Pink Ball Golf Game Rules: One Ball, Played in Turn, Don’t Lose It

The rules

Pink Ball runs alongside a tournament. Every golfer still plays his own ball and posts his own score. On top of that, each group carries one extra ball that the golfers take turns to play.

One ball per group

Each group starts with one pink ball, and there are no replacements. When it is gone, it is gone.

Played in turn

Each hole, the golfer whose turn it is plays the pink ball instead of his own.

Last group wins

The last group still holding its ball wins. If more than one finishes 18 with it, low group net decides.

Everyone else carries on

Losing the pink ball puts the group out of Pink Ball only. Everyone’s scores still count for the tournament and any other side games.

Lost means physically gone

A group is only out when the pink ball itself can’t be found. If you search for three minutes, put another ball in play and later find the pink ball down the fairway, you take the lost-ball penalty in your score, but your group is still in. Pick the pink ball up and play it on the next hole.

The rotation

The group agrees the order on the first tee, and that order repeats for all 18 holes. In a foursome, the golfer who plays it on the 1st plays it again on the 5th, 9th, 13th and 17th.

Holes 1, 5, 9, 13, 17. Alan

Holes 2, 6, 10, 14, 18. Beth

Holes 3, 7, 11, 15. Carl

Holes 4, 8, 12, 16. Dan

Who plays the last hole

In a foursome the second golfer in the order plays the 18th. Some groups put their steadiest player there on purpose.

Call it what you like

Pink Ball is the usual name, but it is the ball in the bag that matters. Groups play Red Ball, Devil Ball or Beer Ball, and the rules don’t change. In Halved the tournament director types in the name, up to 16 characters, and that name is used everywhere the game appears.

Ties and the money

Entry and the pot

Every golfer pays the same entry. The pot pays the winning group, and the prize splits among its real golfers.

More than one ball alive

If two or more groups finish 18 holes with their ball, the lowest group net takes the money.

Handicap

Nets use the tournament’s own allowance, and the net double bogey cap is always applied before groups are compared.

A new ball every round

Pink Ball starts again each round, with a new entry and a new pot. A group that lost it on Saturday is back in on Sunday.

Scoring it without a spreadsheet

Halved tracks the ball for every group: whose turn it is on each hole, which groups still have it, and who wins if more than one survives.

Whose turn, on every hole

The golfer carrying the ball is marked on the score entry screen.

One tap when it’s gone

Mark the ball lost and the group is out. The rest of the field is told in chat.

Its own leaderboard

Groups still holding the ball, and where they stand on net.

Everyone knows who lost it.

Free for the field. Halved tracks every group’s ball, whose turn it is, and pays the last group standing.

Download on the App Store See the other formats

Questions people ask

How does Pink Ball work?

Each group gets one pink ball, and the golfers take turns playing it in an order set on the first tee. There are no replacements. The last group still holding it wins.

What if we find the pink ball after playing another one?

You are still in. The golfer takes the lost-ball penalty in his score for that hole, and the group plays the pink ball again from the next hole. A group is only out when the ball itself is gone.