Group Matchplay Question

[Bluenoser67]

OK so a couple buddies of mine that I play every Weekend have now padded their Handicaps enough to want to start playing in a game of Matchplay.  But they want to play me as a team.  ie Me against there best score for the hole.

So the question is how many strokes do I give them as a Team?

My Handicap - 0

Buddy 1 Handicap - 12

Buddy 2 Handicap - 16

Thanks I've looked everywhere and cant get an easy answer.

[MEfree]

A total guess would be 3 a side but some of it would depend on the consistency of the guys- are they mostly making bogeys with a few pars or do they make more pars with the occasional birdie and some big numbers?

If you play with them regularly, what has been their average best ball round?

[ghalfaire]

Assuming that they are playing as a better ball team I think a fair handicap would be 9-10 strokes for them (35% of their handicaps sum).  I certainly would not agree to more than that.