The 'Second Ball' Golf Match Explained
Let's start by reminding how a four-ball (aka best ball) match works: Two teams of two are playing (2-vs.-2). Each team's score is its low ball, the lower of its two players' scores on a given hole. A team whose low ball is better than its opponents' low ball wins the hole. Example: The two players on Team A score 4 and 5 on the first hole, vs. Team B's scores of 5 and 5. Team's A score is 4, Team B's score is 5, so Team A wins that hole. But if the scores are 4/5 for Team A and 4/6 for Team B, the hole is tied (halved) because the two low scores are the same. There is no hole winner in that case.
In Second Ball, however, that scenario is different. Let's use those scores again — Team A's players score 4 and 5, Team B's players score 4 and 6. In Second Ball, the teams' low ball is a tie, so now the teams' second balls are compared. And Team A's second ball is 5, vs. Team B's 6. In four-ball, this hole would be halved. In Second Ball, Team A wins the hole on the strength of its second score.
And that's Second Ball. In a 2-vs.-2 game in which all four golfers are playing their balls into the hole, the lower of each side's scores are compared. If one beats the other, that still settles the hole. But if the low balls result in a tie, the second balls are then compared, and if one beats the other, that settles the hole. If the second balls are also tied, only then is the hole halved.
If you are wagering Second Ball, you can bet it in any way that you would bet on a four-ball match. That might mean wagering only on the overall outcome of the match, or betting it as a Nassau (front nine/back nine/overall).
Second Ball can also be used as a tournament format with a match-play bracket.
More golf formats:
- How to play Four-Ball Aggregate
- Explaining the Bowmaker format for tournaments
- How to play an Arizona Shuffle tournament
Kaspriske, Ron. Golf Digest's Complete Book of Golf Betting Games, 2007, Doubleday.
