saves pace of play. The moment a partner holes their par and you are lying four in a bunker, pick it up. Nobody is judging you and the entire course thanks you.

How many scores count

This single decision defines the difficulty of the whole event:

Format	Team of	Scores that count	Effect
Classic Best Ball	2	1 (the best)	Low scores, brisk pace
Fourball match play	2	1 (the best)	The Ryder Cup standard
1 of 4	4	1 (the best)	Very low scores, party mode
2 of 4	4	The best 2	The most balanced and most used
3 of 4	4	The best 3	Demands almost the whole team

For corporate events, 2 of 4 is nearly always the right call: it forces at least two people to contribute on every hole, so nobody spends the round as a spectator.

Team handicaps

There are two ways to apply the allowance, and it is worth picking one before you tee off:

Full strokes per player. Everyone receives their strokes on the holes set by the card’s stroke index, and their net score competes to be the team’s best. It is the fairest approach and the most common in club events.

A percentage of handicap. For fourball, the governing bodies recommend a percentage (usually 85% or 90% of course handicap) because “best ball” already favours higher handicaps by design: they only need one good hole out of eighteen to contribute.

How to think as a pair

Best Ball is the format where it shows most clearly whether a pair is thinking together or playing two separate rounds.

• Talk before the approach shot. If your partner is already on the green putting for par, you are the one who can attack the flag. If your partner is in the water, you are the anchor: put it on the green and be done.
• Whoever plays first sets the floor. When the order allows it, let the steadier player secure par; the other is then free to take on risk.
• On par 5s, one goes for it in two and the other lays up. That is the classic split of risk.
• Do not compete with each other. The most frequent Best Ball mistake is two partners both attempting the same hero shot and both finding the same bunker.
• Record both scores, not just the best one. It matters for tiebreaks and for checking the card at the end.

Common variations

Fourball match play. Best Ball played hole by hole against another pair instead of by total. It is the Friday and Saturday format at the Ryder Cup.

Best Ball Stableford. Instead of strokes, the team records its best Stableford score on each hole. It softens blow-up holes and speeds up play. The points system is explained in the Stableford guide.

Chapman or Pinehurst. A hybrid: both players tee off, they swap balls for the second shot, and from the third they play one ball alternating. It bridges Best Ball and Alternate Shot.