Golf formats

Foursomes

Also called alternate shot

Foursomes is two players per side sharing one ball and taking alternate shots. It is the shortest format to play and comfortably the most stressful, because every mistake you make is handed straight to your partner.

How it works

1. 1Partners alternate tee shots: one takes the odd holes, the other the even ones, all the way round.
2. 2After the tee shot they alternate every stroke until the ball is holed — including out of the trees.
3. 3Only one ball per side means one score per side, and the side with the lower net score wins the hole.

Handicaps

Foursomes is 50% of the side's COMBINED handicap. Add both partners' Course Handicaps together, take half, then play off the lower of the two sides' figures. Because it is a combined figure, a high-handicap partner costs you far less here than in four-ball.

Playing it well

• Decide who takes the odd holes based on the hardest tee shots, not on who is better.
• Leave your partner a full shot rather than a clever one. Sixty yards in the fairway beats twenty in a bunker.
• Agree beforehand that nobody apologises. It wastes energy you will need.