Do you ever play foursomes?

[Ronald Montesano]

Our boys team normally plays in a tournament in PA each September. It took place the same weekend as Homecoming this year, so I opted out and set up a match with a local rival. We played the front nine at the lovely Delaware Park Meadows course in Buffalo's version of Central Park. I wanted the kids to get back to school, across the street, for the other Homecoming matches, so we played two-man, alternate shot.

The kids were around the nine holes in about 90 minutes. They had a blast, and the opposing team asked politely if we would lock them in for next year. I agreed on the spot. I want to say that the low nine was 38, and that was pretty decent for kids who had never played the format before. I've never played it, because everyone I play with is all about getting THEIR 18 holes in. I don't begrudge them that, but I would like to play the format before my sand dwindles down.

[Garland Bayley]

Love foursomes. Played at BUDA and at Kings Putter. When format choices are discussed, I always vote for two foursome matches per event.

My first foursomes partner was Bob Jenkins at Sherwood CC. Many fairways run down narrow valleys. As a lefty who looses my tee shots left, I left righty Bob with approach shots where the ball lay below his feet. Must have pissed him off, because he reciprocated by leaving me in the right rough with the ball below my feet. Somehow we managed to halve the match.

My former club held mixed foursome events two nights a week. With a nongolfing wife I didn't have much chance to play until a friend passed away leaving his widow in need of a partner.

[Sean_A]

I think of 4somes as an all day thing. 36 with a big break for lunch. I wouldn't normally choose to play 18 except in winter. That said, 4somes sucks if the course ahead is 4 balls or if guys don't walk ahead. Assuming you are playing a 2ball course, the reason 4somes is super fast is because guys are well ahead of play. It makes no sense for four guys to be on a tee.

All that said, I prefer Greensomes.

Ciao

[Kyle Harris]

Golf is supposed to be a GAME. Unfortunately, we Americans turned it into some sort of test of athletic skill based on the “what did you shoot” mentality. I’ve had some of my most fun playing golf participating in foursomes matches. What difference does it make what “score” you have when your team can squeeze out a win on a hole with a 7? 🤣 You won the the hole!!! What else matters? Then you start all over on the next hole. It’s a brilliant game!!!


At Deal and Gullane we have team matches against other clubs that usually feature a fourball game in the morning, followed by lunch, then a foursomes match in the afternoon. What a glorious day of golf and fellowship. Doesn’t get much better.


In my old age, I have come to the conclusion that team golf is the highest form of the game. Singles golf tends to be “golf masturbation.” 😉

Golf is a SPORT in the truest definition of the word. There is no simulated conflict. You manuever a ball across a field toward a target.


When you start counting the number of moves you are moving into the realm of a game because the conflict arises by comparing those moves to... something.

Foursomes is a GAME where conflict is simulated between two teams playing golf with one ball for each team.


As a game, Foursome matches are a delight.

[Kyle Harris]

I think of 4somes as an all day thing. 36 with a big break for lunch. I wouldn't normally choose to play 18 except in winter. That said, 4somes sucks if the course ahead is 4 balls or if guys don't walk ahead. Assuming you are playing a 2ball course, the reason 4somes is super fast is because guys are well ahead of play. It makes no sense for four guys to be on a tee.

All that said, I prefer Greensomes.

Ciao

This is why I miss the old "right-of-way" section in the etiquette that was removed twenty or so years ago.

Most tee times in the United States are technically composed of four single golfers sharing a tee time.

Single golfers, as we all once knew, have no standing on a golf course in relation to matches.

[Sean_A]

I think of 4somes as an all day thing. 36 with a big break for lunch. I wouldn't normally choose to play 18 except in winter. That said, 4somes sucks if the course ahead is 4 balls or if guys don't walk ahead. Assuming you are playing a 2ball course, the reason 4somes is super fast is because guys are well ahead of play. It makes no sense for four guys to be on a tee.

All that said, I prefer Greensomes.

Ciao

This is why I miss the old "right-of-way" section in the etiquette that was removed twenty or so years ago.

Most tee times in the United States are technically composed of four single golfers sharing a tee time.

Single golfers, as we all once knew, have no standing on a golf course in relation to matches.

If a course isn't too crowded it's OK for 4somes to play through a few groups. It doesn't make much sense if the 4somes is playing through a ton of groups. It just slows the course down. If 4somes is the choice of game pick the appropriate course or the inappropriate course and go for very early or very late times. Expect to stand around to the point of where you may as well play your own ball. 4somes is great in theory, in practice it rarely works well when not playing 4somes club or comp.

