Match Play tips

OffalyMedic

Playing in our club match play tomorrow and giving the other lady 10 shot. Any tips??

Have only played match play twice before so the more help I can get the better!!

Thanks in advance guys!

CarefulNow!

shaunac93 wrote: »

Playing in our club match play tomorrow and giving the other lady 10 shot. Any tips??

Have only played match play twice before so the more help I can get the better!!

Thanks in advance guys!

I always played the course and not the player. Concentrate on your own score. Worked for me

JIdontknow

shaunac93 wrote: »

Playing in our club match play tomorrow and giving the other lady 10 shot. Any tips??

Have only played match play twice before so the more help I can get the better!!

Thanks in advance guys!

I'd say focus on the holes she doesn't have shots on, it's a level playing field then so you have a chance to pick up a few holes there. Don't worry if you fall behind 1,2 even 3 holes as theres still chances. Also just play the course, keep it in play as anything can happen but hitting it out of bounds, into hazards etc adds shots. You don't need to play spectacular, just need to beat what's against you, while focusing on your own game. Not sure if you know the lady and her strengths and weaknesses etc but say for example she's a short hitter, her playing her second shot first gives you the advantage of seeing where it goes etc, from there you can assess what you need to do, ie go for green or lay up. (*I'm probably the worst person to take advice from on matchplay, good luck though!!)

OffalyMedic

CarefulNow! wrote:

I always played the course and not the player. Concentrate on your own score. Worked for me

Haha...laughing cause at the moment I can't even play the course...went around front 9 in 13 over today (meant to be playing off 12)..going to blame the rain....thanks for tip though!!

TLOA72

Put "me in matchplay" into search at top of page. Lots of good info there.

rocky911

Like a previous poster said concentrate on your own game Also dont give away too many putts on the green..keep em guessing.

Seve OB

i'd be making her hole out most putts. give her a couple early on, then when she has an obvious enough gimme, make her hole it. rattle her nerves

pcasso

Don't ever think that the match is over, regardless of whether you are winning or losing, until it is actually done.
if losing try to extend the match as much as possible, you never know what will happen. Don't give up
Make your opponent win the holes if you are leading and try to win some to put doubt in their mind if they are losing.
Try not to gift holes away.
Be gracious in victory or defeat.

charlieIRL

My tip....Enjoy!!

stockdam

"Play the course" is too simple. If your opponent hits the ball out of bounds then you may change your mind and be conservative to ensure that you don't follow her in.

If she hits the green and even with 3 putts you need to get down in 2 then you may be forced to fire at a tight pin. You may end up throwing the hole but unless you feel that she will 4 putt then you tried.

Overall keep the ball in play. Assume that she'll hole every putt so it doesn't throw you if she does. Don't mentally give yourself the hole. Always try to stay in the hole so that she must finish out to win. If you hit a bad shot then take a deep breath and evaluate your options and don't rush; you may think that you are out of the hole but she may mess up.

It's usually best to play conservatively and only play aggressively when you really have to (for example when you need to hole a 20 foot putt for a half).

cairny

@PGATOUR: Rory on his comebacks: "Each shot, all you're thinking is to try to put as much pressure on your opponent as you can to see how they react."

Axel Lamp

Don't panic if your opponent hits a purple patch which she most certainly will, just dig in during that stage as if your giving her ten shots the purple patch won't last long.

neckedit

Give nothing and don't expect anything. Enjoy the challenge.

OffalyMedic

Thanks for all the tips lads ended up winning 4&2. Was 2 down after 2 with 2 poor bogies after good drives. Told myself to cop on then and won the next to with pars. Then came two par 5's where she had shots and I played shocking and lost both 7's and to make matters worse she had 7's too. Gifted her them with a brutal 3 putt and worse a 4 putt..2 down again!!
Suprisingly won next 3 with Bogies to be 1 up through nine ever though I was around 10over off 12!!

Back nine was much better. Halved 10 even though she had shot and won the next 3. Now 4up through 14. Got ahead of myself and stupidly though I had it in the bag, needless to say lost the 14.

Had another little chat with myself and strambled a great par out of a bunker with an island in middle up and down over trees to 6ft and made putt for half. sensible play on 16 won me the hole and overall match 4&2.

