New respect for match play format

[Magnus]

Story time...

So...I have played golf my whole life, well, since I was 8, so 25 yrs of golf. I played high school golf, and in some amateur tournaments. Well, I played in my first member-guest tourney at a friends golf club this weekend. (2 man best ball - ie you card your best score but play your own ball)

Let me tell you, if you have never tried match play, try it, you will learn what pressure is. And have a blast, even if you play worse than you could possibly imagine.

We qualified with a 68 and made first flight on Friday, of course this was stroke play and a fun round....the last non-pressure shots of the weekend.

Sat and Sun I proceeded to puke on my shoes over and over, chunked wedges, 3 putts from 5 feet, etc....so basically nothing I have done as a 5 handicapper in oh............forever.

I am a bit hard on myself and everyone to a man told me that they did this their first try, and it is expected, and, trust me, I believe it, so I feel a bit better......BUT

How quickly being 1 down and looking at a birdie to even the match on the 9th turns into a 3 putt, and then quickly you are 5 down a few holes later - momentum is a nasty, nasty enemy. That summarizes Saturday. 5&4 loss.

Sunday - we played 2 retirees who hit their tee balls less than 200 yrds, and yep, you guessed it - they chipped in 2x and made 3 or 4 20 ft+ putts, we didn't get past the 13th hole. 6&5 loss.

So I will lick my wounds, practice my putting (cause that is this crazy games great equalizer) and watch this years Ryder Cup with a different prospective, and appreciation of the pressure.

(The 3 steak dinners, breakfast buffets, and open bar for 3 days made it well worth playing, and the knowledge gained is priceless.)

[JimmyDoesGolf]

I played my first ever singles matchplay in a tournament a couple of weeks ago and boy was it fun. I was drawn against one of my friends, who actually introduced me to golf, which made it much more interesting. I lost 5&4, but brought it back from being 6 down going into the 11th.

What I loved is how little a bad hole matters, providing you don't have too many in a row. I started off one down, but picked up quickly, to go 1 up.

My main problem in strokeplay is looking at my scorecard and thinking, only so many strokes to beat handicap or win the tournament. This is inevitably followed by a series of double bogeys. Matchplay made be not worry about the overall round, but concentrate on each individual shot.

[Fourputt]

Story time...

Match play is The original form of golf, and still the best way for 2 players to have a weekly competition. And yes, it is a completely different sort of animal from the generic stroke play that is so ubiquitous in the US. It's a shame that match play has become almost unknown in the US, and it's one reason why the Europeans have lately been so dominant in Ryder Cup play. They play more true matches when they grow up in the game over there, so it's not so much of a change for them.

You have to change your thought processes so much from stroke play, and I think that Americans struggle to make the switch from playing the course to playing the man. IMO, match play should dominate high school and college tournaments. If it did, the developing players would grow up to be mentally tougher than most seem to be these days. That's my 2 cents anyway.

[Jay-Bird]

Match play is far different than your regular round. Takes a great STRATEGY.

...So I will lick my wounds, practice my putting (cause that is this crazy games great equalizer) and watch this years Ryder Cup with a different prospective, and appreciation of the pressure.

I've recently started practicing putts of 4-5 feet, 10 feet, 15 feet and 20+ feet very regularly at home on the carpet in one of two rooms. I do not putt to a hole, obviously, but this drill has really helped me to develop a consistent stroke. I putt to a very small target (a foam earplug) - it's about the size of a dime. In the past two weeks I've become pretty accurate with distance and line (on carpet). I have noticed that since doing this, getting used to putting to a point, rather than to a hole with a diameter of 4 1/4 inches, the actual hole on the golf course now seem huge, and seems easier to get the ball into.

It's helped me a lot .

[Three Putt]

Match Play is awesome, period.