Two man better ball strategy

A buddy and I have a qualifier coming up on July 22nd. Top three two man teams at the qualifier go on to play in a Ryder Cup style tournament over three days with Maryland vs Virginia bragging rights on the line. We are both 9s and the scoring is low net with no caps. There will be scratch golfers in the qualifier so we are a bit behind the 8 ball to start. I wanted to solicit any advice anyone might have. I hit the ball farther but he hits it straighter. I have a more creative short game but he is better clutch putter. Here is what I was thinking

He tees off first then I go at it. Play the hole out from there.

Get a safe ball in play first, then go hard. From the fairway, I'd say the same. Make sure you have one on the green, before you attack pins. All I can really recommend.

Safety first. Put one out straight and safe, THEN try to play the perfect shot. Play percentages until you get a safe ball, then take the crazy shot.

It's better ball though so both of you are playing out the holes and just taking the low score, right? Might be better if you both just play safe and try to keep your scores low. Can't rely on one guy to keep shooting low numbers. Hopefully one of you is a natural draw, and the other a natural fade, so you always have a good shot at bird/par no matter the hole shape/pin placement.

You are correct we play out our own balls. I'm a natural draw and he hits a high fade with pull miss. We originally played a practice round thinking that we would go with philosophy of hoping my nine pars/birdies would be on oppossite holes of his. This strategy got us an 85 in our practice round so we are definitely adjusting. Neither of us was playing well that day though and he had never seen the course.

Have fun.

Scratch golfers in a best ball are going to shoot 7 under.

I'd start on the sauce before my round, and have a good time. If it were me, it's be hitting driver everywhere and trying to score a skin and make a few bucks perhaps.

I'm confused also, how can you play "low-net with no caps" ??? did you mean low-gross?

One safe, one aggresive.

When I do those with my pops, I go for it on the long balls, and him on the short game.

Yes, low gross sorry typo.

Exactly what these guys have said. Safe shot first. The poorer putter should go first so the better putter can get a good read on his putt, break etc to up his chances. The better putter would "read" the green for both. I like scrambles (best ball) because of the strategy involved. It also is much less pressure then individual scoring. How come my teams always suck?

Something about a chain and its weakest link comes to mind...

Scrambles are fun, goofy tournaments... usually reserved for the 4 person corporate hacker event. Most 2 man events around here are always best ball. I like a scramble once in a while tho... you can shoot some serious numbers in a 4 man scramble.

There isn't a lot of preplanned strategy that you can use in a format where you both play your own ball. You may plan for the occasional hole that plays to the strength of one player or the other, but mostly you have to just make decisions on the run as to who has the best chance to do what. If you do plan to have one player be more aggressive on some holes, don't lock yourself into that strategy. Have the conservative player hit first, and if he gets in trouble, abandon the aggressive strategy for that hole and just play for at least one of you to make no worse than par.

As a pair of 9 handicaps, you are starting out in a deep hole, so I'd say just go out with the idea of having fun and see what happens.

WBL - they are playing best ball. The putting strategy will only work if they are on the same line.

WBL.... best ball and scramble are two totally different animals. The OP is talking a better ball ( which is a best ball involving only 2 players), also called a fourball in the Rules of Golf. It's in the rule book under fourball stroke play (Rule 31). Both players play their own ball from tee to hole the the team score is the better of the 2 scores.

I know best ball and scrambles are different. My mind was just "scrambled" at the time I posted I guess....

Yup, that darn sssmokin let us down!!

I'd imagine that you'll produce the best team score if you both play your game to the best of your ability and just at the end see how you both did. If he hits the ball straight off the first tee and you think "Okay -- Now I get to bomb the hell out of this and try for a birdie" you're putting a lot of pressure on a 9 handicap to not screw up any of his shots on that hole if your bombed drive doesn't go as planned.

Play each of your games, match up your scorecard and just hope that when you don't play well on a hole he does and vice versa. Good luck have fun and play your game.

I am playing in a 2 man best ball on Sat. We are both 9 caps. Our plan is to play as aggressively as possible, hope we get lucky and drink a bunch of beers.

I might stay up until 4am on Friday... I seem to remember that working out to my advantage before

"Brother in law" When one of you has a bad score on a hole hope that the other has a good score on the same hole.

This never works out for me and my partner. We always screw up the same holes for some reason. Maybe its the "shotgun a beer after a birdie plan"

One safe one aggresive is the way most think they should play this format but in reality the best way to play best ball is allways give yourself two shots at birdie. The european's have been playing that way at the Ryder Cup for years. When you have two balls in play there is a lot less pressure.

When I look for a partner in two man events I pick the buddie who keeps it on track and gives himeself a lot of chances at birdie because you may score well at best ball but you don't want a crooked player for alternate shot.