Interclub Rules & Policies

• Rules of Play
• FAQ

 

 

 

The Nassau is essentially three separate Matches. The front nine (holes 1–9), back nine (holes 10–18), and total 18 holes. The Nassau is one of golf's most classic and best known games commonly referred to Font, Back and Total.

 

The Nassau gets its name from the Nassau Country Club on Long Island, where the format is said to have been invented in the early 1900s by club captain John B. Coles Tappan. The players at Nassau CC were much better than the surrounding county club and always won matches against the other clubs. In fact, the other clubs would not play Nassau CC because they were tired of losing everything. To encourage future competitions, Nassau CC adopted the Nassau.

 

You can have the worst Front 9 of your golfing life and still sneak back into the match and scratch out a few points for a win on the Back 9.

 

 

USGA Definition

According to the USGA’s Rules of Golf, ” Four-ball match play is defined as “a match in which two players play their better ball against the better ball of two other players.” You will sometimes hear the format referred to as “better ball.”

 

 

Scoring

Scoring in a four-ball match is very simple. Four players create two teams of two, and each player plays his own ball. After each hole, each team’s players compare their scores, and the lowest score is counted as the team score. For example, one team’s players are playing a par-4 hole; Player A takes four shots and Player B takes five shots.

In match play, the team’s score of 4 will be compared against the other team’s best score to determine which team won the hole. In both cases, when the match is finished, the two-player team with the lower score wins.

 

 

USGA Rules

Although most of the standard rules in the USGA’s Rules of Golf apply to four-ball match play and four-ball stroke play, there are some differences in procedure and penalties due to the team aspects. The USGA defines these differences in Rule 23 for match play.

 

 

Strategy

Four-ball strategy is a little different from single-player strategy. Because only one score is counted, a certain amount of gambling is not only expected, but wise.

A typical strategy is for one player to “play safe” and attempt to guarantee par, while the other player “goes for it” and tries to make the lowest score possible. Players with a successful strategy are often described as “ham-and-egging it,” and stroke scores in the low 60s are not unusual.