Main game · exactly 3
Defender
The threesome's game: one holds the hill, two attack, every third hole is yours.
Threesomes are golf's most common odd lot and its worst served. Defender fixes the arithmetic: one player defends each hole against the other two's better ball, rotating so every third hole is your watch.
The rules
The defender's net ball against the attackers' better net ball. Hold them off and both attackers pay you the stake; lose the hole and you pay each of them; halve and nothing moves. Rotation never skips — holes 1, 4, 7 belong to the first player, and everyone defends six holes in eighteen.
How it settles
$2 stake. You defend the 4th with a par against two bogeys: $2 from each. You defend the 7th with a 7: $2 to each. Six defenses decide your day, and you know exactly which holes they are.
Rivalry scores Defender live — the rules stated on the first tee, the money running along the bottom of the card, and the settle done to the dollar when the last putt drops. The round goes into your group's permanent record, because a game this good deserves to be remembered past the car park.
Some scores take years to settle.
Rivalry is in closed beta with a handful of groups. Leave an email and we’ll tell you when there’s room.
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