Got to say I love match play!! Although I would have been around +6 after 18 and gone out of any other competition I ended up winning and making it to next round. Delighted with myself all down to the tips ye lads gave me

charlieIRL

Well done!

padzer

Had my first ever match yesterday, went out with a whimper.

After reading all the info on here i felt well equipped, but as soon as i stepped on the first tee all that went out the window and i never really troubled my opponent.

I was off 12, he was off 10. On the 1st tee he hooked it o.b., so i decided the sensible play was to put away the driver and take the 'sensible' 3wood.....no prizes for guessing where i ended up. Halved the hole with a pair of 8's!

3 down after 8, i managed to win the next 2 and felt like i had momentum, he steadied the ship on the 11th with a half then he suckerpunched me with a birdie from around 25foot when i was in for par.

On the 15th he was back to 3up and we both found the middle of the fairway, he was first to act, stitched it close, i weakly put mine in the bunker and that was that.

Overall, i enjoyed the game and would definitely do things differently next time around. Disappointed to have played so poorly though.

galwaylad14

padzer wrote: »

Had my first ever match yesterday, went out with a whimper.

After reading all the info on here i felt well equipped, but as soon as i stepped on the first tee all that went out the window and i never really troubled my opponent.

I was off 12, he was off 10. On the 1st tee he hooked it o.b., so i decided the sensible play was to put away the driver and take the 'sensible' 3wood.....no prizes for guessing where i ended up. Halved the hole with a pair of 8's!

3 down after 8, i managed to win the next 2 and felt like i had momentum, he steadied the ship on the 11th with a half then he suckerpunched me with a birdie from around 25foot when i was in for par.

On the 15th he was back to 3up and we both found the middle of the fairway, he was first to act, stitched it close, i weakly put mine in the bunker and that was that.

Overall, i enjoyed the game and would definitely do things differently next time around. Disappointed to have played so poorly though.

Ya I think you can get too caught up in what your opponent is doing and forget to play the course. I'd have played a good bit of matchplay over the years and I don't think I'd ever do what you did on the first especially when the 3 wood didn't actually take the trouble out of play. I think when you pick a club and a strategy on a hole you should stick to it regardless of what your opponent does unless you've chosen a very risky strategy in which case it would make sense to change it. But choosing the 3 wood over the driver there wasn't really a safer option at all.

But you learn from experience and I guarantee you'll be better at it next time. I think the most important thing is just to try stay as level headed as possible regardless of if you're up or down in the match. It's vital not to start second guessing what'll happen next even though I know myself if you're both say on the green with 30 feet putts for birdies its hard to stop yourself thinking "this will probably be halved in pars" or something along those lines.

There is definitely times to attack and defend but I think that applies to strokeplay too and I'd definitely be wary of being "too cute" by reacting too much to what your opponent does.

eoghan104

"I always played the course and not the player. Concentrate on your own score."

This is awful advice sorry. Never worry about your score on the course, you are playing the player it doesn't matter what score you shoot. As was mentioned earlier you have to change tack when they are struggling on a hole, play conservatively. Keeping the ball in play is probably the best advice you can get.

One thing to remember though is never give up. Anything can happen, ANYTHING. I have seen some mad stuff in matches over the years and you are never beaten until its over.

padzer

Yeah its a different mindset alright, all the years playing friendlies with the lads and never once have we played matchplay. Will definitely look into it before the next competition.

RoadRunner

Never played match play yet. Sounds fun after reading this thread.

Ciaranra

I play both course and player i lag if all i need is 2 putts to win.
Agressive off the tee thats how i play. If hes in trouble il play safe easy shot no pin seekers

Russman

I'm going to go against the consensus a little and say there's an awful lot of cr^p spoken about matchplay and "tactics". Good golf and common sense beats mind games or tactics any day of the week.
Its all well and good at tour level where they almost all hit good shots almost all of the time, but at club golf level where most players are as likely to hit it 60 yards offline as straight, there's no point in having a fancy battle plan if you don't know where the ball is going.

FFS its golf, take fewer shots than your opponent on a hole and chances are you'll win it.

What happens if you come up against a good player who's not "clever" enough to realise you're playing mind games with him..........?

