Team Nassau
Team Nassau is a league format for two-golfer teams that stay together all season. Each week your team plays another team in three games at once (A against A, B against B, and team best ball). Each game has three parts: the front 9, the back 9 and the full 18. A win is a point, so a match is worth nine points.
This page applies to leagues created with the Team Nassau format, on a real course or on a simulator. 18 holes only.
You build the teams once. Every week's matches come from those teams.
A golfers, B golfers and team best ball, each over the front 9, back 9 and 18.
Teams are ranked on points. Each golfer's own A or B points are shown too.
How a Match Is Scored
Every match has nine parts:
| Game | Who plays it | Front 9 | Back 9 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A golfers | Each team's A golfer, each playing their own ball | 1 point | 1 point | 1 point |
| B golfers | Each team's B golfer, each playing their own ball | 1 point | 1 point | 1 point |
| Team best ball | Both golfers on each team; the team's score on a hole is the better net score of the two | 1 point | 1 point | 1 point |
- The lower net total wins that part. Net is gross minus handicap strokes. Strokes go on the holes by the course's stroke index across all 18 holes.
- In team best ball every golfer keeps their own strokes. If only one teammate posted a score, that golfer plays the team game alone.
- A tied part pays each team a half point. You can change that so nobody scores a tie: see Settings below.
- Front and Back mean the course's own two nines, using the nine names on your course setup, even when a week starts on the back nine.
- An unfinished card. While a week is open, a part is undecided until the cards for it are in. Once a week is final, a nine a golfer did not finish is lost to an opponent who did finish it. If neither finished it, it is a tie.
- A and B are decided by handicap, every week. The golfer who gets fewer strokes that week is the A golfer. If both get the same strokes, the lower exact handicap is A. If those are equal too, the first golfer listed on the team is A. You can swap that order on the Teams panel with Swap A/B order on ties.
Worked example
This is the example used in the engine's own tests. All four golfers are scratch (no strokes). Team 1 is Ann (A) and Bob (B). Team 2 is Cal (A) and Dee (B). Ann bogeys hole 10. Bob pars every hole. Cal bogeys hole 1. Dee birdies hole 2.
| Game | Front 9 | Back 9 | 18 | Team 1 | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A golfers (Ann v Cal) | Ann 36, Cal 37: Ann wins | Ann 37, Cal 36: Cal wins | 73 each: tie | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| B golfers (Bob v Dee) | Bob 36, Dee 35: Dee wins | 36 each: tie | Bob 72, Dee 71: Dee wins | 0.5 | 2.5 |
| Team best ball | 36 v 35: Team 2 | 36 each: tie | 72 v 71: Team 2 | 0.5 | 2.5 |
| Match total | 2.5 | 6.5 |
Nine points were paid in all (2.5 plus 6.5).
Setting Up a League
Create a new league and, on the format step, choose Team Nassau. It sets the round to 18 holes. If the league has any other number of holes, the wizard stops you.
The Team Nassau Details step has the rules in plain language: what a tied part pays, what happens when a golfer doesn't play, what happens when a team has no opponent, the handicap rules and Weeks before handicaps are set. The defaults are listed under Settings below. You can change them later.
Add everyone with a name and email. Team Nassau does not ask for a starting handicap. Each golfer's handicap comes from their first rounds.
Open Roster, then the Teams tab. Use New team to name a team and tick its two golfers. A team needs exactly two golfers to play. You can give a team a Division (optional); standings are ranked inside each division.
Click Build schedule on the Teams tab. Each week's matches are made from your teams. With an odd number of teams, one team has no opponent each week (see below).
Handicaps
Team Nassau uses its own rolling handicap, based on how far over par each golfer scores.
- A golfer's number is the average of their strokes over par across their last Rounds averaged played rounds (default 3). A week a golfer skipped is not counted against them.
- Handicap % (default 80%) is multiplied by that number. The result is rounded to a whole stroke (halves round up) and is never below 0.
- Most strokes (default 30) caps the strokes a golfer can get, applied after the percentage. Leave it empty for no cap.
- Strokes are placed by the course's stroke index across all 18 holes, for every game.
Handicaps are set from the first weeks
A new golfer has no handicap yet. The setting Weeks before handicaps are set (default 3) decides when it is fixed:
- A golfer's starting handicap comes from their first rounds in their first scheduled weeks (3 by default; weeks a team has no opponent don't count).
- It is fixed when the last of those weeks is locked. A week that is never locked fixes it automatically about two weeks after the week closes.
- If a golfer has no complete round by then, they have no handicap, and the match shows "Hdcp –". If they later post a full round, that round sets their handicap for that same week. Earlier weeks are not rescored.
What golfers and managers see until then. Golfers see their own scores, but points, handicaps and standings stay hidden until everyone's handicap is set. The note says when ("after the 3rd week" with the default). You see the numbers, marked Provisional: handicaps are still being set, so these numbers can change. Golfers can't see them yet. The week's matches are shown as Provisional too.
