Hi/Lo is a two on two golf game that settles two bets on every hole instead of one. One point goes to the side with the better best ball and one point goes to the side with the better worst ball, which means the man having a bad day is worth exactly as much as the man having a good one.
It is the game for a foursome where the handicaps do not match, because a team cannot win it with one good player. Both of you have to turn up.
This is a simulation, not a live round. Tap the green Start Simulation button to learn the game and watch this made up match unfold one hole at a time. Just like in our app, you'll see a summary of the drama below the holes and a leaderboard.
The scores above are invented, but the scoring is not: this is the same card and the same live leaderboard your group sees on Big Fairways while you play.
Play HI/LO Now! Big Fairways works out both points and the sweep on every holeHi/Lo, sometimes written high low, is a four player team game. Two points are available on every hole:
Win the low ball and you have won the hole with your good score. Win the high ball and you have won it with your bad one. A side that wins both has swept the hole, which most groups reward with a bonus point.
It settles like a match: at the end, the side that is up on points collects the difference at whatever a point is worth.
Hi/Lo needs exactly four players. Before the round starts, agree the teams, the value of a point and whether the sweep bonus is in play.
On each hole:
Because the two points are decided separately, a hole can finish one point each and change nothing at all. That is normal, and it is why the sweep matters so much.
In an ordinary better ball game, the weaker partner can pick the ball up and nobody minds. In Hi/Lo he cannot, because his score is half the hole. A team with one scratch player and one twenty handicap will win plenty of low balls and lose plenty of high balls, and the match stays close.
It also changes how you play. There is a point in laying up, in taking your medicine out of the trees, and in holing out a five footer for a double bogey when your partner is already in for par.
Say Pete and Dan are playing Alex and Allen on a par 4, all scores net.
Pete and Dan win the low ball with the 4. Alex and Allen win the high ball with the 5. One point each, no sweep, and the match is unchanged. Had Dan made a 5 instead of a 6, his side would have swept the hole and taken three points.
Before teeing off, agree on:
The one worth settling first is what happens when somebody picks up. In Hi/Lo that is not a formality, it is a point.
If you are playing Hi/Lo for the first time, use this simple version:
Hi/Lo is the fairest two on two game there is, because it refuses to let one player carry a team. It keeps the higher handicapper involved on every hole and it keeps the better player honest, which is a rare combination in a betting game.
If your regular foursome has one very good player and three ordinary ones, this is the game that makes the match worth playing.
Keep score automatically and settle up in the app Low ball, high ball, sweeps and the settle up at the endTwo points are on offer every hole. One goes to the side with the better low score, one to the side with the better high score. A tie on either comparison halves that point, and a side that wins both outright sweeps the hole for a bonus point. The side ahead at the end collects the difference.
Best ball only counts each side's better score, so a weaker partner can pick up and it costs nothing. Hi/Lo counts the worse score as well, which means both players are in the hole from the first tee shot to the last putt.
Exactly four, in two teams of two. Any more and there is no clean high ball to compare, which is why Big Fairways only offers it for a foursome.
Most groups do, and it is the format where handicaps matter most, because the high ball point is usually where the strokes fall. Allocate strokes by stroke index in the normal way.
Agree it on the first tee. The two common answers are that he takes a maximum score, usually double par, or that his side simply forfeits the high ball point on that hole. Either is fine, but it needs deciding before the first blow up.