How to Play the Low Ball/Low Total Format

Low Ball/Low Total is the name of a golf format for 4-person groups that pair off into 2-person teams. On each hole, two points are at stake: one for the lowest individual score among the four golfers, and another for the lowest total score of the two teams.

That's it. And that's why Masters winner Craig Stadler, in the 1998 Top-Flite Guide to Better Golf (affiliate link) booklet, called Low Ball/Low Total "one of the simplest games in golf." But, of course, there are a few variations.

Let's do an example first. Our quartet of golfers are Player A, Player B, Player C and Player D. Let's say A and B form one team, and C and D form the other side. And on the first hole, A scores 4, B scores 5, C scores 3 and poor D makes a 7. Who wins the two points that are at stake?

In that example, the A-B side gets one point and the C-D side gets one point. Player C had the low ball with a 3, but the A-B side had the low total with a 9 (4+5).

Now, about those variations:

• What do you do in the event of tie scores? Ties will probably be common throughout the round, so discuss and decide before you tee off. Many groups, in the event of a tie, award each side a point. If the low total on Hole 2 is 10 for both teams, they would each get a point. But some groups prefer to award no points when either (or both) the low ball or low total is a tie, and carry those points over to the next hole, making the next hole worth two points for low ball and/or two points for low total. In this case, you would keep carrying over points until someone wins outright.

• Some groups like to double the points for an under-par score — if the low ball is a birdie or better, or if the low total is lower than double the hole's par (e.g., totaling 9 on a par-5 hole).

• You can play Low Ball/Low Total with just two golfers if each golfer is hitting two golf balls per hole.

But the basics of Low Ball/Low Total remain very simple: 2-vs.-2, and on each hole one point goes to the lowest individual score (low ball) and one point goes to the lowest team score (low total).

More golf formats:

• The Daytona betting game explained
• How the Chapman System format works
• How to play the 2-1-1 game

Sources:
(Book titles are affiliate links; commissions earned)
Stadler, Craig, and Top-Flite. Craig Stadler's Top-Flite Guide to Better Golf, 1998, Triumph Books.
The Quick Series Guide to Golf Games, 1998, Luxart Communications.
Ussak, Rich. Golf Games: The Side Games We Play & Wager, 1993, McGraw-Hill Education.