For some of you, it’s golf as it should be – a battle of minds as well as shots, the toughest test the game can offer. But foursomes is golf’s Marmite, revered by a few and yet repelled by many more.
Plenty of players instinctively feel it’s a wasted round. And so it languishes in the wasteland of lots of clubs, destined to be palmed off as a cursory winter comp. If it’s seen at all.
But on The NCG Golf Podcast, we love it. And after our Tom Irwin and Nicola Slater tried their luck in the Sunningdale Foursomes – the curtain-raiser to the golf season in Europe – he came back singing the format’s praises.
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“I personally would play it all the time,” he explained. “I think it’s because so much of it represents what golf is about.
“The conversation is better, because you’re walking with your opponent while your partner is with the other person in their pair. There is a natural conviviality that comes with it.
“I think golf is a ridiculous game by nature. You’re batting a ball around a mown field with a stick at the end of the day. It’s kind of a silly game, a game that’s designed to be giggly.
“We wear silly clothes to do it, the rules are arcane, and the rest of it. Foursomes is that writ large because, all of a sudden, you’re in the hands of someone else in terms of how the game is going to go. They might hit you into a bush, or an impossible lie, or a bunker, and you’ve just got to accept that.
“Part of that acceptance has got to be humour, because you do end up in some really daft spots that are not of your own making.
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“It’s just an art. There is a rhythm to it, because the only thing that really matters is: what shot am I leaving my partner?
Irwin added: “It changes your mindset. I think, ‘how can I get his ball close to the green’, or ‘how am I going to create a birdie putt?’
“But what you’re actually thinking is, ‘I don’t want to leave my partner in a pickle. I need to make sure my partner has got a possible shot’.
“That is definitely a shift in mindset in how you approach the golf course. There is this whole strategic element which I don’t think really features in many formats of the game.”
Golfers walking | Source: Getty Images
Why do club golfers have an issue with foursomes?
But when do you really see it in competitions at lots of clubs? Summer calendars are dominated by fourballs – whether stroke play or match play.
Your club might stretch to a greensomes, where each partner hits a drive, the best is chosen, and then it’s alternative shot from there. But it’s more often a one-off rather than a regular feature of club competition life.
Our year is chock-full of Stableford competitions. Even Texas Scrambles get more of a run-out. And yet foursomes was once the very essence of the game.
If you go back to the titanic time of Old and Young Tom Morris, they weren’t putting out for points. They were only infrequently playing stroke play. But they were often playing alternate shot.
So why can it be such a tough sell?
My experience is lots of golfers just don’t like the idea of only playing half the shots in a round.
I’ve always found that a curious argument given how often core members play. How much of a hardship is it really to just do something different every once in a while.
But players are keen to play their own ball when they come to the club.
Part of the resistance must also be the difficulty of the format. It’s the purest form of the game, in my opinion, because it’s also the most unforgiving.
How many golfers have complete confidence in consistently keeping the ball in play at our level? That’s the primary concern in foursomes.
If you can hit the ball relatively straight and keep your partner out of trouble – if you can avoid doing anything really daft – you’re going to come up trumps more often than not.
Personally, I love the tactical elements. I’m only hitting half the shots, but I’m engrossed 100 per cent of the time.
It brings in all the things that rarely come up in fourballs, where the emphasis is always on getting it as close to the hole as possible.
In foursomes, you’re thinking: which ball is the best for us to use? What order are we going to go in? Which holes on the course suit which partner best? What are my partner’s strengths and weaknesses? What are mine?
I love the whole process. I love thinking about the game all the way round. And I love the way a match can turn on a single slice or hook.
I understand this isn’t for everyone and I understand golfers don’t necessarily want to treat a round like it’s a game of chess.
But I’d love to understand why more club golfers don’t always get behind foursomes. You might only hit half the shots, but you’re involved in every one.
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For me, that’s as good as golf gets.
Main image: foursomes golfers at a green | Source: Adobe Stock
What do you think about foursomes?
Do you enjoy playing foursomes, or is it rightly shunned at your club? Let us know in the comments, email me at s.carroll@nationalclubgolfer.com or get in touch on X.
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