A group of 12 golfers go on holiday to play 5 rounds in 3 groups of 4.
Is it possible for each player to play with every other at least once and no
more than 2 or 3 times?
The nearest I can get is each player to play with a permanent partner and
play each of the other pairs in turn.
This means that each player plays with everyone else, but is "stuck" with
his partner for all 5 rounds.
I wondered if Excel could come up with a better solution.....maybe play with
10 out of 11 others but no more than twice with any one player. I've got no
idea how to set this out in excel.

Maybe someone will jump in with a solution, but just to mention...
In general, these are difficult to solve.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SocialGolferProblem.html

--
HTH. :)
Dana DeLouis
Windows XP, Office 2003


"Dennis Saunders" wrote in message
...
A group of 12 golfers go on holiday to play 5 rounds in 3 groups of 4.
Is it possible for each player to play with every other at least once and
no more than 2 or 3 times?
The nearest I can get is each player to play with a permanent partner and
play each of the other pairs in turn.
This means that each player plays with everyone else, but is "stuck" with
his partner for all 5 rounds.
I wondered if Excel could come up with a better solution.....maybe play
with 10 out of 11 others but no more than twice with any one player. I've
got no idea how to set this out in excel.