GUIDES · BETSLIP DOCTOR
How is a four-ball side score recorded on a stroke-play golf scorecard?
In four-ball, partners play separate balls and the side’s hole score is the lower eligible score. For stroke play, one card records at least one partner’s gross score per hole, with each entered score attributed to that partner. The Committee decides which score counts and applies handicaps in a handicap competition.
For Golfers or viewers reading a four-ball stroke-play team scorecard. · Updated
Each partner plays a separate ball
Four-ball is a partnership format, but it is not alternate shot: each partner plays their own ball. If both partners complete the hole, the lower eligible score is the side’s score. If only one partner completes it under the Rules, that partner’s score is the side score.
Record partner scores, not just a side number
In stroke play, the side’s gross scores go on one scorecard. At least one partner’s gross score must be entered for each hole, and every score entered must be clearly identified as the score of the partner who made it. Writing only a team label such as “side 4” does not identify whose individual score produced that number.
The Committee determines which score counts
The Committee selects the score that counts for the side, including applying handicaps in a handicap competition. When both partners’ scores are entered and they differ, the lower gross or net score counts, as applicable. A low gross score in a scratch example does not prove it will be the lower net score in a handicap event.
A fictional par-four card in a nonhandicap event
Assume a scratch, nonhandicap stroke-play four-ball hole, so no handicap strokes are applied to either partner. On the par four, Partner A makes five gross strokes and Partner B makes four gross strokes. The single card shows A: 5 gross and B: 4 gross; the lower gross score, 4, is the side’s score for that hole. A card showing only “side: 4” would not attribute the score to the partner who made it. In a handicap competition, the Committee applies the handicaps before deciding which score counts.
Related questions
Does the lowest gross score always count?
No. The example above is explicitly nonhandicap, so lower gross is the relevant comparison. In a handicap four-ball event, the Committee applies the players’ handicaps and determines the side score using the applicable gross or net scores.