Golf pairings solution required

12 players in 3 teams of 4. Playing 4 rounds of golf.... How do I arrange the pairings so that everybody plays each other????

There is an opportunity tp play 4 rounds with 3 different people (12 pesons)so there must be one repetition ??? There must be a formula for this but I am no mathematician. help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. croxfox@yahoo.co.uk

I am surprised that there are no comments to my question.

Could somebody point me in the correct direction where I may be able to get an answer please.

Thanks

Richard Croxford wrote:

12 players in 3 teams of 4. Playing 4 rounds of golf.... How do I arrange the pairings so that everybody plays each other????
There is an opportunity tp play 4 rounds with 3 different people (12 pesons)so there must be one repetition ??? There must be a formula for this but I am no mathematician. help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. croxfox@yahoo.co.uk

I see you had no reponse. Wish you had as I have exactly the same problem with a group of 12 I manage every year.....and like you, not being a mathematician make it impossible to arrange the pairings without excessive duplication in certain cases and the opposite in others!

Sorry, but combinatorics is not my strong suit. I have been meaning to do something about that, but I always seem to have other things on my plate.

I could fumble out a solution, but I get the impression you need something with some theoretical meat behind it. You might start with Wikipedia's article on combinatorics and see if you can come up with some links that will lead to what you need.

16 Players
5 rounds of Golf
Need pairing of 4 with the least duplication

Thanks

Richard Croxford wrote:

12 players in 3 teams of 4. Playing 4 rounds of golf.... How do I arrange the pairings so that everybody plays each other????
There is an opportunity tp play 4 rounds with 3 different people (12 pesons)so there must be one repetition ??? There must be a formula for this but I am no mathematician. help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. croxfox@yahoo.co.uk

Try using www.golfcaptains.com . It has a built in algorithm that randomly assigns players to teams which and balances handicaps.

A friend of mine is organising our golf trip and has the same issue. 12 players, 4 rounds each.
I've found this link:
http://probablegolfinstruction.com/tournament...

You have to pay to download a spreadsheet. Unfortunately my friend isn't willing to pay so we'll end up not playing everyone.

Jeff Kennedy wrote:

16 Players
5 rounds of Golf
Need pairing of 4 with the least duplication
Thanks

This is probably too late.... but just in case. I have a schedule for 16 players for 5 weeks: four players play with everyone else once, of the other 12, they repeat play with two players, don't play with two players and play once with the remainder. I also have a schedule for 11 weeks in which everyone plays with everyone else twice. email me at qballpool@gmail.com for full details.

The best source for golf pairings is Golfsort.com .

Included there is a perfect pairings for 16 golfers, 5 events. Each golfer plays once, and only once, with each of the other 15 golfers.

Golfsort provides history based pairings for golf leagues where no one plays with anyone he/she played with before, or at least not for a long time.

8 players 6 rounds

How do I spread this with as little duplication as possible?

Richard Croxford wrote:

I am surprised that there are no comments to my question.
Could somebody point me in the correct direction where I may be able to get an answer please.
Thanks

It is impossible.

randy shankle wrote:

8 players 6 rounds
How do I spread this with as little duplication as possible?

The following will allow everyone to play with everyone else at least twice over the six rounds,(in fact you'll play with most of the others three times).

If you can expand the number of rounds to seven, you can have everyone play with everyone exactly three times (once as a partner within the foursome, twice as an opponent). If you can't expand the number of rounds, just use the first six and you'll still end up with a fairly well-balanced schedule:

Foursome: 1 2
Round1: 18/26 34/57
Round2: 28/37 45/16
Round3: 38/14 56/72
Round4: 48/25 67/13
Round5: 58/36 17/24
Round6: 68/47 12/35
Round7: 78/15 23/46

expl: "18/26" means 1 partners with 8 against 2 and 6.

Hope this helps

bob wrote:

<quoted text>
The following will allow everyone to play with everyone else at least twice over the six rounds,(in fact you'll play with most of the others three times).
If you can expand the number of rounds to seven, you can have everyone play with everyone exactly three times (once as a partner within the foursome, twice as an opponent). If you can't expand the number of rounds, just use the first six and you'll still end up with a fairly well-balanced schedule:
Foursome: 1 2
Round1: 18/26 34/57
Round2: 28/37 45/16
Round3: 38/14 56/72
Round4: 48/25 67/13
Round5: 58/36 17/24
Round6: 68/47 12/35
Round7: 78/15 23/46
expl: "18/26" means 1 partners with 8 against 2 and 6.
Hope this helps

What would the numbers be for 8 players and 4 rounds!

Richard

Did you ever get a satisfactory solution to your query? I have the same issue coming up in a coupe of months, namely 12 of us playig in 3 groups on 4 different courses.

Cheers

Terry

Richard Croxford wrote:

12 players in 3 teams of 4. Playing 4 rounds of golf.... How do I arrange the pairings so that everybody plays each other????
There is an opportunity tp play 4 rounds with 3 different people (12 pesons)so there must be one repetition ??? There must be a formula for this but I am no mathematician. help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. croxfox@yahoo.co.uk

Need a format for 9 players playing 3 somes for 3 rounds with as few duplications as possible.

I have a trip coming up with 8 players and 4 rounds.
I have found that 1 of these 2 options is the best you'll get:

Option1:(You play with one player 3 times, 4 players twice, and 2 players once)

1 7 1 1
2 8 7 6
3 1 3 3
4 2 5 8

5 3 2 2
6 4 8 5
7 5 4 4
8 6 6 7

Option2:(You play with 6 players twice and one not at all)

1 7 1 6
2 8 7 7
3 1 3 2
4 2 5 3

5 3 2 8
6 4 8 5
7 5 4 1
8 6 6 4

I prefer Option 1 as at least you get to play with everyone on the tour.

having lived with this problem for 15 years, and having a Ph.D. in operations research, i finally decided to deal with it. i have both an integer programming solution and an excellent algorithm implemented. input is number of golfers, number of rounds, who is missing from rounds, who must always play together, and who must be spread among groups (e.g., players 1,2,3 and 4 should always be in different groups). i would be happy to run some real world cases and send you the results - both a text file and an ecxel spreadsheet are created. contact me at mdzisman@gmail.com. this is going to be part of a larger web site supporting buddy golf trips - paitings, marked scorecards, tournaments, group expenses, etc.

contact is mdzisman@gmail.com

I contacted Mike Zisman and he was able to run the combinations I requested, AND FAST!! I wanted 12 players, in 4 groups for 6 & 7 rounds. The players in each group played each other only once and the rest of the pairing were set up for the maximum diversity. Most played each other twice, a few three times. It was PERFECT. He even sent a spreadsheet with the pairing and times played for each. I'd suggest you contact him for assistance, the man is a wizard with this. I for one, am looking forward to his web site. Thanks again Mike.

Mike Zisman responded very quickly to my query re 12 golfers playing 4 rounds. Saved me a lot of time.