Ciao

[Niall C]

I was due to play foursomes at Brancaster ahead of the recent BUDA unfortunately one of our four failed to show without giving any notice. It was fortunate that there were other BUDites about to move things around and we all managed to go out as two balls. I have to say, while I don't mind foursomes now and again, I'd much rather play my own ball over a course that I've never played before and unlikely to go back to.


Niall

[Cal Carlisle]

We played eightsomes at a Fried Egg event and while I was a little skeptical of how it would work, it was actually a ton of fun. It was probably the perfect game considering it was 95° and humid as hell. We did have the place to ourselves, though.



I doubt many courses would let eightsomes out amongst the "gen pop", but that's one way to get around pushing up against everyone else on the course playing their own ball. Depending on how efficient everyone is it could work.


I think the bigger issue would be the US golfer's resistance to paying full price for half the shots. Most people want to hit every single shot, post a score, etc. (Not me, but "most people".) It's a great game for late fall/early spring when the weather sucks, conditions are less than ideal, and you can't post a score.

[Thomas Dai]

Greensomes, ie where both players drive-off and they then pick which ball to play alternate shot with for the rest of the hole, is a format that isn’t played enough imo. Can be pretty tactical and strategic.
It used to be played in the Ryder Cup. Wish it still was.
Atb

[Cal Carlisle]

Greensomes, ie where both players drive-off and they then pick which ball to play alternate shot with for the rest of the hole, is a format that isn’t played enough imo. Can be pretty tactical and strategic.
It used to be played in the Ryder Cup. Wish it still was.
Atb

I like that. (I didn't know what "greensome" was.) This would probably be something that could fit into the current American mindset and tee sheet a little better than foursome would.

[Mark Mammel]

We play a foursomes event at WBYC every fall to commemorate Jimmy Johnston, WBYC member and winner of the US Amateur at Pebble Beach in 1929. It's 18 in the am, coat and tie for Muirfield-style lunch (ie much food and drinking encouraged), 18 in the afternoon, then back to coat and tie, apps, drinks, winners announced. Pat Craig started this event and it's the best of the season!

[PCCraig]

We play a foursomes event at WBYC every fall to commemorate Jimmy Johnston, WBYC member and winner of the US Amateur at Pebble Beach in 1929. It's 18 in the am, coat and tie for Muirfield-style lunch (ie much food and drinking encouraged), 18 in the afternoon, then back to coat and tie, apps, drinks, winners announced. Pat Craig started this event and it's the best of the season!

Mark beat me to it! Thanks for the kind words.


I love foursomes! It's a great way to enjoy the game, especially if you're playing more than 36 holes in one day, or are interested in playing more quickly.


I remember back at the first Mashie at Lost Dunes when Tom Doak asked the group to consider foursomes for the 2nd round so we didn't slow up the course too much on a Sunday morning. A few grumbles as some feel it's a half-round but I find it a great way to see a course from a different perspective.


Back when I was a caddie at Brookline in college, they used to host a member-member tournament where it was two days, best ball in the morning....long lunch...then a quick foursomes round in the afternoon. It was a super fun format.

[Tim Martin]

We play a foursomes event at WBYC every fall to commemorate Jimmy Johnston, WBYC member and winner of the US Amateur at Pebble Beach in 1929. It's 18 in the am, coat and tie for Muirfield-style lunch (ie much food and drinking encouraged), 18 in the afternoon, then back to coat and tie, apps, drinks, winners announced. Pat Craig started this event and it's the best of the season!

Sounds fun but why the jackets? Not once but twice?

[Wayne_Kozun]

Not proper foursomes, but we used to have a tournament at work with teams from each department and we would play modified alternate shot where both would tee off but you would pick a drive and play alternate shots from thereon in. I think you also  had to use nine tee shots per person.

[Michael Felton]

I play quite a lot of foursomes. All the public school old boys events (Halford Hewitt, Grafton Morrish, Brent Knoll Bowl) are foursomes. I love playing it, but if I was playing somewhere new I'd feel hard done by to play foursomes on it. It's great in the right circumstances, but I get to play relatively infrequently and don't really want to hit every other shot when I do get the chance in a friendly game. Tournament stuff is different.

[Brad Lawrence]

Waste of time.  I think the format where you hit each others tee shot and then start alternating is fun.

[Richard Fisher]

'When did foursomes become posh' is one of the more intriguing sub-fields in British golf history. As has been noted, many clubs beloved of GCA including the Sacred Nine, Huntercombe, Rye, Aldeburgh, Brancaster and Woking are pretty much two-ball only, certainly for member play. The Senior Golfers' Society (disclaimer- I belong) has an amazing fixture list of over 100 matches each year, almost all of which are foursomes.


