Best ball is a golf format where players are grouped into 2, 3, or 4-member teams and compete together against other teams in the field. Each player plays their own ball throughout the round, but after each hole, only the best score among the team members is recorded and counts as the score for the whole team for that hole. The team score is calculated by looking at the best score of the team members on each hole and adding up the total. The team with the lowest total score for the round wins the tournament. Best ball format allows players to play their own game while also allowing them to take advantage of their partner playing especially well on holes. Scores tend to be a bit higher in best ball than in a scramble, simply because each player has to play their own shots. Best ball tournaments are often held in the NET variety where golfers’ handicaps are taken into account. In those, golfers are awarded one free stroke on as many holes as the number of their handicap. These strokes are to be used from the most difficult hole – hole rated 1 – and onward for as many holes as they have free strokes.