Pick a bracket size
A knockout works cleanly when the number of players is a power of two — 8, 16 or 32 — because the field halves perfectly each round down to the final. A field of 16 gives you four rounds: last 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, final. Decide how many rounds you want across the season and work back to a bracket size from there.
Seed it, so the draw is fair
Seeding means ranking players — usually by handicap, or by last season's finish — and placing them in the bracket so the strongest can't meet until late. The top seed goes at the top, the second seed at the bottom, and the rest are spread so early rounds don't accidentally pit your two best players against each other. A little care here makes the whole knockout feel fair rather than luck-of-the-draw.
Handle odd numbers with byes
Real societies rarely have exactly 16 or 32 willing entrants. When you don't, you give byes in the first round:
- Find the next power of two above your field. For 22 players, that's 32.
- Subtract your field from it: 32 − 22 = 10 byes.
- Award the byes to the top 10 seeds, so they skip round one.
From the second round the bracket is full and everything halves neatly to the final.
The classic knockout killer is a tie nobody arranges. Give each round a clear closing date and let the two players sort their own game within the window. If a tie isn't played, most societies advance the higher seed or draw lots — decide the rule up front and publish it.
Get the handicaps right
Singles match play uses the full difference in course handicaps: the lower player goes to scratch and gives the higher player every stroke of the gap, placed on the hardest holes by stroke index. A tie is scored hole by hole and won by whoever is "up" once there aren't enough holes left to catch them — "3&2" means three holes up with two to play. For the detail on allowances across every format, see our handicap allowances guide.
Running it without the paperwork
Tracking a bracket on a printed sheet pinned to the clubhouse noticeboard works — until a result goes missing or a round stalls. Caddro Society builds the knockout for you: it seeds the draw, awards the byes, tracks every tie, and advances winners automatically — even pulling the result straight from a played match-play match — so the bracket on everyone's phone is always current, right through to crowning your champion on the Roll of Honour.
Run a proper knockout this season.
Seeded brackets, automatic byes and winner progression — your club championship, tracked from first tie to final.
See match play & knockout →