4 ball Matchplay with handicap

[Saks]

I am playing in a club competition tomorrow. It is 4 ball matchplay with handicap. Not to sure how it will be played. Im a 14 handicap, my partner a 5 and we are playing a pair with a 21 and a 17 handicap.

How does it work? Do you average the caps as a pair? (I dont think this sounds right)

My understanding is that being that it is with handicap, I will give the 21 hcap 7 shots (one on each of the 7 hardest holes) and the 17hcap (who beat me in the club champs last year and is a sandbagger!!...) 3 shots. My partner gives away 16 and 12.
So... if my partner or I beat both opponents on a hole(taking into account shots given) we get the hole? Just the same as a normal 4 ball but with shots given to higher handicappers?

Have I got this right?

[Leonardite]

This may be wrong, but the way I look at handicapped 4 ball matches is like this.

You are a 14.. take the 14 hardest holes and give yourself a stroke
Your partner is a 5.. he takes a stroke on 5 holes
21 & 17 you do the same with the 21 getting 2 strokes on handicap holes 1,2,&3.

So for example on the 2nd hardest hole (hypothetically a par 5)
You get a 6 (you get a stroke on the hole so you net a 5) - Par
Your partner gets a 4 (he gets a stroke on the hole so he nets a 3) - Eagle
17 gets a 6 (He gets a stroke, he nets 5) - Par
21 Gets a 5 (He gets two strokes he also nets a 3) - Eagle

Take the lowest score from both teams and compare them, disregard the higher scores.
Result for hole: Push

Hopefully this helped and made some sense.

[Saks]

[QUOTE=Leonardite;138419]This may be wrong, but the way I look at handicapped 4 ball matches is like this.

You are a 14.. take the 14 hardest holes and give yourself a stroke
Your partner is a 5.. he takes a stroke on 5 holes
21 & 17 you do the same with the 21 getting 2 strokes on handicap holes 1,2,&3.

So for example on the 2nd hardest hole (hypothetically a par 5)
You get a 6 (you get a stroke on the hole so you net a 5) - Par
Your partner gets a 4 (he gets a stroke on the hole so he nets a 3) - Eagle
17 gets a 6 (He gets a stroke, he nets 5) - Par
21 Gets a 5 (He gets two strokes he also nets a 3) - Eagle

Take the lowest score from both teams and compare them, disregard the higher scores.
QUOTE]

So if you use my method I would have the worst score as I would have to give a shot to the 17 hcap...

In singles match play with handicap do you get to use your shots? Ie I would get a shot in the above scenario? Or do you work out how many shots you have to give away....and the higher hcap gets the benefit from stroke hole one and up for as many shots as they get?

I had a singles match(with handicap) last weekend. He was a 15 me 14. I gave him one shot on the hardest hole. Going by the method you described, I would give him a shot on stroke hole 15.

I guess the easier way to ask the question is doea the higher handicap player get their shots on the hardest hole/s or the easiest (for their index) hole/s.

I think this makes sense!

[chingali]

How it works is like this, trust me it's correct.

The lowest marker reverts to scratch and gives strokes to the higher markers, eg. A is on a 4 handicap, B on 8, C on 12 and D on 27. A receives no strokes, B gets 4 strokes, C gets 8 strokes and D gets 23 strokes, irrespective of who is A's marker.

The shots are allocated according to the courses matchplay index which is usually printed on the card, not the courses stroke play index.

Of course this may be different according to your clubs rules committee, but it is the generally accepted method of play for this format.

[Saks]

How it works is like this, trust me it's correct.

Yep...thats exactly how it was played! Thanks for the response.

While trolling through rules last night I found another interesting one for fourball matches: "Players form the same team dont have to play in order" This was really helpful for us today. I could play safe and lay up, even out of turn which allowed him to go for it on a couple of driveable par 4's, knowing I could make a safe par(makes it sound so easy!). Would also be good if you weren't going to win the hole but had a similar but closer putt than your partner, you could go first and help show the break. I like it. By the way we won. 4 and 2.

[pom]

Well done in the Matchplay Saks & nice to see someone that cares enough to read the rule book now & then. In the case of the singles match you would give him a stroke on match index 1.
Hope you enjoyed the Matchplay, IMO. it is the best form of the game.

[Saks]

Well done in the Matchplay Saks & nice to see someone that cares enough to read the rule book now & then. In the case of the singles match you would give him a stroke on match index 1.

Thanks Pom. Yea I really like matchplay. Its very different to stroke play. Such a tactical game! It worked well against the higher hcappers, we were able to hold them off when the had a stroke on us, and punish them when they didnt! The other thing that worked well for us was that I played well on the front nine, and my partner played well on the back! Perfect. Looking forward to the second round now...

[Ruari]

How it works is like this, trust me it's correct.

Not sure how it is in NZ and Ozzie but under CONGU rules in the UK, you take the lowest handicap as scratch and each of the others gets 3/4 of the handicap difference.

So you get 3/4 of 9 (works out as 7); the 17 h'cap gets 3/4 of 12 (9); the 21 gets 3/4 of 16 (12). It makes it extremely unlikey that anyone will get two shots on any hole. Full handicap difference applies only in singles matches. Foursomes (alternate shot) is half the difference of the combined handicaps. Is it different again in the US?