Club glossary
What Is a Round Robin in Golf?
A format in which every team in a flight plays a match against every other team, often nine holes at a time, with points deciding the flight winner.
A round robin is a competition format in which every team in a group plays a match against every other team in that group. In club golf it is most often used within the flights of a member-guest: each two-person team plays a series of nine-hole four-ball matches against the other teams in its flight, earning points for each match, and the team with the most points wins the flight.
How it works
- Flights. Teams are grouped by combined handicap into flights of similar ability — commonly five to eight teams each.
- The schedule. In a flight of n teams, each team plays n − 1 matches and the flight plays n × (n − 1) ÷ 2 matches in total. A six-team flight has 15 matches, and each team plays five.
- Match length. Nine holes per match is typical, so a team plays two or three matches a day.
- Handicaps. Each player receives strokes from their Playing Handicap™ — typically at the four-ball match-play allowance of 90% — with the lowest player in each match playing off zero.
- Points. A common scheme awards two points for a match win and one for a halve. Other clubs award points per hole won, or separate points for each nine.
- Tiebreakers. Head-to-head result, holes won, a card-off or a playoff, set out in the terms before the event.
Example
A six-team flight in a member-guest plays over two days. After five matches:
| Team | W | H | L | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Team 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Team 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Team 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Team 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Team 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
Team 3 wins the flight and advances to the shoot-out against the other flight winners.
Why it matters at a private club
A round robin guarantees every team a full schedule — no one is eliminated on day one — which is why it suits a hospitality event. It is also demanding to administer: a 60-team field in ten flights plays 150 matches, each producing a result, a point total and possibly a tiebreaker. Posting points tables live, as holes are entered, is what lets the committee announce winners at dinner rather than the next morning.
Related terms
For scoring schemes and tiebreakers in depth, see round robin member-guest scoring.
In Bubs: flighted round robins are a built-in schedule type: the matches are generated for each flight, and points tables update live as players enter scores. See tournaments & scoring.