How to Play the String Format in Golf

In the golf game format known as String, golfers get to use a length of string (or yarn or anything similar) to improve the position of the golf ball. But each time they do, they lose part of the string, until eventually none is left.

The String format is often referred to as, simply, String. But you might see it called (depending on circumstances) the String game or a "String Tournament," and "String It Out" is an alternate name.

The string in the String format is basically just a measuring device. If your ball is sitting down in a huge divot in the middle of the fairway, and you have string left to use, you can move that ball two inches over for a clean lie (and after doing so, snip off those two inches from your string).

Where can the string be used?

It is customary when playing String that if you have enough string left, you can use it to move your ball out of any predicament other than water: out of a bunker, out of thick rough, out of an unplayable lie, out from behind a tree. You can also use it to sink a putt. Facing a short but dangerous downhill slider that is making your knees knock? Have enough string left to cover the distance? Then you have the option to "make" that putt by using your string.

The one circumstance for which most golfers and tournament organizers prohibit the use of the string: hitting into water. Sorry, if your ball is in water, no string allowed.

How much string do you get to start?

That is up to either the members of the group that is playing the String game, or, in the case of a String Tournament, the tournament organizers.

You'll see a lot of descriptions of the String game online that state that the string is used in place of handicaps, and that you get one foot (sometimes said to be one yard) of string for each number of your course handicap. If your handicap is 15, you get 15 feet of string.

That's one way to do it, for sure, and is pretty common. But in our view, substituting the string for handicap strokes is very unfair to the higher-handicap players. There is no way that, say, an 18-handicapper can get enough string to fairly compete against a scratch golfer. The higher the handicap, the farther offline we hit it.

String is much better played with the length of string used in addition to, rather than in place of, handicap strokes, and with every golfer playing receiving the same length of string to start. Or it is even better for the game when the members of a group are all very close in ability, using gross scores, and starting with the same length of string.

More golf games:

• How to play the Average Score format
• How a '1-Club Challenge' works
• Golf's version of Blackjack explained

Sources:
Rodriguez, Chi Chi, and Anderson, John. Chi Chi's Golf Games You Gotta Play (affiliate link), 2003, Human Kinetics.
Southern California Golf Association, Tournaments For Your Club, United States Golf Association, https://www.scga.org/pdfs/volunteers/1941/tournaments_for_your_club.pdf.
Sudden Valley Golf Course. Glossary, String Tournament, https://www.suddenvalleygolfcourse.com/glossary.