When Someone Doesn't Play
Setting: When a golfer doesn't play, their opponent…
| Option | What happens |
|---|---|
| Plays a real round drawn from the 3 closest in the division (default) | The opponent plays against the card of another golfer in the same division who posted a full round, chosen from the three closest handicaps. The stand-in's points never count for them or their team. |
| Plays the absent golfer's average | The opponent plays against a round built from the absent golfer's own handicap. The stand-in's points never count. |
| Wins every segment | The opponent wins the front 9, back 9 and 18 of that game. |
| Nobody scores that match | That game pays nothing to either side. |
In every option, the side that did not play is never paid for that game. Stand-ins are drawn by RoundBoss once the week is final, and a golfer sees only "Stand-in", never who was drawn.
A team with no opponent
With an odd number of teams, one team has no opponent each week. Setting No opponent this week:
- Sit out (default): the team does not play that week.
- Play a ghost team: the team plays an actual card from a team in its division, A against A, B against B and team best ball. That drawn team is never credited and never loses points. If no team in the division has a complete card that week, the team sits out with 0 points.
Running a Week
In your league, open Matches (shown as Partners in Rotating Partners). Pick the week. A strip at the top shows where you are: Matches set, Scores N of M cards, then Lock week (it reads Week locked once done), with a Standings button. How this week works opens a short checklist.
Golfers enter their own scores from their personal link or the bay records a simulator round. You can enter or fix a card yourself with Enter scores next to a golfer (it becomes Edit scores once a card is in, and View card once the week is locked). Each match card has one status pill: Not started, N of 4 cards (for example "2 of 4 cards"), Provisional, All cards in or Final. A Missing cards: line lists who has not finished. Full breakdown opens the nine parts. Golfers not drawn into a match appear under Sitting out this week. While handicaps are still being set there is one Provisional: notice for the whole week, and Who's establishing under it groups the golfers by the week their handicap will be set. In a week where a team has no opponent and Play a ghost team is on, its card is titled with (bye) after the team name and the other side is a Ghost team. A drawn team's cards score for the bye, so there is nothing to enter on that side.
Click Lock week. Its points are final until you unlock it. Unlocking lets scores be changed again; lock it again when you are done.
Early in the season a week can't be locked while golfers in it are still setting their handicap. RoundBoss says "can't lock yet" and lists each golfer with the week their handicap will be set. A handicap is set once that week's play window and grace day have passed and the week is locked, so lock that week first. Until then results stay provisional, and nothing is lost by waiting.
Open Standings. Teams are ranked on points. Ties go to the lower team average net, which is the average of each golfer's average net score over their full rounds. Every golfer's own A or B points are shown below the team table, and each division has its own table when you use divisions.
Recalculation is automatic. If a score is entered late or out of order, or you save new rules, every unlocked week recalculates. Locking a week freezes it.
Late rounds. A Team Nassau week keeps taking rounds after its window closes until you lock it (a makeup). A simulator shot more than 14 days old is held for you to review. Closest to the pin counts only rounds played on time.
Play ahead (simulator leagues)
On a simulator league, Settings → Play ahead lets golfers play up to 4 future weeks early, in any order (Off, 1 week to 4 weeks). Their handicap for each week is worked out as if they had played on schedule. A golfer who played ahead is tagged on the match, and numbers that depend on an earlier week that is still open are shown as Provisional.
Closest to the pin (simulator leagues)
Turn on Closest to the pin in Settings. Then, for each week, choose the hole under the week's menu in the schedule (Closest to the Pin). You can add a 2nd CTP hole, which is a separate contest with its own winner. The bay measures every tee shot.
Settings at a Glance
All of these are on the Team Nassau rules card (Settings) and in the wizard.
| Setting | Default | Options |
|---|---|---|
| A tied front 9, back 9 or 18 | Each team gets ½ point | Each team gets ½ point, or nobody scores it |
| When a golfer doesn't play | Plays a real round drawn from the 3 closest in the division | See above |
| No opponent this week | Sit out | Sit out, or play a ghost team |
| Handicap % | 80% | 1% to 150% |
| Rounds averaged | 3 | 1 to 20 |
| Most strokes | 30 | 0 to 54, or empty for no cap |
| Weeks before handicaps are set | 3 | 1 to 10 (the number of rounds used is the same number) |
A win is worth 1 point per part, and that is not a setting.
Limits
- 18 holes only. The wizard and the rules refuse anything else.
- Team Nassau runs on the same engine as Rotating Partners, so the options listed under Not Yet Supported on that page (presses, Play the Card, marker validation, skins, Low Net, WHS handicaps, substitutes, brackets and so on) are refused here too. Play ahead is the exception: Team Nassau supports it on simulator leagues.
- The public embed standings page shows Team Nassau standings (the team's name, golfers by first name and last initial) but not weekly results.