Ever showed up to a golf tournament, heard the host say "We're playing Best Ball today," and just quietly hoped your partners knew the rules? You're not alone. This popular format is a staple of charity events, company outings, and friendly weekend games, but its name can be a little confusing. This article will simply explain exactly what Best Ball is, how it's different from a scramble, and give you a rock-solid strategy to help your team take home the prize.
Best Ball is a team golf format where every player plays their own golf ball from the tee to the hole for the entire round. It sounds like a regular game of stroke play, but here’s the important part: at the end of each hole, the team only records the single lowest score made by one of its players.
Let's make that crystal clear with an example. Imagine you're on a four-person team playing a par 4 hole:
Instead of adding all those scores together, your team looks at all four results (3, 4, 6, and 7) and picks the "best ball" - which is Player A's birdie 3. That is the only score you write on the scorecard for your team on that hole. Forget the 4, the 6, and the 7, they vanish. For that hole, your team is 1-under par.
This process repeats for all 18 holes. At the end of the round, you add up the 18 individual best scores to get your team's total. It’s a wonderful format because it allows every player to contribute, but it also provides a huge safety net. If you have a disaster on a hole, it doesn't matter as long as one of your teammates plays it well.
This is easily the most common point of confusion in tournament golf. Best Ball and Scramble are both team formats, but they are played in fundamentally different ways. Mistaking one for the other can lead to some awkward moments on the first tee.
In a Scramble, the team plays as one cohesive unit on every single shot. The process looks like this:
Essentially, in a scramble, you benefit from the best shot at every stage of the hole. It's about collective "shot making."
In Best Ball, you are playing your own individual game of golf alongside your teammates. You do not pick up your ball and move it to a teammate's location. You hit your own tee shot, walk to your ball, hit your next shot, and continue doing so until you hole out. Your teammates are doing the exact same thing with their own balls somewhere else on the hole.
The only time the team aspect comes into play is after everyone has completed the hole when you compare scores and select the lowest one for the team scorecard.
The bottom line is simple: if you have to pick up your ball and move it, you're playing a Scramble. If you're playing your ball all the way into the hole, you're playing Best Ball.
Not all Best Ball formats are created equal. You’ll often run into variations, especially regarding team size and how handicaps are used. Understanding these will give you a big advantage.
This is the most famous version of the format, made popular by the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. Here, you have a partner, and you compete against another team of two. Both you and your partner play your own ball, and the lower of your two scores on each hole is your team's score. This score then competes against the other pair's best ball for that hole, in either stroke play or match play.
This is where things get interesting and much fairer for teams with players of varying skill levels. Many tournaments are played as a "Net Best Ball."
The scorecard indicates which holes are the most difficult (ranked 1-18, the "handicap" line). If a player has, say, a 12 handicap, they get one stroke on the 12 most difficult holes. On one of those holes, their par 4 becomes a net birdie 3. Their bogey 5 becomes a net par 4.
Let's say your team consists of:
On this hole, the 5th most difficult:
Instead of just taking Player A's gross 4, the team compares the net scores. In this case, Player A's net 3 is the best ball. Your team card gets a 3. Here, the better player contributed, but on a hole where the higher handicapper had a stroke and made a net par, they could easily be the one to save the team.
Best Ball isn’t just about luck, it's about strategy. Since everyone is playing their own ball, you can designate roles to take the pressure off and maximize your chances for a low score. Here’s a simple but highly effective game plan.
One person on your team should have a single, simple mission: make par (or net par) on every hole. This player is the "anchor." They play conservatively. They don't aim for sucker pins tucked behind a bunker. They don't try to drive the green on a tricky par 4. They aim for the middle of fairways and the center of greens.
The anchor's job is to put that safe, reliable score on the board. Knowing a par is secured frees up the rest of the team to play aggressively and swing more freely. Once that par is "in the clubhouse," the pressure evaporates.
With the comfort of knowing the anchor player is likely going to make par, the other one to three players on the team now have a license to go for it. They are the "aggressive players."
This "anchor and aggressive" strategy is the foundation of good Best Ball play. It balances risk and reward perfectly and creates a confident team dynamic.
Teamwork in Best Ball comes from sharing information. Don't be silent partners.
By defining roles and communicating effectively, your team transforms from four individuals into a well-oiled scoring machine.
Best Ball is a dynamic and friendly format that allows every golfer, regardless of skill level, to feel like they contributed to their team's success. It encourages aggressive play, rewards a little bit of strategy, and removes the stress of having every single one of your bad shots count.
Executing that perfect anchor or aggressive strategy becomes much simpler when you're confident in your decisions on the course. I'm built to give you that confidence, offering expert guidance for any shot you face. When your "anchor" player needs to know the smartest way to play a tricky par 4, you can ask for a conservative plan. When your "aggressive" player is thinking of going for it, you can take a picture of the lie and get instant analysis on the best way to play it. With Caddie AI, your whole team has access to on-demand strategic advice, so you can all play smarter and swing with total commitment.
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