Good golfers (at any handicap level) don't need gamesmanship or tactics to win a match IMHO.

slingerz

keep the ball in play. nothing worse than screwing yourself cos you chucked it out of bounds. accept that you are going to lose some holes and dont let it bother yuo.

i have the second round of our match play coming up so hopefully i heed my own advice!

alxmorgan

Always assume your opponent will make it/hit a good shot
Played a guy off 10 who used to play off 2 in our first round.
He made a putt on our 4th green which I have never seen anyone even get close.
From then on I assumed he would make everything and for a while he did.
Nothing worse than your bubble being deflated thinking you have a putt for a win and a simple 2 putt for half and then needing to hole it for half.

slingerz

slingerz wrote: »

keep the ball in play. nothing worse than screwing yourself cos you chucked it out of bounds. accept that you are going to lose some holes and dont let it bother yuo.

i have the second round of our match play coming up so hopefully i heed my own advice!

my opponent rang me today to fix our match. he's in a good run of form at the moment after winning a couple of comps in recent weeks and posting good scores when not winning.

Going to be unavailable for a while and hope his hot streak comes to an end!!

BigChap1759

Russman wrote: »

I'm going to go against the consensus a little and say there's an awful lot of cr^p spoken about matchplay and "tactics". Good golf and common sense beats mind games or tactics any day of the week.
Its all well and good at tour level where they almost all hit good shots almost all of the time, but at club golf level where most players are as likely to hit it 60 yards offline as straight, there's no point in having a fancy battle plan if you don't know where the ball is going.

FFS its golf, take fewer shots than your opponent on a hole and chances are you'll win it.

What happens if you come up against a good player who's not "clever" enough to realise you're playing mind games with him..........?

Good golfers (at any handicap level) don't need gamesmanship or tactics to win a match IMHO.

Couldn't agree more - I find the main thing is to keep the ball in play and give yourself a chance on every hole. It's amazing how many times you half/win holes you could feel you're out off if your head went down. Safe play generally wins the day.

Rikand

I played a match tuesday evening and even though I wasn't feeling very well, I played well. I won on the 12th.

I played a match yesterday evening with my Dad in foursomes against two other guys. 3 people in the group played well, I didnt, probably down to the fact I wasn't feeling very well. As a result myself and my dad were beaten.

Both matches had to be played by Sunday so just had to get them out of the way irregardless of how I was feeling, lol

Russman

Rikand wrote: »

I played a match tuesday evening and even though I wasn't feeling very well, I played well. I won on the 12th.

I played a match yesterday evening with my Dad in foursomes against two other guys. 3 people in the group played well, I didnt, probably down to the fact I wasn't feeling very well. As a result myself and my dad were beaten.

Both matches had to be played by Sunday so just had to get them out of the way irregardless of how I was feeling, lol

Yeah, foursomes is one of those things where it takes two players for the pair to play well, but only one person off his game for the pair to play badly.
I remember playing with someone, (who shall remain nameless ) and on one par 5, he had three shanks into the trees - I kept chipping out only to be hit back in !! Mind you, I've often been the culprit in other matches, but we still laugh about that one.

PARlance

Russman wrote: »

Yeah, foursomes is one of those things where it takes two players for the pair to play well, but only one person off his game for the pair to play badly.
I remember playing with someone, (who shall remain nameless ) and on one par 5, he had three shanks into the trees - I kept chipping out only to be hit back in !! Mind you, I've often been the culprit in other matches, but we still laugh about that one.

You should have chipped it further into the trees after the second time he did it... he might have shanked it onto the green from in there

Tiger Mcilroy

I played foursomes with a lad a few years back and he proclaimed to me "im a good putter and iron player".. 12 holes later having to chip or pitch on after he missed every green and leaving me stymied..we were beat on 12 after he missed his 4th 5 footer of the day he turned round and said "you left me a hard putt"... the other lads with us just looked at him as if to say "are you serious".

OffalyMedic

Drawing a blank, if giving someone 3 shots in match play do they have it on index 1,2;3 or 18,17,16

ballyk

shaunac93 wrote: »

Drawing a blank, if giving someone 3 shots in match play do they have it on index 1,2;3 or 18,17,16

Index 1, 2 and 3.

slingerz

ballyk wrote: »

Index 1, 2 and 3.

would have thought it was on the indexes they had shots on and you didnt??

slingerz

Tiger Mcilroy wrote: »

I played foursomes with a lad a few years back and he proclaimed to me "im a good putter and iron player".. 12 holes later having to chip or pitch on after he missed every green and leaving me stymied..we were beat on 12 after he missed his 4th 5 footer of the day he turned round and said "you left me a hard putt"... the other lads with us just looked at him as if to say "are you serious".

that sounds like some partner to be playing with. i have to say that in my experience of 4somes my partner was a gent and never cribbed after a poor shot from me and i did likewise when the shoe was on the other foot

Miley Byrne

slingerz wrote: »

would have thought it was on the indexes they had shots on and you didnt??

