How to Run a Ryder Cup Style Golf Trip

Step 1: Pick two captains

Start with two guys who will run their sides and bring energy. Captains pick teams, set the singles order, and talk trash all week. Give them team names, let them choose a color, and let them own it.

Step 2: Draft the teams

Pick two captains and draft before the first round. A snake order goes A, B, B, A, A, B and continues that pattern, with captains already accounted for on their sides. Compare the finished teams’ handicaps and likely pairings before locking them in. A snake draft spreads the early picks around, but does not guarantee balanced teams.

Step 3: Choose your sessions and formats

A session is a block of matches and can cover nine or eighteen holes. Use one format for everyone in that session. Partner sessions early and singles last put more points in play on the final day.

• Four-ball (best ball): two-player teams, each plays his own ball, team takes the lower score. The friendliest team format for mixed handicaps.
• Foursomes (alternate shot): partners share one ball and alternate strokes. One tees off on odd holes, the other on even holes, regardless of who holed the previous putt.
• Shamble: everyone tees off, the team plays the best drive, then each finishes his own ball.
• Singles match play: one against one. Put two separate singles matches in each foursome and use the tee times agreed with the course.

Step 4: Set the point system

Each match is worth one point: one for a win, half to each side for a tie. Add the points available across all sessions; more than half wins the cup. For a headcount divisible by four, a full 2v2 session has players divided by four matches. Singles has players divided by two matches, one per pair of players.

Worked examples

• 8 players (4v4), 3 rounds: four-ball (2), alternate shot (2), singles (4). That is 8 points, first to 4½.
• 12 players (6v6), 3 rounds: four-ball (3), shamble (3), singles (6). That is 12 points, first to 6½.
• 16 players (8v8), 4 rounds: four-ball (4), foursomes (4), four-ball (4), singles (8). That is 20 points, first to 10½.

Step 5: Decide handicaps up front

Agree on handicaps before the trip. USGA recommendations are 100% for singles match play and 90% for four-ball match play. In four-ball match play, use the lowest Course Handicap as the baseline and apply 90% to each difference, rounding at the end. Write the policy on the rules sheet and check that your scoring setup uses it. Stymie currently uses an 85% allowance for its best-ball match setting, so do not assume it matches that 90% recommendation.

Step 6: Name a tie-breaker before you need one

Decide before the trip whether a tied cup is shared, retained by the defending team, or settled by a playoff if the course allows one. Write down who plays and how the playoff works.

Keep the cup standings honest

Ask one player in each match to keep scores current, and have both sides confirm the result. Stymie adds the entered match results to the running cup total, giving the crew a shared scoreboard throughout the trip.