How to Play the 1-2-3 Best Ball Format
First note that 1-2-3 Best Ball goes by many other names. Those include Progressive Best Ball, Waltz, 1-2-3 Waltz, Easy as 1-2-3, and 4-Man Cha Cha Cha. Irish Four Ball and Arizona Shuffle are very similar (or, depending on the tournament organizer, might be synonyms). And there are even more alternate names out there, too.
In 1-2-3 Best Ball, a team of four golfers tees off, each playing his or her own golf ball throughout the round. Each golfer holes out, and the four scores are compared.
What is the team's score on each hole? This is the rotation that is followed for determining the score (and that gives this format its name):
- On Hole 1, the one lowest score among the four teammates counts as the team score.
- On Hole 2, the two lowest scores are combined for the team score.
- On Hole 3, the three best scores among the teammates are combined for the team score.
In his book Golf Digest's Complete Book of Golf Betting Games (affiliate link), author Ron Kapriski offers this advice on strategy for this format: "Groups should play aggressively only on holes where the single lowest score counts. On a hole where three scores are needed, conservative play is prudent."
1-2-3 Best Ball can be, and often is, played using handicaps and net scores. That is especially true in a tournament, since a tournament field is likely to have a wide variance in skill level among the players. But if eight or 12 friends who are on a golf trip are all relatively close in ability, they can split into three, four-person teams and play 1-2-3 Best Ball using gross scores.
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