Alternative golf formats for team competitions

Every Monday our seniors group has a competition. Usually a team compettion. Other Mondays we have qualifying competitions, usually stableford. We have a number of formats of competitions, but our competition organiser is looking for new ideas. Here is a list of the types of competitions we offer:-

Four ball better ball
Texas Scramble
6-6-6 (6 holes best score, 6 holes best two scores, 6 holes best 3 scores)
Waltz (1st hole best score, 2nd hole 2 best scores, 3rd hole 3 best scores, 4th hole 1 best score and so on)
Yellow ball
Bowmaker
We also have games where you draw a coloured token out of a hat which decides which tee you play off for each hole.
Another similar variation is when you can decide which of the three tee positions you want to play off, but you can only choose 6 of each (Back, front or ladies) and you have to decide before your round.
We also use “shambles” variations of above games where 4 people drive off and you take the best drive and then you all play your own ball from that point on. A bit like a Texas scramble but it only happens with the tee shot.

Does anyone know of other variations which can be played as a team? The format must be able to provide a winning team amongst the (up to) 25 four man teams that take part.

Wish I could help but it sounds like you guys are already more imaginative than I could be. Hard to beat a scramble for a bit of light hearted team action.

McLaren wrote:Wish I could help but it sounds like you guys are already more imaginative than I could be. Hard to beat a scramble for a bit of light hearted team action.

Thanks Mac. We tend to play Texas Scramble on the days when the greens are being worked on, so only a couple of times a year.

sounds pretty organised the only one I can think of is four in the team ,count 2 best on 5s ,3 best on 4s and all 4 on 3s .

If you’re feeling particularly sadistic Yellowsomes can be quite fun once in a while. It’s effectively the same as greensomes but your opponent chooses which ball you play for you!

Reminds me of another game that’d test friendships called “bags”. Standard match play game but with the added rule that once a hole is won, the losing team/player has to assume caddy duties and carry the oppos bag until they win a hole back. Can get a little bit messy though!

dynamark wrote:sounds pretty organised the only one I can think of is four in the team ,count 2 best on 5s ,3 best on 4s and all 4 on 3s .

Thanks Dyna, there was one I was not sure of - 4 Ball Alliance, which is what you describe above. We do that as well!!

TM2K

Yeh, Yellowsomes (or whatever people call it) can be pretty fun. There are also games i've played where you can do things like take clubs out of play for your opponent. Or use one of those random club generators and play each hole with one club. But I think those sort of things are not quite serious enough for what you are after. They are for pretty casual rounds at points in the season where people are bored of bog standard formats.

4 fourball stableford multiplier - like a 4bbb but the two partners' stableford scores on each hole are multiplied together. So two nett birdies would be 3x3 = 9 points. Of course if one partner fails to score, then it's 0 points for the team. Puts enormous pressure on players struggling with their games.

Sunningdale matchplay - played off level until one player or one side goes two down. Then they get a shot on every hole until they get it back to one down, then played off level again, until one team goes two down again. Good for matchplay comps with big handicap differences or mixed events.

Bogey comp - good when you have big handicaps playing because you can only win the hole once.

Full bag comps - each player has to hit each club in the bag at least 5 times in the round. Easy with driver and putter, harder with 4 iron and sand iron. You see players using only perhaps a 9 iron on the last hole.

3, 4, 5 or 6 club comps. Much harder if you have to play them in order.

Throws - each player gets to throw the ball 5 times in addition to their shots. So throw it back from OB, or out of trees, or into the hole if your ball is on the lip. In matchplay you can throw your opponent's ball ( into trouble) as well as your own.

Bisques - in matchplay give up two strokes received for 1 bisque which is a stroke received when you choose to take it.

Mulligans - halve your handicap allowance, but take the same number of mulligans.

String - give everyone a 1 foot piece of string which they use (say) 5 times to move the ball for free. Move it back from OB, away from a tree, or into the hole from the lip.

Double (American) greensomes, both partners drive, then each hits the other's ball, then choose the best and play foursomes from there.

That’s some selection George, cheers I’ll be test driving them at some stage.
The multiplier sounds similar to the Vegas gambling game that is real high risk and so volatile the stakes can get huge

Not wanting to sound ungrateful George - thank you - but some of these are matchplay related and would not produce a winner on a competition day when 80-90 players attending.
I do like the idea of the multiplier.
I think the throwing/string/mulligan/6 inch gimme are used on charity days when you have to "buy" them by giving to the charity.
With the string one, there is another way to use it. You are given a length of string. You cut a piece off to the length you want to move the ball each time. So it could be an inch if a putt just falls short, or longer to get it out behind a tree. Once you've used all the pieces that you've cut up, that's it.
Like the 5 x each club idea as well. (But I think it would need a separate piece of paper to record the shots for my senior group)

I've tried the "cut off the string" comp, but you do have to give everyone a pair of scissors and slows the game and litters the course with bits of string.