What is the Foursome golf format?

A foursome is a golf format in which a pair of two golfers form a team. As the name suggests, it involves four players. They play a single ball between themselves alternately till the hole is completed. That's why fourballs is also called "alternate shots".

The pair will decide who will tee off on an even-numbered hole and who will tee off on an odd number hole. Accordingly, they will alternate shots throughout the play of that hole. Eventually, the winner of the match is the team who completes the hole shooting the lowest score.

An advantage of playing foursomes is that since only two balls are played on each hole, it saves time and is more convenient than most other formats. Players hitting the second or third shot will already be ready before the previous shot is hit, saving time in the process.

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What are the Foursomes formats?

1) Match play

In a match-play foursome, the team that completes a hole using the minimum shots wins the match. On each hole, a team wins a maximum of one point. Eventually, the golfer with the lowest score on a particular hole wins the point. This form of golf is mostly played in Team Golf competitions like the Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup, and Solheim Cup.

For example, in an 18 hole match, and the first hole is a par-5 so team A completes it in 6 strokes and Team B completes it at par-5. Therefore, team B wins one point for that particular hole.

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2) Stroke play

In a stroke-play foursome, the team that completes the hole with the fewest strokes wins the match. The total number of strokes is counted in one more round of 18 holes and the team with the lowest score wins the match.

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Variations of Foursomes

1) Greensomes

Also known as 'Scotch Foursomes', it is similar to the usual forsomes, the difference being that each player will tee off from the same hole. Among them, the best ball is chosen and then alternate strokes are played to complete the hole. Whoever plays the selected ball, his or her partner plays the next shot.

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2) Bloodsomes

This format is again similar to greensomes, except that the opponents choose which tee shot the other team will play.

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3) Chapman

Also known as the American foursome, it is named after American amateur golfer Dick Chapman. It is a combination of alternate shot and fourball. In this variation, each player plays two balls. The third shot is then played by the player who hit the best shot between the two.

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Handicaps in foursomes

Handicaps in foursomes differ depending on the format.

1) Match play

In match play, the handicap allowance is determined by first adding the team's combined handicaps. The team with the lowest handicap allowance is then subtracted from the team having the highest total.

For example, if Team A's handicap is 15 and Team B's handicap total is 9. After deducting the least, the answer is 6. Therefore, the handicap allowance in this case is 6 divided by 2, which is 3.

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Stroke play

Here, the team's handicap allowance of each player is half of the combined total of each player's handicap. So, add the course handicaps together and divide by 2.

For example, player A is 10 and player B is 8. Therefore, the handicap score for the team is 18 divided by 2, which is 9.