How to Play Four-Ball Match Play in Golf — Rules Explained
Learn how four-ball match play works — two teams of two, each plays their own ball, best net score per team wins the hole. Includes a worked example.
What is four-ball match play?
Four-ball match play combines two formats you might already know: like best ball, each of the four players plays their own ball for the whole hole. Like match play, the result is decided hole by hole — not by total strokes across the round. On every hole, each team's score is the better (lower) of its two players' scores, and those two team scores go head to head to decide who wins the hole.
How four-ball match play scoring works
- Two teams of two. Every player plays their own ball for the entire hole, same as best ball.
- Each team's score for the hole is the lower of its two players' (net) scores.
- Compare the two teams' scores: lower wins the hole. Equal scores mean the hole is halved.
- Track the match the same way as regular match play: up, down, all square, and dormie all apply.
- The match ends once a team's lead is bigger than the holes remaining — recorded the same way as match play (e.g. 3 and 2).
Worked example
On a hole, Team 1's players score net 4 and net 6 — their team score is 4. Team 2's players score net 5 and net 5 — their team score is 5. Team 1 wins the hole and goes 1 up, regardless of how either team's second player did.
Common mistakes
- Confusing this with regular best ball, which is scored as stroke play (cumulative totals) rather than hole by hole — the two formats use the same team scoring method but decide the winner completely differently.
- Forgetting only one player per team needs to finish a hole — if a teammate is clearly out of contention, they can pick up without any penalty to the team.
- Not applying each player's own handicap individually — four-ball doesn't use a blended team handicap, each player's strokes are their own.
Track your four-ball match automatically
Keeping track of which team is up, down, or dormie while also tracking two individual scores per team gets complicated fast. Golf with Mates handles both layers — individual scores and match status — automatically as you play.
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Four-ball match play, automatic.
Better ball per hole, match status and handicaps sorted.