Every year the Boeing Employee Golf Association (BEGA) hosts more than a dozen tournaments in different types and formats. The BRGL would like to encourage those interested to check them out ... see the BEGA 2024 Tournament Schedule. As we get closer to the tournament scheduled dates, BEGA will link in sign-up forms for those tournaments into their tournament schedule. Many of us have participated in the past and had a great time doing so!
Understanding the myriad of different golf tournament types, terms, and scoring formats can be fairly complicated. This page tries to describe them in an organized, easy to follow fashion.
Round Robin - In Round Robin each competing team plays every other team, and no team ever plays the same team twice. To play a full Round Robin requires one fewer number of rounds than the number of teams. For example if there are 8 teams, a full Round Robin requires 7 rounds. After the tournament, teams are ranked by number of wins, then by point differentials, then by total points scored. A full Round Robin tournament format is not feasible for a competition in which there is a large number of competing teams. This is why many tournaments use a Snake format or a Swiss System format, rather than a full Round Robin.
Understanding the myriad of different golf tournament types, terms, and scoring formats can be fairly complicated. This page tries to describe them in an organized, easy to follow fashion.
TOURNAMENT TYPES
We've listed the 8 most popular tournament types below:
Match Play - Match play is best known for hole-by-hole competition where the golfer who scores best on the individual hole, wins that hole. Instead of going by an entire round basis, you are facing your opponent head-on in this type of tournament.
Stroke Play - The opposite of match play where instead you are competing against the entire 18-hole course. You are playing an entire round against your competitors and trying to beat them by having a better score.
Best Ball - Instead of an individual play, you will be assembling teams of golfers and can either play match or stroke play. Each hole will be tallied up with the lowest score from each team member and will be the overall score for that team.
Scramble - One of the more popular golf formats, scramble is played in teams of either 2,3, or 4. The premise of the game is to choose one best shot from each hole and have every team member play from that spot.
Foursome (Alternate Shot) also known as “Four Ball” - This format involves teams of 2 and alternates the team member on who hits the ball next. Team members also alternate on who tees off each hole, so that it’s not the same player hitting every drive.
Skins - Skins tournaments can be played individually or as teams. In Skins each hole is worth a “skin”. The golfer with the lowest score on a hole wins the skin. If two or more players tie, then no skin is awarded, instead the skin is carried over to the next hole. The player who earns the most skins at the end is the winner. Additionally, you can also award skins for achievements on each hole, such as: a ‘Greenie’ for landing a tee shot onto the green, ‘Sandies’ for a sand save, ‘Woodies’ for saving par after hitting a tree, and ‘Arnies’ for making par without hitting the fairway. You can add your own variations as well.
Bingo Bango Bongo - Another popular golf format, Bingo Bango Bongo rewards players on 3 premises for each hole: 1) The first player in each group to get onto the green receives 1 point, 2) The player to hit the closest to the hole once everyone is on the green receives 1 point, and 3) The last point is given to the first person who holes out.
Chapman - This tournament involves a 2-person team and is known for bundling several different tournament styles into one. Each member will make a tee shot and have teammates switch balls and play each other’s drives. From there, the team will choose the second best shot and play from that spot (like Bingo Bango Bongo).
TOURNAMENT FORMATS
There are many different tournament formats, or ways to determine which teams play which other teams. Some of the most common are:
Round Robin - In Round Robin each competing team plays every other team, and no team ever plays the same team twice. To play a full Round Robin requires one fewer number of rounds than the number of teams. For example if there are 8 teams, a full Round Robin requires 7 rounds. After the tournament, teams are ranked by number of wins, then by point differentials, then by total points scored. A full Round Robin tournament format is not feasible for a competition in which there is a large number of competing teams. This is why many tournaments use a Snake format or a Swiss System format, rather than a full Round Robin.Snake also known as “Partial Round Robin” - In Snake you can play as many rounds as you wish. If there isn’t a set of pre-calculated matchups, it is easy to create one using a “Snake” format. The Snake format is basically an “odd and even” format, with odd-numbered teams playing even-numbered teams.
Single-Elimination - In Single-Elimination winners play winners, and losers are immediately eliminated from the competition. The results are recorded in the familiar tree-shaped diagram.
Double-Elimination - In Double-Elimination the winners of the first-round games go on to play in the main competition. The losers become the first-round teams in a “consolation” tournament.
