Side game

Strokes win the hole. Golf wins the points.

Two sides, handicap strokes so anyone can beat anyone, and a points table that still pays more for a birdie than for a bogey. The handicap decides who takes the hole; what you actually wrote down decides what taking it was worth.

Create a round

Scored as the round goes in · Free · No sign-up

The rules

Five things, start to finish.

  1. 1
    Two sides, up to three a side

    Pick the golfers on each side before you start. One against one works, so does three against three. An event can run several groups at once, each playing its own match off its own settings.

  2. 2
    Everyone carries handicap strokes

    Strokes are set by hole length rather than one flat number: nothing on the par 3s, one on the par 4s, one on the par 5s is a common spread, and on a normal course that gives fourteen shots away across the round. A golfer giving nothing is playing off scratch.

  3. 3
    Handicap strokes decide who wins the hole

    Add each golfer's strokes for that hole to what they actually scored. The lowest adjusted number takes the hole. Level on adjusted and the hole is tied — nobody scores, whoever played it well.

  4. 4
    Your real score decides what it is worth

    Once the hole is won, forget the handicap. Look at what the winner actually wrote down. A hole is worth one point however it was won, unless the winner made a birdie or better — those are worth more, and the group sets how much before they play.

  5. 5
    Both balls count

    The lowest score on a side is its first ball, the next lowest its second. The two sides' first balls play each other, and their second balls play each other, so one hole can be worth two separate results. Sides of one have no second ball, and the group can switch the second ball off entirely.

Worked example

One hole, start to finish.

A par 4. Ana gives a stroke on every par 4; Bo gives nothing. Ana writes down a 3 and Bo writes down a 5.

Ana's 3 becomes a 4 once her stroke is added. Bo's 5 stays a 5. Four beats five, so Ana takes the hole.

Now the handicap is finished with. Ana actually made a 3 on a par 4, which is a birdie, and this group plays birdies at two points. Ana scores 2, Bo scores 0.

Turn it around and the split does real work. If Bo had made the 4 and Ana the 5, Bo's 4 would beat Ana's adjusted 6 — but Bo made a par, so the hole is worth one point, not two. The same win, scored differently, because one of them played it better.

Questions

Before the first tee.

Why doesn't the handicap affect the points?
Because the two jobs are different. Handicap strokes exist so a twenty can take a hole off a five, which is what makes the match worth playing. Points exist to reward golf that was actually good. If the handicap counted twice — once to win the hole and again to score it — a high handicapper would be paid for pars they were given rather than birdies they made.
How is this different from ordinary match play?
Ordinary match play counts holes up and finishes early — three and two means three up with two to play. This counts points across all eighteen, so the match never closes before the last green and a birdie is worth more than a scrambled bogey. It is closer to four-ball with a points table than to a traditional match.
What happens if two golfers on the same side tie?
The one with the better actual score fronts the side as its first ball, and the other becomes the second ball. They carried the side equally, so the better card goes where it can pay more.
What if we all play off the same handicap?
Then almost every hole ties and the card stays flat. Handicap strokes are what separate the field enough for a single lowest score to exist. Everyone on nothing is a game where nobody scores.
Can we keep it closer than points?
Switch scoring to holes. The balls then only decide who takes the hole: win the first ball, or both, and the hole is yours; win one and lose the other and it is halved. Every hole is worth one, eagle or bogey, so a hot round cannot run away with the card.
Can two groups play different matches in the same round?
Yes. Ten golfers out in two groups is two matches, each with its own sides, its own handicap strokes and its own points. They share one scorecard and one link; nothing about one group's settings reaches the other.
When does a hole actually score?
Only once every golfer in that group has written the hole down. Until then it stays undecided, because a golfer yet to card could still come in lowest and take it. Points that appear and then vanish are points nobody trusts.

Modified Match Play is one of three games the card scores for you. Honest Score and Skins are the others, and the rest are explained alongside them.

Playing this weekend?

Set the round up now, share the link, and the match scores itself as the holes go in.

Create a round