How come twosomes are preferred over threesomes in most important tournaments? I would think that threesomes would be more tv friendly and allow for more complex interplay between players. Foursomes, which work for most of us hackers, would create too much congestion (especially with the caddies).
Not a bad point, but with that thread title I was expecting a somewhat spicier post. 
Yeah. I figured there was a Tiger Woods allusion in there somewhere.
I don’t watch a ton of galf, but wouldn’t having an extra player in each group slow down the television coverage interminably?
Typically, Two-Somes play in 4 hours and three-somes play in 5 hours*.
WAG: Ignoring Golf Channel’s lead-in coverage, the CBS/NBC usually devote a 3 - 4 hour programming window. With Two-somes, the Network gets more can get the leaders for all 18 holes on Sunday. with threesomes, they are going to lose the first 4-5 holes that the leaders play.
- Too fricking slow, but that is another topic.
To see the impact of threesomes as opposed to twosomes:
Last year, the Masters on day 1 ran 32 threesomes, the last going out at 2:03 pm. On day 3, they ran 27 twosomes, the last going out at 3:00 pm. One day one, the pairings are separated by 11 min., on day 3, they are separated by 10 min.
Since the last groups are expected to finish at about the same time each of those days, clearly the tournament believes that the threesome needs about an extra hour to finish. It also figures that it takes the pairs less time to play the first hole than the threesomes, though the difference in pairing times of only one minute probably underestimates the savings in time (60 min. divided by 18 holes is about 3 min. a hole).
There’s also an advantage to the competitors, since they don’t have to wait as long between shots when playing in a twosome.