Fun ways to play

With the Ryder Cup this week, we figured there’s no better time to try out some new playing formats. If you usually play strokeplay or standard matchplay, why not have a think about something a little different to freshen up your weekly game?

Fourball Betterball

No doubt the majority of you will know this one. The idea is pretty simple: you split into teams and each team member plays every hole. But, when marking the scorecard, you only take the best nett score from the team. You might even remember Fleetwood & Molinari’s heroics in this format at the last Ryder Cup. This is ideal in teams of two, but also works with several team members against one player with a particularly low handicap; adding a bit of fun competition to the party.

Scramble

A fairly similar concept to ‘betterball’ - everybody takes a tee shot, the team chooses the best one and plays their next shots from there. This is repeated for every shot. You could say that everybody has to have a minimum number of shots chosen, meaning everybody contributes to the team effort.

Skins

Skins can be 1v1, 2v2 or even 1v1v1. It’s your call! A ‘skin’ is awarded to the lowest score on each hole and the player with the most ‘skins’ at the end is the winner. But, if there’s a tie, it’s carried over to the next hole. More ties mean more tension. Can you handle the pressure?