Best ball — also called four-ball — is a team game where everyone plays their own ball for the whole hole, and only the team's single best score on each hole counts. Add up those per-hole bests for the team total. One player's blow-up doesn't hurt as long as a teammate scores well, so it's a forgiving, social team format.
Best ball layers on top of a scoring format rather than replacing it. Turn it on for a Stableford or Stroke Play team board and, hole by hole, the team takes its best member's result — the most Stableford points, or the fewest strokes. It's a Premium option. On a scorecard you turn it on when you pick Teams; in a tournament it is on the round's draw, once players are paired up. (Match Play team games are already best ball by nature.) It is also what lets you run a pairs scramble today, with one partner entering the shared ball.
Play net so each player's handicap strokes count toward their ball — the fair choice for mixed-ability teams — or gross for a scratch match. How handicap strokes work →
Because only one ball counts per hole, the standings show each team's true scorecard — the counting score on every hole with OUT/IN and a total — so you can see exactly which ball counted where. After the round, the Best Ball MVP honour crowns whoever contributed the most counting balls.
Everyone plays their own ball; the best score counts. Opens the actual app on an example event — read-only, no account.
Set up a round in this format and share the link with your group — live scoring, free, no account needed.