The lowest player goes to scratch and other player plays off the difference

Ben1977

Tiger Mcilroy wrote: »

I played foursomes with a lad a few years back and he proclaimed to me "im a good putter and iron player".. 12 holes later having to chip or pitch on after he missed every green and leaving me stymied..we were beat on 12 after he missed his 4th 5 footer of the day he turned round and said "you left me a hard putt"... the other lads with us just looked at him as if to say "are you serious".

Was told by a foursomes partner to work on my chipping. I told him to hit more greens. He was the low guy.😂

Macker1

When playing foursomes myself and partner have a rule that we never say sorry to one another when a mistake or poor shot happens. It should all be about encouragement as no one purposely has a howler.

slingerz

Miley Byrne wrote: »

The lowest player goes to scratch and other player plays off the difference

i dont think thats the way it works in my club anyway?

Miley Byrne

slingerz wrote: »

i dont think thats the way it works in my club anyway?

So do you just play off your own handicaps and have shots where your handicap allows?

cairny

slingerz wrote: »

i dont think thats the way it works in my club anyway?

CONGU recommends that the lower player goes to scratch. The Rules of Golf do not deal with handicapping so it's not compulsory but very unusual (and ill advised) for a Club to deviate from Congu recommendations.

Rikand

Macker1 wrote: »

When playing foursomes myself and partner have a rule that we never say sorry to one another when a mistake or poor shot happens. It should all be about encouragement as no one purposely has a howler.

I dont feel right unless I say sorry and if my playing partner tries to stop me, I'll feel like **** until he lets me.

OffalyMedic

Playing only my second ever team match play with club later today. Last one I played was 3 years ago when I was off 34, today is complete different kettle of fish. Junior cup handicaps 7-14 out last so hopefully 3 out of the 4 girls in front of me win early and they are not waiting for the last match

LinksLad

shaunac93 wrote: »

Playing only my second ever team match play with club later today. Last one I played was 3 years ago when I was off 34, today is complete different kettle of fish. Junior cup handicaps 7-14 out last so hopefully 3 out of the 4 girls in front of me win early and they are not waiting for the last match

And they are thinking "at least if I mess up here, there's always that match behind..."

slingerz

Won my first ever singles matchplay the other night. tbh the way i played i would have beaten anyone i reckon, +6 off 15

OffalyMedic

Won my match on 14 (5&4) delighted with how I played only lost one hole whole way around and pulled it straight back was around +6 through 14 obviously a few gimmes in there but we'll take it!!!

ballyk

shaunac93 wrote: »

Won my match on 14 (5&4) delighted with how I played only lost one hole whole way around and pulled it straight back was around +6 through 14 obviously a few gimmes in there but we'll take it!!!

There's no I in team Shauna! How did the others do?

Seriously though, congrats on your win. Fair play.

OffalyMedic

ballyk wrote:

Seriously though, congrats on your win. Fair play.

ballyk wrote:

There's no I in team Shauna! How did the others do?

Haha very through. The other ladies are well experienced junior cuppers Lost the first on 15, won the 2 on 13, Won 3rd on 16, was 2 up in 4 when called in and I won on 15 (as you know)

So we are out again in a couple of weeks against local rivals tullamore more than likely in esker hills or glass on....looking forward to it!

moycullen14

I still have nightmares about this one.......

One up on the 17th - a par 4.

We both hit good drives.

I put a long iron onto the green - about 15 feet from the hole.

He sh*nks it into the trees about 30 yds from the green. Result!

He chips out to the fringe about 60 ft from the hole.

So here I am, calculating 'Best he can do is five, two putts and it's over. Worst case is a half'

I don't need to tell you what happens next......

Yes, he chips in
Yes, I 3 putt from 15 feet
Yes, I lose it on the 18th

Remember, the fat lady NEVER sings on a golf course........


The horror, the horror...................