Swiss System - Swiss System is a Round Robin tournament that has been modified to make a large number of competitors manageable. In a Swiss System tournament, instead of each competitor playing every other competitor, each competitor plays only other competitors that have won a similar number of games. The matchups can’t be calculated in advance because the matchups for every round (except the first) depend on the results of the games in the preceding round. Tournament organizers often use a computer program to help run a Swiss System tournament due to its complexity.
Poules also known as “Barrage” - In Poules the competing teams are divided into groups called poules. Each poule contains 4 teams. The composition of the poules is based on the seeding of the teams. The first poule, for example, consists of the teams seeded 1, 9, 8, and 16. The teams in each poule play 2 or 3 games. In the first round, team A plays team C, and team B plays team D, in the order in which they were seeded. In the second round, the winners play winners and losers play losers. After the second round, there will be 1 team with 2 wins, 1 team with no wins, and 2 teams with 1 win each. The team with 2 wins is qualified to go on to the finals. The team with no wins is disqualified. The other 2 teams (with 1 win each) go on to play a third game called the barrage. The winner of the barrage is qualified for the finals; the loser is disqualified.
League Play - League tournaments are organized around multiple small round-robin competitions within a golf league (similar in some ways to Poules).
TOURNAMENT STAGES
Larger full-week and/or weekend tournament competitions are often divided into two stages: Qualifying Rounds and Final Rounds.
Qualifying Rounds are used to rank competitors by skill level (so that they can be seeded appropriately during the Final Rounds) and to eliminate some competitors (to reduce the number of competitors to a manageable number for the final round). Qualifying rounds are often in a Swiss System or Poules format.
Final Rounds are usually single-elimination, but can sometimes be organized into double-elimination. In double-elimination tournaments, the winners of the first-round games go on to play in the main competition. The losers become the first-round teams in a “consolation” tournament.
TOURNAMENT SCORING
There are several different tournament scoring methods, some of the most common are:
Standard also known as "Scratch" - Recording the actual number of strokes you took, including penalty strokes, for getting from tee to the pin.
Handicapped - Taking your Standard score at the end of your 18-hole round and subtracting your "adjusted" GHIN handicap for the course from it. Your "adjusted GHIN handicap for the course" is also known as "Course Handicap" and it depends on the course difficulty and the tees you are playing from (Black, Blue, White, etc). On the course scorecard you will 2 numbers listed for each tee set. The first number is the Course Score Rating / the second number is the Course Slope Rating. The Course Score Rating represents the expected score for a "scratch" golfer on that course. The Course Slope Rating is based on 113 as the slope rating for a course with standard slope difficulty. What that means is:
Your Course Handicap = (GHIN * (Course Slope Rating / 113)) + (Course Score Rating - Par).
For example:
If your GHIN is 17.2 and you are playing the Blue Tees (69.6 / 123) at West Seattle Golf Course (par 72), then
Your Course Handicap = (17.2 * (123 / 113)) + (69.6 - 72) = (17.2 * 1.08) + (-2.4) = 18.6 - 2.4 = 16
Your Course Handicap = (GHIN * (Course Slope Rating / 113)) + (Course Score Rating - Par).
For example:
If your GHIN is 17.2 and you are playing the Blue Tees (69.6 / 123) at West Seattle Golf Course (par 72), then
Your Course Handicap = (17.2 * (123 / 113)) + (69.6 - 72) = (17.2 * 1.08) + (-2.4) = 18.6 - 2.4 = 16
Stableford - In Stableford points are awarded depending on the score for each hole, unlike Standard or Handicapped scoring where the objective is to get the lowest score, in Stableford the highest point score wins. A player or team scores 1 for a bogey, 2 for par, 3 for a birdie, 4 for an eagle and 5 for an albatross (also known as a "double eagle"). Double-bogies and worse just get a zero.
Modified Stableford - Like Stableford except the points awarded differ. A player or team scores -3 for a double bogey or worse, -1 for a bogey, 0 for a par, 2 for a birdie, 5 for an eagle, and 8 for an albatross (or double eagle).
Other Interesting Terms for Scoring - For birdies in a row: 1 is a "Strike", 2 is a "Double" (not to be confused with a double bogey), 3 is a "Turkey" or a "Gobbler", 4 is a "Hambone", 5 is a "Yahtzee" or "Five Bagger". They appear to use many of the same terms as strikes in bowling.
