Twelve games. One leaderboard.

Individual

Medal (Stroke Play)

Medal play — stroke play — is the simplest format in golf: count every shot for nine holes, and the lowest total wins. Every other format on this list is a variation invented to make medal play less brutal.

Individual

Stableford

Stableford replaces your score with points. Our version is a modified one: a birdie pays three, a bogey costs one and a blow-up costs two. Par is worth nothing at all, so playing safe gets you precisely nowhere.

Individual

Skins

Every hole is worth one skin. Win the hole outright and the skin is yours; tie it and the skin carries into the next hole, so a stack of carryovers can turn one putt into the whole round.

Individual

Wolf

One player is the Wolf on each hole. They watch the others tee off, then either pick one as a partner for a 2v2 hole, or declare Lone Wolf and take on everybody alone for double points.

Individual

The Shootout

Everybody plays the first three holes and the worst net score is out. Three play the next three and the worst goes out. The last two start level and play the closing three for the win. Golf with a cut in it.

Individual

Ten Point

Ten points sit on every hole. Best net score takes 4, then 3, then 2, and even last place takes 1. Everybody scores on every hole, so a blow-up costs you three points rather than the round.

Individual

Bogey vs Course

You are not playing the other three; you are playing the golf course. Win the hole against par, halve it, or lose it — and finish the round with a record like +2 rather than a number.

Individual

Nassau

A Nassau is three matches played at once: the front, the back, and the overall. Lose the front and you can still take two of the three, which is why the bet has survived a hundred years.

Team · 2v2

Scramble (2v2)

Both partners hit every shot, you pick the better ball, and you both play again from that spot. The format that makes a bad golfer feel useful and a good golfer feel invincible.

Team · 2v2

Alternate Shot (2v2)

One ball per team, and partners alternate every stroke. You will spend the round playing out of trouble your partner found, which is why it produces the best and worst moments of any format we run.

Team · 2v2

Worst Ball (2v2)

Both partners play their own ball all the way to the hole, and the team's score is the worse of the two. It is the exact opposite of a scramble: your good shot saves nobody, and your bad one belongs to both of you.

Team · 2v2

Chapman (2v2)

Chapman is alternate shot with a safety net: you both tee off, you both play the other's ball once, and only then do you pick one and alternate to the hole.