Fair pairings balance two things: skill (no foursome stacked with all the low handicaps) and variety (people don't play with the same three every week). The simplest reliable method is an ABCD draw: rank players by handicap, split them into four tiers, and build each group with one player from each tier, while checking your pairing history so last month's foursomes don't repeat.
Nothing quietly kills a regular golf group faster than pairings that feel rigged. Either the same four buddies always play together, or the new guy keeps getting stuck with the slowest group. Here's how to build pairings people trust, without spending Thursday night on a spreadsheet.
What "fair" actually means
When players complain about pairings, they're complaining about one of three things:
- Competitive balance. In team formats, one group shouldn't have a clear edge on paper.
- Social mixing. Players want to meet the rest of the group, not just their carpool.
- Logistics. Real constraints like tee times, who's walking, and who has to leave early.
Good pairings solve for all three, in that order of visibility: balance is what people argue about, mixing is what keeps a group together over a season, and logistics are what make the day run.
Method 1: Random draw
Names in a hat. It's perfectly impartial, and that's both its strength and its weakness. Over a few weeks you'll get lopsided groups and the occasional repeat foursome. It works for one-off outings, not for a group that plays all season.
Method 2: The ABCD draw (best default)
Sort your players by handicap and split them into four equal tiers: A (lowest handicaps) through D (highest). Then build each foursome with one player from each tier, drawn randomly within the tier. Every group ends up with a similar spread of ability, and the randomness keeps it from feeling hand-picked.
For scrambles and best ball, check the team totals afterward. If one group's combined handicap is more than a few strokes off the others, swap two players in the same tier.
PLYR's auto-pairings balance skill and avoid last month's foursomes. You review, tweak and publish in a couple of taps.
Try it free →Method 3: A rotation schedule
If your group is a fixed size, you can plan the whole season so everyone plays with everyone. Mathematicians even have a name for this: the social golfer problem. The neat case is 16 players: with four foursomes a week, there's a five-week schedule where every player plays with each of the other 15 exactly once.
The catch is that real groups aren't fixed. Someone always cancels, a guest shows up, and the schedule falls apart by week two. Rotation schedules are great on paper and fragile in practice.
Method 4: Pairing history (what actually works all season)
Keep a simple record of who has played with whom. Before you publish each week's groups, look for pairs that have played together a lot and split them up, and pairs that have never played together and put them together. Combined with an ABCD draw, this gets you balance and variety without needing a fixed schedule.
Doing this by hand is tedious, which is why most commissioners give up on it by June. It's exactly the kind of bookkeeping software should do for you.
Odd numbers: 13, 14 and 15 players
Fill out foursomes and use threesomes for the remainder:
- 13 players: one foursome and three threesomes
- 14 players: two foursomes and two threesomes
- 15 players: three foursomes and one threesome
Avoid twosomes. They play faster than everyone else and end up stacked behind a foursome anyway. Put threesomes off the first tee time so the pace of play stays even.
Handling special requests
"Put me with Dave, he's driving." "Not with my boss." Requests are fine, but set a rule: requests are honored for logistics (carpools, early departures), not for picking teammates. Write it down in your group rules so you're not deciding it case by case.
"Players don't need perfect pairings. They need pairings that are clearly not rigged."
Publish groups at least a day ahead and stop changing them after that. If someone drops, fill the hole with your waitlist, not by reshuffling everyone. For bigger fields, see running an outing with 20+ players.
Frequently asked questions
How do you make fair golf pairings?
Rank players by handicap, split them into four tiers (A to D), and build each foursome with one player from each tier. Then check pairing history so the same players are not grouped together week after week.
What is an ABCD draw in golf?
A method of building groups where players are divided into four tiers by handicap and each team or foursome gets one A, one B, one C and one D player, drawn at random within each tier.
How do you split 13 or 14 golfers into groups?
Use foursomes and threesomes. 13 players is one foursome and three threesomes; 14 players is two foursomes and two threesomes; 15 is three foursomes and one threesome.
How many weeks does it take for everyone to play with everyone?
With 16 players in four foursomes, five weeks is the minimum, and a perfect five-week rotation exists where each player plays with every other player exactly once. Other group sizes need more weeks or will have some repeats.
Should golf pairings be random?
Pure random draws are fair but produce lopsided groups and repeat foursomes over a season. A tiered (ABCD) draw keeps the randomness while balancing skill.