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Playing a skins match vs a much better player


kpaulhus
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Friday a bunch of buddies and myself are going to hit the course for a little $1 a skin match. Im a 16.4, two guys are 7's, and the other two guys could be anywhere from 95-110. So really I know I need to mentally prepare myself to play my best, since golf is a sport where only you control your game. Any tips tho when playing someone who is obviously better?

Kyle Paulhus

If you really want to get better, check out Evolvr

:callaway: Rogue ST 10.5* | :callaway: Epic Sub Zero 15* | :tmade: P790 3 Driving Iron |:titleist: 716 AP2 |  :edel: Wedges 50/54/68 | :edel: Deschutes 36"

Career Low Round: 67 (18 holes), 32 (9 holes)

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If I were to play a skins match against a much better player, I would take the difference between our HC's and apply those strokes to the hardest holes. IOW, if you are a 17 and you play against a 7, he gives you one stroke each on the ten highest HC holes.

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If I were to play a skins match against a much better player, I would take the difference between our HC's and apply those strokes to the hardest holes. IOW, if you are a 17 and you play against a 7, he gives you one stroke each on the ten highest HC holes.

Incorrect. You get the shots on the MATCH index.

In the race of life, always back self-interest. At least you know it's trying.

 

 

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If I were to play a skins match against a much better player, I would take the difference between our HC's and apply those strokes to the hardest holes. IOW, if you are a 17 and you play against a 7, he gives you one stroke each on the ten highest HC holes.

Incorrect. You get the shots on the MATCH index.

Not sure what "match index" means exactly.

But normally, the strokes come on the ten LOWEST handicap holes.
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Not sure what "match index" means exactly.

If you are playing a match, you don't play based on the stroke index, you play on the match index.

Golf holes have 2 indexes. One for stroke play and one for match play. The match play indexes do not corresponsd to the supposed difficulty of each hole. So, if you are playing a match and your handicap is 2 and your opponent's is 12, he will get shots on 10 holes. With the match index, you'll probably find that 5 are on one nine and the other 5 are on the other nine. The stroke index is entirely different and is strictly rated on supposed difficulty of holes. The idea is that in a match, the strokes are given throughout the round, rather than potentially in a bunch.

In the race of life, always back self-interest. At least you know it's trying.

 

 

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If you are playing a match, you don't play based on the stroke index, you play on the match index.

When I was playing in club matchplay competitions they took a third of the handicap.

I think thats what you should do too. Get the guy to give you 3 shots or something like that. 10 shots is bad. All you have to do is play a little better than your handicap and you'll beat him. You'll probably play better than your handicap when you play with good players (I do anyway)

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We have between 15-25 players at my clubs Tuesday skins match…hdcp index range between +2 and 15. Everything is played straight-up. I have never been an advocate of "giving" strokes for any holes during that format (we tried in the past but way too many higher hdcp players taking skins with pars). The higher hdcp players that join us on Tuesday know what they are getting themselves into, funny thing is many rise to the occasion and take their fair share of the pot. The only advise I have is to be aggressive and play to your strengths…i.e. hit the driver if it gets you into your bread & butter range, and never leave putts short.

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Are their strokes given? You mentioned handicaps but that might have been for the comparison.

Regardless, it doesn't take much to win at skins. If the final score is irrelevant, just go out and try and make birdies and pars. Don't worry about a bad hole. It is only about winning the one hole you are playing, so you essentially get 17 'do-overs'. The other guys will make mistakes, you just have to be in a good position to take advantage of the good opportunities when you have them. Try and keep the ball in play and see what happens. With only 5 players, you would be surprised how many times par will win a hole. A birdie is almost a guaranteed win.

When I first started playing I would play with my Dad's group. I got lucky one day and made a bomb of a putt on the hardest hole for birdie. It was the only skin of the day so that one putt essentially paid for all my skins pots for two months. So anything can happen.

I will judge my rounds much more by the quality of my best shots than the acceptability of my worse ones.

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Let me clear it up for everyone. There out of the 5 of us, on 3 have handicaps. The other two guys already know their going to be shelling out their $18. I only want to win 4 skins so that pays for my round. If I happen to win more, great. I am confident that I can hang with the 7 handicap guys. They also havent played since late September. I have played 24 rounds since Sept 1st so Im pretty loose lol. I shot my best round last friday. Best case senario is if we tie 3 or 4 holes and I win a skin, then the skins are worth more than $5. No strokes are going to be given, just go out and play. My buddy who will more than likely shoot 100+ asked me if he was wasting his money, and I told him, that more than likely its going to be difficult to win money, but We all havent seen each other since May and who cares about the betting afterwards. Its just a Friday round of golf between 5 High School buddies who havent seen each other in a while......But Im hoping the two better players get sauced up on the front 9 and start shanking balls ont he back. My strength is my driver, when its straight. I have drove two greens on this course becasue of the severe dog leg. WE all have played the course 20+ times so we know where to hit the ball. I may end up using my hybrid or 3 wood of a majority of the tees since the 40 or 50 yds difference I will loose is not worth hittin driver OB. Ill post up how the round went on Friday night.

Kyle Paulhus

If you really want to get better, check out Evolvr

:callaway: Rogue ST 10.5* | :callaway: Epic Sub Zero 15* | :tmade: P790 3 Driving Iron |:titleist: 716 AP2 |  :edel: Wedges 50/54/68 | :edel: Deschutes 36"

Career Low Round: 67 (18 holes), 32 (9 holes)

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If you are playing a match, you don't play based on the stroke index, you play on the match index.

I must assume this is a UK thing? Because the terminology is not familiar to me. In the USA, stroke event is handicapped without regard to the individual holes. Gross score - handicap = net score.

For match play, the USGA system involves an "allocation of handicap strokes," where holes are "handicapped" and assigned a number from 1 to 18. These numbers indeed, are not based on the hole difficulty (as many presume), but rather by where a higher handicap player might benefit from a stroke (a complex formula not easy to describe). They are supposed to be evenly distributed between front and back nines. So every scorecard from every US course I've played gives the hole-by-hole handicap numbers (match index as you call it), but I have never seen any reference to the "stroke index." All this deals of course, with straight match handicapping, a "skins" game will involve other considerations.
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...All this deals of course, with straight match handicapping, a "skins" game will involve other considerations.

Agree with your post, other than the above. A skins game is not handicapped any differently. Just like match play, each player's course handicap is calculated (based on the player's handicap index combined with the slope of the tees they're playing from), then strokes are awarded based on the differences in the players' course handicaps. Then your net score for the hole is your number of strokes for that hole minus any handicap stroles given.

Like I say, that all applies to skins as well. The only difference with skins is that a hole cannot be halved - in the event of ties, the hole is carried over.

Bill

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Well I talked with all the guys and we decided that we were going to do two teams of three. Everyone plays their own ball, and the lowest score per hole will be the teams score. We think that it will be much more fair for everyone and create a team like atmosphere between the guys. Rooting for each other instead of negative thoughts.

Kyle Paulhus

If you really want to get better, check out Evolvr

:callaway: Rogue ST 10.5* | :callaway: Epic Sub Zero 15* | :tmade: P790 3 Driving Iron |:titleist: 716 AP2 |  :edel: Wedges 50/54/68 | :edel: Deschutes 36"

Career Low Round: 67 (18 holes), 32 (9 holes)

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Damn I wish I had a group of guys to play with like this. Playin solo is starting to SUCK.

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^ agreed...

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Driver : Diablo
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Note: This thread is 5237 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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