How to Play Foursome (Alternate Shot) in Golf — Rules Explained
Learn how foursome (alternate shot) golf works — one ball per team, alternating strokes, and handicap allowances. Includes a worked example.
What is a foursome?
Foursome — also called alternate shot — is the ultimate test of teamwork in golf. Two partners play as one side using a single ball, taking turns to hit every stroke. One player tees off on odd-numbered holes, the other on even-numbered holes, and from there they simply alternate every shot until the ball is holed.
How foursome scoring works
- Decide who tees off on odd holes and who tees off on even holes — this stays fixed all round.
- After the tee shot, partners alternate every single stroke on that ball, regardless of who hit the previous one.
- Penalty strokes don't change the alternating order — the same player who was due to hit next still hits next.
- Only one score is recorded per hole (the team's combined strokes), whether played as stroke play (lowest total wins) or match play (best team score wins each hole).
- Handicap allowance is different from other team formats: for stroke play, take 50% of the two players' combined course handicaps; for match play, the higher-handicap side gets 50% of the difference between the two teams' combined handicaps.
Worked example
Player A tees off on hole 1 (an odd hole). Player B plays the second shot. Player A plays the third. If the team holes out in 4, that's the team's single score for the hole — nobody's individual performance is tracked separately, only the shared result.
Common mistakes
- Hitting out of turn — this carries a real penalty (loss of hole in match play, or a two-stroke penalty plus replay in stroke play), so it's worth being careful, especially after penalty strokes, which don't reset the order.
- Confusing foursome with best ball — in a foursome there's only one ball for the whole team; in best ball, both players play their own ball throughout.
- Applying the wrong handicap allowance — foursome uses a 50% combined allowance, notably different from the fuller allowances used in best ball or stroke play.
Track your foursome automatically
Tracking whose turn it is to hit, plus the single team score per hole, is easy to lose track of mid-round. Golf with Mates keeps your foursome's shared score straight, hole by hole, without the manual bookkeeping.
Related guides
- How to Play Skins in Golf — Rules & Scoring Explained
- How to Play Stableford in Golf — Points System Explained
- How to Play Match Play in Golf — Scoring & Rules Explained
- How to Play Bingo Bango Bongo — Golf's Points Game Explained
- How to Play a Nassau in Golf — Bets, Presses & Scoring Explained
- How to Play a Golf Scramble — Team Format Explained
- How to Play Best Ball in Golf — Four-Ball Scoring Explained
- How to Play Chapman (Pinehurst) in Golf — Rules Explained
- How to Play Stroke Play in Golf — Gross vs. Net Scoring Explained
- How to Play Wolf in Golf — Rules, Partners & Hammer Explained
- How to Play Köpenhamnare — The Swedish 3-Player Golf Format
- How to Play Four-Ball Match Play in Golf — Rules Explained
Alternate-shot scoring, minus the confusion.
Track your foursome's single team score hole by hole.