Newport Cup Matches - Points and Changes

[mvmac]

19 minutes ago, iacas said:

Maybe in reverse: each team can decide to force the other team to play a hole for a par or better.  Par or better and your team gets the point. Bogey or worse and the opponents get it.

Teams could decide on the order of play (i.e. who hits the tee shot) for themselves. That can't be dictated to them.

So far I like this best. It's simple, adds the team aspect and some gamesmanship with their opponents.

@iacas already brought this up in the OP, my idea would have been to have singles matches against both opponents in the foursome. A vs X, B vs Y, A vs Y, B vs X. Or maybe only do that for the final nine instead of 18. So you'd have your "main" match and then a mini "bonus" match for the last nine.

[iacas]

7 minutes ago, SavvySwede said:

Instead of one 18 hole singles match worth 3 points versus one opponent. You play two 9 hole singles matches worth 2 points, partners switch opponents for the second match. 

I'll keep that in consideration, but two points for nine holes feels like a lot. This does add the "other opponent" into the mix, but not your teammate.

1 minute ago, mvmac said:

@iacas already brought this up in the OP, my idea would have been to have singles matches against both opponents in the foursome. A vs X, B vs Y, A vs Y, B vs X. Or maybe only do that for the final nine instead of 18. So you'd have your "main" match and then a mini "bonus" match for the last nine.

Possibly.

The only downsides there:

• Handicapping can be a bit of a mix. You could have a player getting and giving strokes on the same hole.
• Doesn't involve your teammate per se, just the opponents.

I'm still leaning toward the yellow ball idea. Do you and your teammate play the ball yourself, force the opponents to play it, and when? First hole before they're in rhythm, or late after they've hit a few shaky shots? Maybe there's a difficult hole… or an easy hole and you want to play your ball on that hole yourself?

[CarlSpackler]

What about adding 2 players per team? Days 1 and 2 are worth 8 points each. You could have the first 2 and last 2 singles matches be worth 2 points each and the middle 4 be worth 1. You could also make the first 4 singles 1 point and the last 4 worth 2 to add more drama at the end. That is a 16:12 ratio and would add a little excitement to the picks for singles matches. There is no Nassau in this as it is straight up Ryder Cup format with the exception of weighting half of the singles matches. 

[mvmac]

5 minutes ago, iacas said:

• Handicapping can be a bit of a mix. You could have a player getting and giving strokes on the same hole.
• Doesn't involve your teammate per se, just the opponents.

Agree, especially with the second point.

5 minutes ago, iacas said:

Do you and your teammate play the ball yourself, force the opponents to play it, and when? First hole before they're in rhythm, or late after they've hit a few shaky shots? Maybe there's a difficult hole… or an easy hole and you want to play your ball on that hole yourself?

I think this could be a lot of fun and the decision will likely be different for every group.

[iacas]

11 minutes ago, CarlSpackler said:

That is a 16:12 ratio and would add a little excitement to the picks for singles matches. There is no Nassau in this as it is straight up Ryder Cup format with the exception of weighting half of the singles matches. 

No thanks. The point isn't to get 16:12, particularly if it's going to skew things to favor some players or matches over others, and not if it's going to mess up the format of the first four rounds.

[jsgolfer]

How about play an additional 9 hole Nassau of worst ball scramble for a point (so 27 holes during the last round)? Opposing team picks the ball they want the others to play.  

[iacas]

6 minutes ago, jsgolfer said:

How about play an additional 9 hole Nassau of worst ball scramble for a point (so 27 holes during the last round)? Opposing team picks the ball they want the others to play.  

The course isn't gonna want that. And worst ball? You trying to kill @mvmac and I?

[jsgolfer]

Just now, iacas said:

The course isn't gonna want that. And worst ball? You trying to kill @mvmac and I?

Would make for some interesting shots.  

[NCGolfer]

I like SavvySwede's idea of a point every 6 holes and then one for total.  We use to do this in a foursome and rotated who your parter was every 6 holes.  His suggestion gets you:

• To a 3:2 ratio...closer to the Ryder cup
• Emphasis on winning your match (bonus point)
• Handicaps are simplified.  You only play against one person and relatively easy to figure out what is going on during the round.  

This doesn't involve the other opponent or your teammate, but this is singles, right?  If you wanted to add something to the list. You could add a point for the team that had the most holes won between the two matches.  If a match is closed out, they could still play on to keep winning holes and another potential point.  Just a thought.

[GolfLug]

2 hours ago, SavvySwede said:

Instead of one 18 hole singles match worth 3 points versus one opponent. You play two 9 hole singles matches worth 2 points, partners switch opponents for the second match. 

Do you split handicap difference in half for shot allocation since a 9 hole match? I would think..

[DaveP043]

I'd usually allocate it where the strokes would fall.  For a 3-stroke difference, based on an 18-hole handicap, there would either be 2 stroke holes (1 and 3) in a 9-hole match, or just one (handicap hole #2), depending on how the course numbered the holes.  If you split that 3-stroke difference, to be 1.5 strokes, you'd have to allocate a half-stroke somewhere, and that  generally isn't done.

[mvmac]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

The course isn't gonna want that. And worst ball? You trying to kill @mvmac and I?

Haha, and we're also trying to finish in less than 6 hours!