It is a Stableford Format. In other words, bogeys are one point, pars are two points, birdies are four points and I think eagles are six points. I haven't been with anybody who has gotten an eagle yet in my group yet, so I'm not sure how much one is worth.
The first time you play in it, the group takes 36 and subtracts your handicap from it to establish your quota for that round. In other words, your quota would be 21 that day if you're a 15 handicapper. If you wind up with 23 points that day, your quota will be 22 the next time you play. In the event you have 15 points that day, however, your quota will be 18 the next time.
The quotas of everybody in your foursome are totaled, divided by two and that is your team's quota for the first nine holes. You also will have the same quota for the second nine holes.
Everybody puts $15.00 in the pot and the foursome that is the most over quota for the first nine gets a third of the pot. The foursome that is the most over quota for the second nine gets a third of the pot and the foursome that is the most over quota for 18 holes gets a third of the pot.
This format prevents people from sandbagging because their quotas go up if they have a great round and they go down if they have a bad round. If you continue to have bad rounds, you will hurt your team.
The participants don't pick their own foursomes. They are determined by my dentist buddy getting a golf ball from everyone before hand and throwing them up in the air. The four closest balls determine one foursome, the next four closest balls determine the second foursome, etc.
Even though our foursome wound up losing $5.00 per player and I played horribly (96) today, I still had a great time. My short game was awful today, but nobody gave me a hard time about it.