Four-ball better-ball
Two against two, everyone playing their own ball; the better net score of each pair plays the hole.
- 4 players
- Own ball
- Pairs
How it’s scored
- On each hole the best net of the two counts for that side, and the two bests play each other.
- Lower wins the hole, level halves it. Score is holes up, like singles.
- Your partner in the trees is exactly when your bogey is worth something — nobody picks up.
- Closed out when a side is more up than there are holes left.
Worked · Ellis & Doyle v Hartley & Taylor, holes 3–6
Who plays off what · 90% of the gap to Ellis
Handicaps
Everyone plays off the lowest handicap in the match and gets 90% of the gap up to him: 10, 12, 16 and 20 play as 0, 2, 5 and 9.
90% of the gapHow handicaps are worked out
Good for
- Players
- Four
- Handicaps
- Wide — the 90% is designed for it
- When
- Ryder Cup pairs, or any afternoon in fourballs
Set it up in score70
- Set Up the Day → Pairs (4BBB)
- Pick the two pairs. The allowance is prefilled at 90%
Free. Only the organiser signs up; everyone else opens the link.
The fine print
Why 90% and why of the gap?
Ninety per cent is the recommended four-ball allowance. It is taken off the gap to the lowest player, not off each handicap: 90% of 20 would still leave Sam nine clear of a man off ten and cut the low man to nothing he ever had.
Does the worse ball ever matter?
Not to the match. Doyle’s five and Hartley’s six on the same green never touch it. Both cards still score stableford and birdies off the full handicap.
Can the organiser change the allowance?
Yes, per round. The default is 90 and a group with a house rule types its own.