Stroke play is what you watch on TV every weekend. But the majority of golf — the round you play with your friends on Saturday morning — is played in different formats: scrambles for charity events, match play for friendly rivalry, Nassau and skins for the side wager. This page is the master index of every format and side-bet term defined on Golfing Fore All.
If you’re picking a format for a team event, learning the side games that come up on member-guest weekend, or just trying to understand how Ryder Cup foursomes is different from a fourball, the terms below are your reference. Every entry links to a plain-English definition reviewed by a PGA-credentialed editor.
The Essentials
- Stroke Play — the standard format — total strokes for the round
- Match Play — hole-by-hole format — winner of each hole wins the hole
- Scramble — everyone hits, team picks best ball, everyone hits from there
- Best Ball — every player plays their own ball, lowest score on each hole counts
- Foursomes — two players alternate shots with one ball
- Four-Ball — two two-player teams, each player plays own ball, best of each pair counts
- Nassau — three side bets in one — front nine, back nine, overall
- Skins — a payout for each hole, with ties carrying over to the next
- Press — a side bet started mid-round to recover losses or pile on
How These Terms Relate
Golf formats split between individual play (one ball per player) and team play (one or two balls shared among partners). The two foundational individual formats are stroke play and match play. Stroke play scores total strokes for the round — what you see on the PGA Tour every weekend. Match play scores by holes won, lost, or halved — the winner of each hole wins the hole, and the player who wins more holes wins the match. Total strokes do not matter in match play. The Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup, U.S. Amateur, and most club championships use match play.
Team formats vary by how players share the work. In foursomes (also called alternate shot), two partners share a single ball and alternate shots from tee through hole. It is the hardest team format because one bad shot punishes both players. In four-ball (also called best ball), two partners each play their own ball on every hole, and the lower of the two scores counts as the team score on that hole. Four-ball is the team format used for the morning sessions at the Ryder Cup. A scramble is the most amateur-friendly team format: everyone on the team hits a tee shot, the team picks the best one, everyone hits from there, and so on until the ball is holed. The team turns in one score per hole.
Side bets are layered on top of whichever format you are playing. The Nassau is a three-part wager — equal stakes on the front nine, back nine, and overall match — so you can lose the front and still win the day. Skins assigns a value to each hole; the lowest score on a hole wins the skin, and if more than one player ties for low, the skin carries over to the next hole. Wolf is a rotating-partner game where one player picks a partner for each hole. Bingo Bango Bongo awards three points per hole (first on green, closest to pin once everyone is on, first in cup). A press is a side bet started mid-round, usually after losing two holes, to recover losses. Automatic presses trigger by rule rather than by request. The simplest rule for picking a format: match the side-bet complexity to the seriousness of the group. Casual round, just play a Nassau. Member-guest, fire up the Wolf with skins on the side.
The Complete Index
Every term in this cluster, alphabetised, each linked to its full plain-English definition.
- All Square
- Alternate Shot
- Automatic Press
- Away
- Best Ball
- Calcutta
- Closest to the Pin
- Concede
- Concession
- Dormie
- Four-Ball
- Foursome
- Foursomes
- Halved
- Match Play
- Money Ball
- Nassau
- Press
- Round
- Scramble
- Skins
- Stroke Play
Common Questions
What is the difference between stroke play and match play?
Stroke play scores total strokes for the entire round; the lowest total wins. Match play scores hole-by-hole; you win, lose, or halve each hole, and the player who wins more holes wins the match. In match play, you can concede putts (or whole holes) to your opponent, and you can pick up your ball if you have already lost the hole. Once you are more holes up than there are holes remaining, you have won — a 5 and 4 victory means 5 up with 4 holes to play.
What is a scramble and how does it work?
In a scramble, everyone on the team hits a tee shot. The team selects the best of those tee shots and everyone plays their next shot from within a club-length of that spot. The team picks the best of those second shots and everyone hits from there. Continue until the ball is holed. The team turns in one score per hole. Scrambles are the most forgiving format and the standard for charity tournaments because they let players of very different skill levels have fun together.
What is a Nassau, and why is it called that?
A Nassau is a three-part match bet that splits the round into three separate wagers: the front nine, the back nine, and the overall 18 holes. Equal stakes on each. If you lose 5-and-4 on the front but rally on the back, you can still win two of the three bets. The name dates to the early 1900s at the Nassau Country Club on Long Island, where the format was invented as a way to keep players who had fallen badly behind interested in the round. Most Nassaus today are played for small stakes — a dollar or two on each side, with the option to press a losing match.
What is the difference between foursomes and four-ball?
Both are two-player team formats and both appear at the Ryder Cup, but they play very differently. In foursomes, two partners share one ball and alternate shots — one player tees off odd-numbered holes, the other tees off even-numbered holes, and they alternate strokes from there. In four-ball, each player plays their own ball on every hole and the lower of the two scores counts as the team score. Four-ball is faster, more forgiving, and rewards aggressive play. Foursomes is harder, slower, and rewards consistency and partnership.
What is a press in golf betting?
A press is a side bet started mid-round, usually after one side falls two holes behind, to give the losing side a chance to recover. The press is typically a new bet for the remaining holes only, equal in stakes to the original wager. If you are 2 down with 6 holes to play, pressing creates a new 6-hole match alongside the original — so even if you lose the original 4 and 3, you can still win the press by winning the remaining holes. Automatic presses trigger by rule (often when a side falls 2 down) rather than by request.
What is the difference between best ball and four-ball?
They are essentially the same format under different names. In both, each player plays their own ball through the hole and the lower of the two scores (in a two-player team) counts as the team score on each hole. American golfers tend to say best ball; British and Ryder Cup terminology tends to say four-ball. The term best ball is occasionally also used loosely to refer to a team scramble where the team plays one best ball after each shot, but strict terminology reserves best ball / four-ball for the keep-your-own-ball-and-take-the-lower-score format.
Related Clusters
- Scoring and Stats — how each format affects what gets recorded on the card
- Rules of Golf — how the rules differ between stroke play and match play
- Tours and Tournaments — the formats used at the Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup, and majors
About This Page
This cluster index is maintained by the Golfing Fore All editorial team and reviewed by a PGA-credentialed editor. If you spot something wrong, our corrections policy explains what happens next.