How to Play a Monkey Foursome Tournament
The team members also play shots in succession, one golfer per shot. Golfer A tees off (with whatever club A is using), B plays the second, C plays the third, D plays the fourth, then back to A, B, C, D, and so on throughout the round. If Golfer B holes out on the third green, then Golfer C tees off on the fourth hole. The rotation continues throughout, each golfer using her one club regardless of what shot awaits when it is her turn to swing.
So, for example, your team members might be playing with a 4-hybrid, 5-iron, 8-iron and pitching wedge. And they don't get to share those clubs. If the 8-iron is your club, that's what you use whether you are teeing off when it is your turn to hit, or whether you are putting.
A Monkey Tournament should not be played as a serious event. As noted at the top, it's a lark. It's a way for a golf association (or eight or 12 or 16 golf buddies) to have some laughs. Golf associations used to play Monkey Foursomes as a sort of preseason warm-up tournament, before the "real" tournaments started. It was a way pair golfers who didn't normally play together, a way to introduce new members, in a (hopefully) light-hearted, pressure-free environment.
It was also common in the old tournaments for the organizers of a Monkey Foursome to assign the clubs. Each foursome might get a 4-wood, 5-iron, 8-iron and putter. And woe to the golfer who got stuck with the putter, because that golfer had to use the putter for every shot when it was his time to swing — a drive, a long approach, a bunker shot, whatever.
You can make a Monkey Foursome a little fairer by allowing golfers to choose their own clubs, but again stipulating that the four clubs within each foursome must be different. In that case, a 4-iron (or 4-wood or 4-hybrid), 5-iron, 6-iron and 7-iron are often the choices, or a 5- through 8-iron.
Organizers and golfers need to keep in mind that a Monkey Foursome is going to take longer than a standard round of golf. There are going to be a lot more strange shots and bad outcomes. Just don't forget to laugh about it. (And limiting the tournament to nine holes can help.)
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