How it plays
- 1Two teams of two. Everybody plays their own ball and holes out — no gimmes.
- 2Write down the WORSE of the partners' two scores as the team score.
- 3Do that on all nine holes. Lowest team total wins.
- 4Handicaps apply per player before the two are compared.
Scoring and handicaps
- One card per team, one number a hole — the worse ball.
- Scores run high. A pair of mid-handicappers will be well over par and that is normal.
- There is no such thing as a safe hole: a par and a triple is a triple.
- League team weeks pay 8 to each winner, 3 to each loser.
Over nine holes
Worst ball is punishing enough that nine holes is the right dose. It is also the most honest format in the rotation — a scramble hides a bad player behind a good one, and worst ball does precisely the reverse. Put your two strongest together and it is a rout; split them and it is a match.
How to actually win it
- Putt out. Every time. The two-footer your partner conceded is the one that costs you the hole.
- The player who is struggling should play conservatively and the one who is striking it should not press — the team only needs one disaster to lose the hole.
- Agree a maximum on each hole before you start if you want to finish in daylight.
Questions people ask
What is worst ball in golf?
Both partners play their own ball for the whole hole and the team records the higher of the two scores. It is the inverse of a scramble, where the team records the better ball.
Is worst ball harder than playing your own ball?
Considerably. Your team's score is the worse of two balls on every hole, so it is worse than either player would shoot alone. Expect totals well above what the pair would post individually.
How do you pair players for worst ball?
Pair the leader with the man at the bottom of the table and the two in the middle together. That is how our league does it — it makes the strongest and weakest share a card, which is the only way to keep a worst-ball match close.
Watch it played
We film Worst Ball (2v2) live, badly, every season
Four golfers, real handicaps, nine holes, and a forfeit waiting for whoever finishes last. The board opens on every Worst Ball (2v2) week and the full round card is here the day the episode drops.