Question: Two man best ball format....

[Bravo]

What is the best strategy for this format???

I am a 9.2 index and my partner is an 11.5.....

 

[Rockford35]

Best ball?

One guy is a safety valve, the other bombs. Get out there about 240 and then swing outta your pants. I lose more balls in best balls than any other time.

R35

 

[JEFF4i]

What Rock said. But craft it accordingly.

Say you are deadly with your chips, but the other guy can just get it in the general area. Let him get it in the area first, then you go for blood.

 

[ThatCanadianGuy]

I Think you clown have scramble and best ball mixed up.

Best ball is when the low score between you and your partner is counted as the team score.

Rock makes 7
Jeff maked 6
JS maked 3))

Best ball = 3.

So basically in best ball you just want to play your own game and only be over agressive when you know for SURE your partner has a par.

 

[LyleG]

IS maked even a word?

 

[SilverUberXeno]

No it's not, Lyle. No it's not. =P

 

[ezra76]

I play this way with 2fast against my boss and his son. We don't really do anything different exept I may play less agressive on short par 4's. I believe we are at 3 wins and a tie so we are doing pretty good.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

I Think you clown have scramble and best ball mixed up.

That was my thought, but it depends on how the club words it. You have scramble, better ball and best ball. In which case it seems like they are both playing their own ball, Better Ball sometimes being who has the best tee shot then play out your own ball from that point. Or at least how I learned it to be. So if it is Best ball, and they are of about the same caliber, and depending on the hole and if your partner is in good shape, it may allow you to still take a few risks that you would otherwise not do in stroke play, although it kinda depends on whether you can trust how your partner will finish the hole in the same fashion. For me I try and get a feel for my partners short game, if it is great I may take a few risks from time to time if he/she is in good shape. If it is not, I rarely gamble much and try and play my own game. If he is in great shape, but maybe not as good at approaches, or commonly 3 putts that is more risk than I am usually willing to take.

edit 1 - My first eagle on a par 5 that I mentioned the other day would likely have never happened had it not been a 4 man best ball. I likely would have laid up had I not been confident we would have a certain par or possible birdie, or if we had not been playing as a team. Because the shot came at a pretty big risk that likely would have taken me out of the hole if it turned out any other way than it did.

 

[Bravo]

I Think you clown have scramble and best ball mixed up.

Best ball is when the low score between you and your partner is counted as the team score.

Rock makes 7
Jeff maked 6
JS maked 3))

Best ball = 3.

So basically in best ball you just want to play your own game and only be over agressive when you know for SURE your partner has a par.

Yes that's the way this is done. This is a two man best ball low net...This was what I was describing in my hotly debated handicap thread. In this tournament, if you are in the Championship Flight, they play strict ROG and it is two man best ball low gross over three days for the Member-Member Championship (and names on the plaque in the grill).

The rest of us hackers play a two man best ball low NET - so the handicaps get figured in and we get to count balls in the leather as good to speed up play. Also we only play two rounds.

I agree that the only time to gamble in this format is when my partner appears to be in a very strong position on a hole....otherwise, we should probably play as well as we can on each hole and stay steady.

The winner of each of the non-championship flights often comes in with a score in the high 50's and low 60's...so a two day total of around 122 will often win the flight with 2nd and 3rd being right behind.

It's gonna be fun...now that we've gotten all of this rain, the course is back in good shape and we'll hope for the best.

I am hitting balls at least twice this week....

 

[Dave Ireland]

You guys ever play Pinehurst Foursomes ? ... you and yer partner both tee off - you then play yer partner's ball and he plays yours ... you then decide on the basis of the 2nd shot which ball to play out the hole with, again hitting alternate shots ... we get a huge response in our club when this comp is played ..

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

You guys ever play Pinehurst Foursomes ? ... you and yer partner both tee off - you then play yer partner's ball and he plays yours ... you then decide on the basis of the 2nd shot which ball to play out the hole with, again hitting alternate shots ... we get a huge response in our club when this comp is played ..

They started doing a couples play format about once a month on Friday nights. Although I have played alternating shots formats in the past, this was the first time I played Pinehurst. Great format.


Even funnier that it is a couples format. I put my wife in some unspeakable lies in the woods, thorn bushes, next to rocks, tall grass. She hits the one I play in the fairway. Not my intent, but it just seems to work out that way. :laugh:

Great format for the couples that have been married about 20 or more years.

 

[Bravo]

You guys ever play Pinehurst Foursomes ? ... you and yer partner both tee off - you then play yer partner's ball and he plays yours ... you then decide on the basis of the 2nd shot which ball to play out the hole with, again hitting alternate shots ... we get a huge response in our club when this comp is played ..

No I've never heard of it. Sounds like fun. I'll suggest it to the committee and see if they are interested.

This tournament is in many ways the social highlight of the season - as the Club Championship is much more serious. We'll hold the Calcutta on Friday night and of course I'll bet on our team. You can win some pretty good $$ this way. So far the field is packed and there is a waiting list to get in...

My annual favorite. I get to play on my team with a close friend while our opponents are often people I don't know well or at all. A good way to get to know others....

 

[Dave Ireland]

They started doing a couples play format about once a month on Friday nights. Although I have played alternating shots formats in the past, this was the first time I played Pinehurst. Great format.


Even funnier that it is a couples format. I put my wife in some unspeakable lies in the woods, thorn bushes, next to rocks, tall grass. She hits the one I play in the fairway. Not my intent, but it just seems to work out that way. :laugh:

Great format for the couples that have been married about 20 or more years.

LOL.. sheesh Jayhawk .. that's a double edged sword if ever there was one .. a bad day on the course will definetely end up a bad night in the bedroom .. tho there's something justifiable about yer missus nagging you about short siding her on the par 3 over a bunker as a reason for no nookie .. to a golfer's mind it would hold a bit more merit than the old headache excuse

 

[Dave Ireland]

No I've never heard of it. Sounds like fun. I'll suggest it to the committee and see if they are interested.

This tournament is in many ways the social highlight of the season - as the Club Championship is much more serious. We'll hold the Calcutta on Friday night and of course I'll bet on our team. You can win some pretty good $$ this way. So far the field is packed and there is a waiting list to get in...

My annual favorite. I get to play on my team with a close friend while our opponents are often people I don't know well or at all. A good way to get to know others....

Agree completely Bravo .... Club Champs, Captain's & President's Prize (until last Saturday) .. were really the only tourneys that I played with a game face on.... other than that I enjoy meeting new playing partners and debunking some old rumours that run around the clubhouse about certain guys...

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

LOL.. sheesh Jayhawk .. that's a double edged sword if ever there was one

Yeah, I knew it would make for an interesting format when we birdied the first hole we started on, the second hole from the shotgun start was a par three where the mens tees are 180 of all clearance with a drop area. Hit in the junk. Drove to her tees and she flew the green and down a hill giving me an obstructed lie to a tight pin, she dropped in the drop area and hit it in tall grass. I played the obstructed lie. Managed to get it to the top of the hill almost on the green. Rolled all the way back down past the initial spot and under a 3 foot rock. So we had a choice of dropping 4 or dropping 3. Ended up taking a 7, and actually was what cost us the tournament as we played pretty well on the rest.

Then a few holes latter, I miss hit a tee shot on a par five that came to rest a couple yards behind the red tees which where about 130 yards forward. I told her she would get to do the same shot twice, although I believe the rules were that since the one didn't reach the red tees, she had to do that one with her pants down, or so she had always told me.

Does make for a fun round, assuming the wife has a good sense of humor.