Best Ball and Alternate Shot
RoundBoss supports Best Ball and Alternate Shot as first-class team scoring formats. Both are available when creating a new league or configuring an existing one.
Every team member plays their own ball. The team score for each hole is the lowest net score among all members.
Two players share one ball and alternate shots. One team score per hole with a combined handicap.
Best Ball
In Best Ball, every team member plays their own ball on each hole. The team score for each hole is the lowest net score among all members. This rewards individual performance while keeping the team structure.
How Scoring Works
Each player plays the hole independently and records a gross score.
Handicap strokes are applied individually per player based on the league's Best Ball Handicap method.
The team's score for that hole is the best (lowest) net score from any member.
The team's round total is the sum of best-net scores across all holes.
Configuration
| Setting | Default | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Team Size | 2 | 2, 3, or 4 players per team |
| Best Ball Handicap | % of each player | % of each player, USGA four-ball 85% (stroke play), USGA four-ball 90% (match play), or Team rolling average |
| Handicap Percentage | 25% | 0% to 100% of each player's individual handicap (the "% of each player" method) |
Alternate Shot
In Alternate Shot (also called Foursomes), two players share one ball and alternate hitting shots. One player tees off on odd holes and the other on even holes. The team records a single score per hole.
How Scoring Works
The team enters one gross score per hole.
A team handicap is calculated from the two partners' handicaps using the league's Team Handicap Method: Team rolling average (the team's own recent scores; the default for new non-WHS leagues), % of combined (floor(sum of member handicaps x handicap percentage), default 50%), USGA weighted (the USGA foursomes allowance, 50% of combined), or Gross (no strokes). WHS leagues use USGA weighted by default. See Team Handicaps.
Handicap strokes are applied to the hardest-rated holes. Net score = gross - 1 on holes where a stroke is applied.
Configuration
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Team Handicap Method | New leagues: Team rolling average (WHS: USGA weighted) | Team rolling average, % of combined, USGA weighted, or Gross |
| Handicap Percentage | 50% | Percentage of combined team handicap to apply (% of combined method) |
Leaderboard
Both formats use a team net leaderboard where teams are ranked by net total (lowest is best). The leaderboard supports two modes controlled by the Stroke Leaderboard Mode setting:
- Average (default) -- Average net score per round played
- Cumulative -- Running total of net scores across all rounds
Enabling a Format
When creating a league, select Best Ball or Alternate Shot from the format dropdown.
Adjust team size and handicap percentage in Settings after the league is created.
Teams are managed from Roster → Teams in the manager dashboard.
Comparison
| Feature | Best Ball | Alternate Shot |
|---|---|---|
| Players per team | 2, 3, or 4 | 2 |
| Balls in play | One per player | One per team |
| Score entry | Each player enters scores | One score per hole for the team |
| Handicap method | Individual % per player | One team handicap (team rolling average, % of combined, USGA weighted, or gross) |
| Default handicap % | 25% | 50% |
| Leaderboard | Team net (lowest wins) | Team net (lowest wins) |
Skins in Team Formats
When skins are enabled for a Best Ball league, skins are calculated using the team best ball score on each hole, not individual player scores. The team's best net score on each hole is compared against other teams to determine skins winners.
Handicap Cap
Managers can set a per-team default handicap cap that applies to Best Ball, Scramble, Alternate Shot, and Team Match Play leagues. This limits the effective handicap strokes a team can receive. Setting the cap to 0 enforces scratch play (no strokes).
- The cap is configured per-team on Roster → Teams (
Handicap Capfield, 0–72). - It propagates automatically to every future unlocked round for that team — past rounds are not retroactively modified.
- Each round (or each side of a Team Match Play matchup) snapshots the cap at creation, so editing the team cap later doesn't change frozen rounds.
- Team cards show a cap chip ("capped from X.X" hint when the rolling avg exceeded the cap); MatchupCards in Team Match Play show a "Cap: A N / B N" badge.
- Per-round Team Settings can still override the cap for a single round.
See Handicap Strokes for the full snapshot + override precedence rules.
Team-Missed Behavior
If every member of a team is absent for the week, a player or manager can record the round as a whole-team miss:
- The player who opens the scorecard sees an Attendance bar with a checkbox per teammate. Checking every teammate as absent turns the Submit button into Submit (Team Missed).
- The team's net and gross totals are left empty and the round is flagged as missed.
- The matchup resolver awards the configured Miss Points to the absent team and the configured Win Points to the opposing team. No hole-by-hole comparison happens.
- Partial attendance (one player shows, partner doesn't) keeps normal team-card scoring — the absent player's rows are greyed out and skipped in auto-advance. A solo player whose partner is absent is still eligible for Low Net winnings.
Marker Validation
When the league has Marker Validation enabled, Best Ball and Alternate Shot rounds participate too. The marker is auto-picked from the opposing team in that week's matchup (first non-absent member, deterministic). The team card shows a Pending hourglass badge until the marker approves or the auto-approve grace period elapses; disputed rounds show a flag badge for manager review. If there's no opposing team or every opposing player is absent, validation is silently skipped.
Team Matchup Auto-Resolution
For Best Ball leagues using match play scoring, matchup points are automatically calculated when scores are submitted. After both teams in a matchup have their scores entered, RoundBoss compares the team net totals and awards points (1 for a win, 0.5 for a tie, 0 for a loss). No manual step is needed.