Game Format

Best Front Nine & Best Back Nine

Also known as: Best Front 9, Best Back 9, Front Nine / Back Nine Competition

Best Front Nine and Best Back Nine are individual golf competitions where the winner is determined by their score on just one half of the course. They are most commonly used as side games alongside a full 18-hole tournament, giving players extra prizes to compete for without any additional setup. Each player plays their normal round, and Squabbit automatically calculates the front nine and back nine results.

At a Glance

Type: Individual game
Players: Any number
Scoring: Stroke play, Stableford, or Quota
Handicaps: On by default (net score)
Wins: Best score on the Front 9 (holes 1–9) or Back 9 (holes 10–18)

The Rules

The rules are straightforward — every player plays their own ball as normal, and the competition is decided by their score on just nine holes:

Best Front Nine: Only holes 1 through 9 count. The player with the best score on those nine holes wins.
Best Back Nine: Only holes 10 through 18 count. The player with the best score on those nine holes wins.
Players play their full 18-hole round as usual — no changes to how you play.
With handicaps enabled (the default), strokes are applied to the relevant nine holes and the best net score wins.
With handicaps off, the lowest gross score on the nine holes wins.

Tip: Because players are simply playing their normal round, Best Front Nine and Best Back Nine add zero extra effort — they are purely a different way of evaluating the scores that are already being recorded.

Example Round

Three players finish an 18-hole round. A Best Front Nine and Best Back Nine side game are both running alongside the main tournament:

Best Front Nine (Holes 1–9) — Net Scores

Player A: Gross 42, Handicap strokes on front 9: 5 → Net 37

Player B: Gross 39, Handicap strokes on front 9: 2 → Net 37

Player C: Gross 44, Handicap strokes on front 9: 8 → Net 36

Best Front Nine winner: Player C (net 36)

Best Back Nine (Holes 10–18) — Net Scores

Player A: Gross 40, Handicap strokes on back 9: 4 → Net 36

Player B: Gross 43, Handicap strokes on back 9: 6 → Net 37

Player C: Gross 46, Handicap strokes on back 9: 7 → Net 39

Best Back Nine winner: Player A (net 36)

Notice that different players can win each half. Player C had the best front nine but Player A had the best back nine — giving two different winners from the same round.

Using as Side Games

The most popular way to use Best Front Nine and Best Back Nine is as side games running alongside a main 18-hole tournament. This is a great way to add extra competition and prizes without changing anything about how the round is played.

Why use them as side games?

More winners: Instead of a single overall champion, you can award prizes for Best Front Nine, Best Back Nine, and the overall tournament — three winners from one round.
Keeps players engaged: Even if someone has a rough start, they can still compete for the Best Back Nine prize. Conversely, a player who fades on the back nine might still take home the front nine award.
No extra effort: Players don’t have to do anything differently. Squabbit calculates the results automatically from the scores already being entered.
Popular for league play and outings: Many golf leagues and charity events use front nine and back nine prizes as standard awards.

Note: You can run both Best Front Nine and Best Back Nine at the same time alongside your main game. Add them both as side games and Squabbit handles the rest.

Handicap Options

By default, both Best Front Nine and Best Back Nine use net scoring with handicaps enabled. This levels the playing field so golfers of all skill levels have a fair chance at winning each half.

How handicap strokes are distributed

A player’s full 18-hole course handicap is distributed across all 18 holes based on the hole stroke index (difficulty ranking). Only the strokes that fall on holes 1–9 count toward the front nine competition, and only strokes on holes 10–18 count toward the back nine.

This means a player with a course handicap of 18 will typically get about 9 strokes on each half, but the exact split depends on the hole stroke indexes at the course being played.

Gross scoring

If you prefer, you can turn handicaps off to run a gross competition where the lowest raw score wins. This favors lower-handicap players but is simpler to understand.

Scoring Options

Best Front Nine and Best Back Nine support three scoring methods:

Stroke Play (default)

The total number of strokes on the nine holes determines the winner. Lowest score wins. This is the most common and straightforward option.

Stableford

Each hole earns points based on the score relative to par (e.g., 2 points for a par, 3 for a birdie). The highest point total on the nine holes wins. Stableford rewards aggressive play and minimizes the damage from one bad hole.

Quota

Similar to Stableford, but each player is given a point target (quota) based on their handicap. The winner is the player who exceeds their quota by the most on the nine holes. This is another great option for mixed-handicap groups.

Setting Up in Squabbit

As a side game (recommended)

Create your main tournament or casual game as usual (e.g., Stroke Play, Stableford, or any other format).
On the game setup screen, tap Add Side Game.
Choose Best Front 9, Best Back 9, or both.
Adjust handicap and scoring settings if desired (the defaults work well for most groups).
Start the round. Scores entered for the main game are automatically used for the side games — no double entry needed.

As a standalone game

You can also run Best Front Nine or Best Back Nine as the primary game if you only want to compete on one half of the course:

Create a new tournament or casual game.
Under format, choose Best Front 9 or Best Back 9.
Add your players and start the round.
Scores are entered for all 18 holes, but only the relevant 9 holes determine the winner.

Note: When used as a side game, the Best Front Nine and Best Back Nine results appear on their own leaderboard tab within the tournament, separate from the main game results.