"Irish Four Ball"

Definition:

In Irish Four Ball, teams of four golfers - each playing his own ball throughout - use a Modified Stableford scoring system. The scores of a predetermined number of team members per hole are combined for one team score. For example, if the low two scores are being counted on a given hole, and those scores are 0 and 1 (Stableford, remember), then the team score on that hole is 1.  The term and the tournament format "Irish Four Ball" is very popular in Australia. 

Format:

There are many variations to an Irish Four Ball (sometimes called Irish Stableford). A popular variation calls for the number of scores per hole to vary throughout the round.  The format we will use for the SLRD St. Pat’s Tournament:

Scores will be based on the type of hole being played:

Scoring:

Each player’s individual score is recorded and points are earned as follows:

Individual points are added together to make a team score for the hole.  This format gives each team member the opportunity to contribute to the overall score.

Considerations:

As always, Pace of Play is important.  Once a player scores a Net Bogey or worse, he should pick up on that hole. Post what you normally (50% of the time) would score for that hole if you attempted to finish.  A Penalty of two points may be assessed to a team that is one hole behind and fails to keep up after warning from the Marshall.  As always, the Tournament Committee has final say on any rules or pace of play infractions.

Strategy:

Since this is a new tournament format, some analysis might help in coming up with a strategy other than “let’s everybody do our best”. 

First, how many points would we get if everybody got net par?  The answer: 54 points. 

The breakdown of points is as follows:

What will it take to be in the top finishers?  An analysis of the winning teams in this years 2 Best Ball and 3 Best Ball formats indicate that a score of around 70 points would put those teams as one of the top finishers.  Where are those extra 16 points going to come from?

1. Ten points should come from getting two birdies on every par 5,

Or

2. Eight points from two pars and a birdie on every par 4,

Or

3. Ten points from two pars and two birdies on every par 3.

The par 3s will be the critical holes.  Four bogeys will give your team zero points and four birdies will yield eight points.  That is the largest point spread.    The easiest holes for extra points will be the par 5 holes.  However, since the spread on those holes is four points they don’t provide much of an opportunity to make up points if you fall behind.

All in all, it should be a challenging format.  The main thing is to have fun and enjoy the Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner.

See you March 18^th.