Best ball vs. scramble: understand four-ball
Two partners each play their own ball. The side’s score for a hole is the lower of the two scores. It can be played as match play or stroke play.
By Fore Alarm · Updated October 31, 2026
Two partners each play their own ball. The side’s score for a hole is the lower of the two scores. It can be played as match play or stroke play.
Example: you make 6 and your partner makes 4. Your side records 4 for that hole in gross four-ball stroke play. With handicaps, compare the appropriate net scores.
Key difference: four-ball is not a scramble. You do not move your ball to your partner’s better position.
Progress stays in this browser.
Put your knowledge to the test →Keep learning
All lessons →Stableford · points instead of a running stroke total
Each hole earns points against a target score set by the Committee. With par as the target, a bogey earns 1 point, par 2, birdie 3 and eagle 4; double bogey or worse earns 0. The highest points total wins.
Read lesson Golf Formats · 2 minMatch play · win the hole, then start fresh
Compete hole by hole. The lower score wins the hole; equal scores tie it. Being “2 up” means you have won two more holes than your opponent. The match ends when your lead exceeds the holes remaining.
Read lesson Golf Formats · 2 minScramble · team golf with agreed conditions
A common scramble has everyone tee off, the team choose a shot, and teammates play their next shots from the selected location under the event’s procedures. Repeat to the hole.
Read lesson