One, two, three. One score counts on the first hole, two on the second, three on the third, and then the count starts over. A team best-ball game with a rhythm to it, and a regular on British and Irish club competition sheets.
Every player plays their own ball. On holes 1, 4, 7, 10, 13 and 16 the team’s best score counts; on 2, 5, 8, 11, 14 and 17, the best two; on 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18, the best three. It’s usually played as Stableford, adding the points that count.
The Waltz is a best-ball game for teams of three or four where the number of scores that count changes on every hole, in a 1-2-3 pattern that repeats six times. In a three, every player’s score counts on the third hole of each set; in a four, one score is always dropped.
The name changes with the country. On British and Irish club competition sheets it’s the Waltz or the Cha Cha Cha, and it’s usually played as Stableford. In the US you’ll see it as 1-2-3 best ball or progressive best ball, often on net strokes. The game is the same.
Worked example. A team of three playing Stableford, first three holes.
Twelve points from three holes, and the 0 on the 2nd never mattered. On the 3rd, with everyone counting, it would have.
Reverse Waltz. The count runs 3-2-1 instead, so the round ends with a single best ball counting on the 18th.
Par-based count. A variant ties the count to par instead of the hole number: three scores count on par 3s, two on par 4s, one on par 5s.
Irish four-ball. A four-person variant runs the count 1-2-3-4 over four holes, so on every fourth hole the whole team counts.
Handicaps. Each player takes their own strokes by stroke index; full handicap is common in casual play, and club competitions set their own allowance.
The Waltz vs. Best Balls. Best Balls counts the same number of scores on every hole. The Waltz changes it every hole, and a 1-2-3 by sixes (one on the first six holes, two on the next six, three on the last six) is a different game again.
Waltz isn’t one of the formats Duck Hook Golf scores yet. The free app scores 32 others — skins, Nassau, Wolf, Vegas, Stableford, Snake and the rest — and does the arithmetic and the settle-up for you.
Get the free app Browse all 52 gamesA Waltz is a team format for threes or fours in which the number of scores that count rotates 1-2-3: the best score on the first hole, the best two on the second and the best three on the third, repeated six times. It’s usually played as Stableford.
Yes, in most clubs Cha Cha Cha is another name for the same 1-2-3 game, sometimes used for the four-person version. In the US it’s often called 1-2-3 best ball or progressive best ball.
Either. In the UK and Ireland it’s usually Stableford, adding the points that count; as 1-2-3 best ball in the US it’s often net stroke play, adding the scores that count.
The same game with the count reversed: three scores on the first hole of each set, two on the second, one on the third.
Not yet. Duck Hook Pro’s Best Balls counts the same number of scores on every hole, set for the game; the rotating count isn’t an option.
Same energy, different game. Everything below has a full rules guide of its own.
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