Have you ever wanted to engage in a friendly yet competitive round of golf with your buddies? Then you definitely need to know how to play best ball in golf.
The concept is quite simple: each member of the team is required to play their own ball for the entire hole. After the hole is completed, the team takes account of only the lowest (or “best”) score among all its players. If you are having a terrible hole but your partner manages to score a birdie, congratulations, your team gets the birdie! This is the format that makes golf more social, less stressful, and extremely rewarding.
Are you interested in learning how to organize your next round? The guide is here to teach you how to play and score better.
Step-by-Step Guide — How to Play Best Ball in Golf?
Setting up a Best Ball game is insanely straightforward. Just take these four steps in order, and you’ll be ready to tee off pretty much immediately.
Step 1: Pick Your Partners
Best Ball is generally a game of pairs (also called Two-Ball Best Ball) or fours (Four-Ball Best Ball). The teams may be decided by you in advance, or you may randomly draw partners. Make sure that the number of players is such that they can be divided into teams without any player left over.
Step 2: Decide Play Order
It is customary in the first tee of any golf round to determine the player who will be the first to play. After the tee shots, each player simply plays their own ball in the normal order of play until each one has arrived at the green. The common rule is that the player who is the farthest from the hole should be the one to hit next, no matter which team they belong to.
Step 3: Play Your Own Ball
This is where this style of play differs from many other types of golf team-play (Scrambles, for example). Every golfer on a given team will hit and continue to hit their individual golf ball from the tee to the hole. If you hit your golf ball into the woods, you receive a penalty shot (stroke), and you’ll have to hit again from there (there are no exceptions to that). No one is permitted to simply pull their dropped golf balls or leave the course to drop them next to their partner’s golf ball (unless otherwise stated by local rules).
Step 4: Score the Best Ball
In order to find out the team’s score for a specific hole, you have to note down the gross scores of every player first. The basic rule for games like Best Ball in golf is quite straightforward: the least number of strokes by one member of the team on that particular hole is the score which counts for the whole team. So the situation where, Player A’s card shows a 5 while Player B shoots a 4, the team as a whole is only credited with a 4 for that hole.
Example Best Ball Scorecard
| Player | Hole 1 | Hole 2 | Hole 3 | Hole 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player A (Team 1) | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| Player B (Team 1) | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| Team 1 Score | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Player C (Team 2) | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Player D (Team 2) | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| Team 2 Score | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
Here, Team 1 manages to get a head start by clinching the first hole (4 vs. 5). Both teams draw Hole 2 (4 vs. 4), then Team 1 shots an amazing Hole 3 (4 vs. 5), and also score Hole 4 (3 vs. 4). Just to remind you, the final victor is the one having the lowest total score over 18 holes (Stroke Play), or the team which has won the most individual holes (Match Play).
Best Ball Game Variations
Best Ball is a game of golf which can be played in various ways. The game is known for its flexibility as well as for the fact that it has many fun variations that can be added either to spice up the game or make it fairer for all the players.
- Net Best Ball: Handicaps are applied to individual scores before selecting the best ball, leveling the playing field. (For official handicap rules, you can check the World Handicap System.)
- Money Ball (or Lone Ranger): A designated player’s score must be used on certain holes, incurring a high penalty if they fail to score.
- Shamble Best Ball: All players hit their drives, the best shot is chosen, and then each player continues with their own ball from that point until the hole is completed.
- 1-2-3 Best Ball: In case of four players match, this version keeps track of one best ball for the Par 5s, two best balls for the Par 4s, and three best balls for the Par 3s.
Winning Tips for Best Ball Golf
Strategy is what determines the winner in Best Ball! It is possible to greatly increase the chances of your team winning by simply avoiding bravely common mistakes and cooperating effectively.
- Don’t stop playing even if you have some bad shots; your score may still be necessary later on if your partner fails.
- The player who has the worst lie or the longest putt should go first in order to give the team the most accurate speed and break information.
- In case your partner is going to make a par for sure, then you should use your shot to attack the pin and get a birdie chance.
- If your partner performs a brilliant shot, then you should take advantage of the resulting liberty and concentrate solely on getting a simple par or bogey.
- Now that you have these winning strategies, you have figured out the way of how to play best ball in golf format and can confidently storm the course with your team!
If you enjoy this strategic and team-oriented nature of best ball, you might also like exploring these other fun and engaging golf games that keep every round interesting:
FAQs
What’s the best strategy for best ball golf?
The main approach has to be a combination of risk and caution. A player can try to be the first to the pin or smash a driver, while the other player should keep the ball safe in order to assure the team a par or a bogey on the hole.
How does best ball scoring work?
A team’s score for a specific hole is recorded by the lowest score reported by an individual player on that team. Therefore, if all four players from Team Alpha have shot scores of 4, 5, 5, and 6, then the team’s score will be 4. You can learn more about this format in our dedicated Best Ball game page.
What are the common best ball mistakes?
The biggest mistake that one can make is to have both players hit aggressive, risky drives which then end up out of bounds, or another mistake is that players give up on a hole too soon because they think that their partner will definitely save them.
Is best ball or scramble faster?
Scramble formats are typically faster because players hit less overall (since only the best ball is counted each time). Players in Best Ball complete each hole because every player must finish every hole. This difference usually results in a scramble taking less time than best ball.
What are the benefits of playing best ball?
Such a format works excellently well with golfers of different skill levels playing together, as the player with the higher handicap is still a valuable contributor, and the pressure on each individual shot is greatly alleviated.
What is the difference between a scramble and the best ball?
There are mainly two key differences. In a scramble, players pick the best shot after each stroke made, and everyone then plays from that position. In Best Ball, each player has to play their own ball until they reach the end of the hole; after the hole has been played, only the top score earned from a player at the end of the hole is recorded. You can learn more about the differences here: Best Ball vs Scramble
