Tie-breaking is not standard across all forms of golf. Different types of competition -- match, stoke and tournament -- have different approaches to breaking ties. In a friendly match, you may be content to accept the tie, but a country club also may record the results of matches between players and require that ties be broken. Usually, the tie-breaking procedures will be explained to your before any organized competition, but it's useful to know what you should expect in different situations.
Step 1
Use the last nine holes to determine the tie-breaker in general situations or in match play. When it is not feasible to play extra holes to determine a winner, the winners determined based on recent play. Usually, this means that whoever scores the best in the last nine holes will get victory. If there is a draw after nine, use the last six holes, and then the last three holes, if needed.
Step 2
Play an extra 18 holes in stroke play. When 18 holes is not feasible, play an abbreviated number of holes as allowed under the rules of a specific tournament. The United States Golf Association does not recommend sudden death in stroke play. Instead, try to play another 18, nine, six or three holes -- the more, the better. The winner of this extra round is the victor.
Step 3
Proceed to sudden-death overtime. This is the common method for tournament play when two or more players tie after multiple rounds. In this case, players play extra holes until one has a better score than the other on a hole.
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