Commissioner Guides

Tournament Formats: Stroke Play, Bracket, Ryder Cup and Round Robin

2 min read · by theStick

A Tournament in theStick is a structured, bounded competition that settles on its own, with no ongoing season. There are four kinds, and choosing between them is really a question about who plays whom. Here's each one in plain terms.

Stroke Play: everyone plays their own card

The classic: everyone posts a score and the lowest total wins. It's the general-purpose kind — a Club Championship, a Net Championship, a partner or scramble day, or a plain one-day event. It supports flights, teams and a finale, and each round is a scored day with its own games settling as they go. Add an optional Combined Pool and a single tournament-long pot spans every round. Choose Stroke Play for anything where each player's own score is what counts.

Bracket: a single-elimination knockout

A seeded single-elimination draw — singles by default, or two-man team matches. You build the draw; after that, pairs schedule their own matches each stage and the bracket advances automatically from the scored rounds. A 32-player draw is five stages and a 64-player draw is six. Choose a Bracket when you want a match play knockout with a real champion and a story at every stage.

Ryder Cup: two teams, three kinds of match

Two teams play sessions of Four-Ball, Foursomes and Singles. Every match is worth a point, and the first team past the halfway mark takes the cup. It's laid out the way the real event is: the classic format runs across three days, with Four-Ball and Foursomes on each of the first two and Singles to finish. Choose it for a team weekend where captains, drafts and a shared scoreboard are the fun.

Round Robin: everyone plays everyone

Week-by-week head-to-head golf, in three kinds:

Match Play League: a season-long round robin of head-to-head matches.

Member-Guest: played inside handicap flights.

Team Play: between standing teams.

You pick which one on the next screen. Choose a Round Robin when the schedule is the point and every pairing should get played. A Round Robin is built for a bounded schedule; if you want a season that keeps going, run a League.

Which format fits your event?

Everyone should count, whatever their level: Stroke Play, with flights or a net division.

You want a champion crowned by elimination: Bracket.

You have two teams and a weekend: Ryder Cup.

You want each player to face every other player: Round Robin.

Money and pools

Every format settles its games automatically, and Stroke Play can add a Combined Pool across all rounds. Team formats and flighted match play have their own payout rules built in, and what's paid out never exceeds what was collected — every dollar is accounted for.

Spectators, too

Watchers can follow any tournament live from a link, and in a tournament the 19th Hole adds a winner market so spectators can back a player to win the whole thing. Pick'Em contests are a League feature.

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