The 4-Man Cha Cha Cha Golf Format

The 4-Man Cha Cha Cha golf tournament format employs four-person teams and a three-hole rotation for determining how many scores are used to create the team score. On each hole, one score, two combined scores or three combined scores make up the team's score, depending on where the hole falls in that rotation.

This format has several other names, the most common of which is 1-2-3 Best Ball. Irish Four Ball and Arizona Shuffle are very similar (but not identical) formats.

The name of this game derives from the first hole in the rotation being referred to as "cha" (or "the cha hole"). The second hole in the rotation is cha cha, and the third hole is cha cha cha.

The Hole Rotation in 4-Man Cha Cha Cha

On the first hole (cha), the one single, low score among the four teammates counts as the team score. On the second hole (cha cha), the two low balls combined count as the team score. On the third hole (cha cha cha), the three low balls combined count as the team score.

The rotation starts over on the fourth hole.

Note that 4-Man Cha Cha Cha is not a scramble; each member of the team plays his or her own golf ball throughout. Each member of the team tracks his score, and the hole rotation determines how many of those scores count on each hole.

A Scoring Example in 4-Man Cha Cha Cha

The scoring is pretty simple, but just to make sure it's clear, here's an example.

On Hole 1, the four golfers on the team score 5, 4, 7 and 6. The one low ball counts, so 4 is the team's score.

On Hole 2, the team members score 5, 5, 6 and 7. The two low scores count on the second hole, to the team score for Hole 2 is 10 (five plus five).

On Hole 3, the scores of the team members are 3, 6, 5 and 4. The three low scores count on the third hole, so the team score is 12 (three plus four plus five).

On the fourth hole, the rotation starts over with the one low score counting for the team score.