In a fun match with friends, anything goes. At the first tee, you argue for strokes. On the greens, you shame opponents into giving you putts. You agree to play by the rules you like and ignore the ones you don’t.
Then, suddenly, you’re playing an official league or CGA match, and it’s not what you invented. It’s even different from official league or CGA stroke play tournaments.
Here are five foibles of competitive match play from the Rules of Golf that make it different from other formats of golf. Love them, hate them, roll your eyes at them – just be sure to observe them.
“Ready golf” is not allowed. Oh, sure, there will be random times when your opponent is delayed and invites you to play first, or nods gratefully when you ask, “OK if I go ahead?” But under the rules of match play, the player who most recently has won a hole has honors and goes first at the tee. From there, it’s the turn of the player who is away. If your opponent violates this protocol and hits a great shot when it was your turn, you may have him or her replay. This can get nasty.
Many rule violations result not in stroke penalties but in loss of hole. So be doubly sure you’re on time for the match, playing the correct ball, not giving or asking for advice or breaking many of the other rules that typically cost two strokes but in match play will put you one-down.
When a hole is over, it is really over. Now it’s OK to make observations or ask questions about potential rules violations entirely risk free. If you’re a newbie and happen to be playing with someone experienced in match play who also happens to be nice, that player might have seen you accidentally violate a rule and opted not to point it out until later in the round, when it’s not going to cost you anything. Say thank you for the lesson and move on, because there’s no retroactive loss of hole here.
Your overall score doesn’t matter. If you have the temperament to make a 10 on a par-3 and then forget about it, you can still win the match because your 10 only costs you the loss of one hole of 18. Players who tend to mar their scorecards with blowup holes often do surprisingly well in this format. Bonus: You don’t have to keep playing to 10. If your opponent is putting for 4, you may concede the hole and minimize your misery.
The USGA still wants you to post a score. This used to be a big problem when a match would end early and a high handicapper having a great day then continued playing in order to fill in the rest of the card with double bogey, thus preserving their high handicap. But with recent GHIN changes, once the match is over you must let the computer fill in the rest of your card based on how you’ve played that day. Started a hole but picked up or had a long putt conceded? In those cases, mark down the score you most likely would have had if you’d finished the hole. Check out the USGA’s helpful guidelines and illustrations for Rule 3.3.
Veteran journalist Susan Fornoff has written about golf for publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, ColoradoBiz magazine and her own GottaGoGolf.com. She provides the voice of “Molly McMulligan,” the CGA’s on-course consultant on golf for fun. Mr. McMulligan, Keith DuBay, is also an accomplished journalist and especially enjoys reviewing golf courses. Email the McMulligans at mollymcmulligan@gmail.com.
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