The rules
40 Balls is played by every group in the field at once, each group as a team. Everyone plays their own ball and posts a normal score. What changes is how the group’s scores add up.
In Irish Rumble the number of balls that count on each hole is set before the round. In 40 Balls the group sets it themselves, after the hole, with one condition: by the end of the round the counts have to add up to exactly forty.
1
Play the hole
Everyone holes out and posts a score, as in any stroke round.
2
Pick the count
The group decides how many nets count, from none to all four. The best ones count.
3
Land on forty
Over eighteen holes the counts must total forty. Lowest group total against par wins.
Picking the count
The choice is made after the scores are in, so the group is never guessing. It sees four nets and decides how many to use.
1
Work out each net. Gross minus strokes, capped at net double bogey. That’s the usual setting. Some events play it gross.
2
Choose a number, 0 to 4. The best nets up to that number count. You pick how many, never which ones.
3
Score the hole against par. Two nets of 3 on a par 4 are −2. Counting none on a hole scores it level.
One hole back, and no further
You can change a hole’s count until the next hole has been scored. Mis-tapped on the 5th? Fix it on the way to the 6th tee. Once the 6th has scores, the 5th is locked.
Slack and the average
A foursome could count up to 72 balls over eighteen holes. It has to count 40, so it starts with 32 it can leave out. Two numbers tell the group where it stands.
Average needed
Balls left divided by holes left. At the start it’s 40 over 18, about 2.2 a hole. Count one ball on a hole and it rises. Count four and it falls.
Slack
How many balls you can still leave out: holes left × 4, minus balls left. Every ball you leave out spends one. It never comes back.
WHEN THE SLACK RUNS OUT
At zero slack, every ball counts on every hole to the finish, good or bad. A group that skipped too many early can find itself counting all four on the 16th, 17th and 18th. It works the other way too: a group that has already counted forty counts nothing on the holes that are left.
Threesomes
A group of three plays 30 balls, up to three a hole. That’s 54 possible, so a threesome starts with 24 balls of slack. There’s no borrowed fourth ball. The budget shrinks instead.
So the totals compare fairly, a threesome’s finished total is multiplied by 4/3. A threesome at −6 on thirty balls ranks as −8, alongside the foursomes on forty.
Handicaps and money
Net at full handicap, unless the TD says otherwise
The usual setting is net, at 100% of each golfer’s course handicap, with every score capped at net double bogey before the group picks. The tournament director can switch to gross, lower the allowance or turn the cap off.
The group wins, the golfers split it
Everyone in the field pays the same entry. The winning group takes the place and splits it among its golfers. Tied groups split the place. There’s no countback.
Instead of Irish Rumble, not as well as
A round runs one group-nets game: 40 Balls, Irish Rumble or Better Ball. It’s a fresh game each round, with its own entry.
Scoring it without the arithmetic
The choice on each hole is easy. Keeping the running budget in your head is not. On the 13th green someone has to know how many balls are left, what the group needs to average, and whether skipping this hole puts them in a corner on the last three.
Halved keeps the count. Post the scores, tap a number, and the best nets light up with the hole’s result beside them.
Average and slack, every hole
Both update as you tap, so you see what a count costs before you commit to it.
No impossible counts
A count that would leave you short of forty, or over it, can’t be picked. When only one is left, it’s set for you.
Every group’s budget on the board
The leaderboard shows each group’s balls used and slack, and opens the full card.
Forty balls. Know where every one went.
Free for the group. Post gross scores and Halved works out the nets, keeps the budget and shows the field where it stands.
Questions people ask
Can we count zero balls on a hole?
Yes. The hole scores level par for the group and costs four balls of slack. Save it for a hole where nobody played well.
Do we choose which golfers count?
No. You choose how many. The best nets up to that number count automatically.
What if we finish with balls left over?
You can’t. Once your slack reaches zero, every ball counts on every hole that’s left, so the round always lands on exactly forty.
Can we change a count later?
Only the last hole you played, and only until the next hole is scored. After that it’s locked.
How is this different from Irish Rumble?
In Irish Rumble the count on each hole is fixed before the round. In 40 Balls the group chooses it after each hole, inside a budget of forty.