As Sean says, foursomes are a cracking format for a 36-hole day, not least in that all participants can hit all the teeshots. But foursomes do presuppose that everybody plays a reasonable amount of golf, and probably to a reasonable standard. The British golf calendar used to start each spring with a welter of foursomes events, including the Sunningdale Foursomes (scratch-ish) the Halford Hewitt (huge team event for 640 old boys of British public (i.e. private) schools, and the Winchilsea Foursomes (handicap) at Harlech. These all still exist, but are no longer reported in the national press as they routinely were in the last century.

[Kalen Braley]

I've said it before, and perhaps its time to say again.  But why is everyone (who plays 4 somes at least) in such a damn rush to get the golf over with?  Why not enjoy the views and the architecture?

[Ian Mackenzie]

I enjoy playing 4-somes in the pm as a second round of that day.


We have a "couples tourney" at our club loosely called "The Divorce Open" that is 4-somes and I play it with my wife and it's a ton of fun.


It's a UK thing for sure and has never really caught on here in the US.
Our club tried to promote it for early Sunday mornings, but it's just not gathering momentum.


The US, as everyone here knows, has an individual stroke play culture.
Perhaps that's why the Euros always seem to do better on Day 1 of the Ryder Cup.

[Sean_A]

I've said it before, and perhaps its time to say again.  But why is everyone (who plays 4 somes at least) in such a damn rush to get the golf over with?  Why not enjoy the views and the architecture?

Well, traditionally it was because of cold weather and short daylight hours. I think it also has something to do with boredom. I know I often lose interest around 12 - 14. If I have to stand around...

Ciao

[Thomas Dai]

I've said it before, and perhaps its time to say again.  But why is everyone (who plays 4 somes at least) in such a damn rush to get the golf over with?  Why not enjoy the views and the architecture?

Well, traditionally it was because of cold weather and short daylight hours. I think it also has something to do with boredom. I know I often lose interest around 12 - 14. If I have to stand around...
Ciao

And as we’ve said before, poor weather is another damn good reason to play from further forward tees ….. get around quicker and avoid the cold in the winter. It can’t half get bloody cold standing around waiting to play or searching for someone’s else’s golf ball. Brrrrrr………….
Atb

[Tom Bagley]

Foursomes are great!  Growing up in the US, I hardly ever played the format, mostly playing four-balls and individual events, but have since had the chance to play foursomes in competition.  What a treat!  There is the intrinsic strategy of who plays first from the odds versus the evens, but more importantly, there is the team aspect of the competition, which is at a higher level and more pertinent to the result than the team element in four-balls.


I have been fortunate to play in an annual event for many years that includes foursomes as one of the competitions, and it is always among the highlights of my golfing seasons.

[Mark Chaplin]

I’m clearly a bit different to most in this group as 75-80% of my golf is foursomes. Fourball is reserved for trips so maybe 3 or 4 games in an average year and the rest is two ball. The club does have one fourball competition each year, in late January!


Two ball clubs are a small market but fortunately tend to be based at quality courses.

[Adam Lawrence]

'When did foursomes become posh' is one of the more intriguing sub-fields in British golf history. As has been noted, many clubs beloved of GCA including the Sacred Nine, Huntercombe, Rye, Aldeburgh, Brancaster and Woking are pretty much two-ball only, certainly for member play. The Senior Golfers' Society (disclaimer- I belong) has an amazing fixture list of over 100 matches each year, almost all of which are foursomes.

I think 'when did foursomes become posh' is slightly arse about face. It isn't that foursomes became posh, it's that golf became more democratic. Back in the early 20th century, most golf -- both social and matches between clubs -- was played at foursomes (matches were usually 36 holes to be fair, a foursomes round and a singles one). And the vast majority of golf at that time was quite posh, except perhaps in a few parts of Scotland and the odd other spot.


As the game became more open and available to not-so-posh people, formats other than foursomes increased in popularity, to the point we have now where foursomes is really only played in posh circles and a very few other places. So foursomes has always been posh. It's just that golf as a whole used to be fairly posh too.

[Niall C]

Adam,


Can't agree. There were plenty of mechanics clubs about in the late 19th century and even before they were formed there is evidence that golf was played by all classes going back a lot earlier than that. Following the boom of the 80's and 90's hundreds of new clubs were formed round the country and I think it was then that the popularity of foursomes began to wane, with the exception it seems of some of the posher clubs. So in that respect I think Richard is correct in that foursomes became posh.


It would be interesting to know whether the likes of the Carnoustie clubs, the Monifieth and Montrose clubs and indeed the St Andrews Golf Club still play a lot of foursomes but I suspect not.


Also, of the two ball clubs, how many would be considered posh and how many just an ordinary club ? Does playing foursomes make you posh !


Niall