Match Scoring

Stroke Play vs Match play

There are numerous competition formats that can be used to score a round of
golf but there are two major variant: Stroke play and Match play.
For the most part, pro golf tournaments use the “stroke play” format. (If
you’ve ever watched golf on TV, that’s likely what you’ve seen). Each golfer
plays the prescribed number of holes (typically 72 for the pro’s) and the lowest
total number of strokes wins. An individual golfer is not necessarily
competing against another golfer in his playing group but rather he’s
competing against the entire field. Scores are typically reported relative to
par (2 over par, 3 under par and so forth).
The other major competition format is “match play”. At its root, match play
scoring is very simple: Two golfers compete hole by hole, and the golfer who
wins the most holes wins the match. Win a hole, that's one point for you; lose
a hole, that's one point for your opponent. Ties (predictably) award ½ point
to each golfer. In this format, golfers DO directly compete against a member
of their playing group and scores are reported based on the number of holes
won and lost (for example Joe and Fred played a 9 hole match. Joe won 5
holes, Fred won 3, and they tied one. So Joe beat Fred 5 ½ to 3 ½).
Our league competes using “match play” scoring NOT “stroke play” scoring.
The reasons for this are numerous but the principal reason is that one bad
hole won’t ruin your whole round. For example, let’s say that Joe and Fred
are starting their match. Joe gets off to an awful start hitting two balls into
the water and as a result, loses the first hole by 5 strokes. If we were using
stroke play, Joe would be 5 strokes down after one hole and would have
effectively lost the match by the time they reached the second tee. In match
play, losing the hole by 5 strokes is no different that losing by 1 stroke. Fred
gets one point and Joe and Fred begin again on the 2 nd tee. For our purposes,
that’s a better way to do things.

Match scoring
Our weekly matches are competitions between two, 2-player teams. On each
team, the golfer with the lower handicap is designated as the “A” player (this
is true even if that player is a substitute). His partner is the “B” player. Each
week’s competition is scored as three separate match play contests: an “A”
player match (“A” player vs “A” player), a “B” player match (“B” player vs
“B” player), and a “Team” match. The team match will be scored as a “better
ball” match which the internet describes like so: “A team’s score for a given
hole will be that of the lower scoring team member.” That is to say, for the
team match, each team will use the NET score of whichever team member
posts the best NET score for a given hole.

Determining a players handicap

All of our league matches are scored using handicaps. For a (very) detailed
explanation of how handicaps are calculated, please see the “Calculating
Handicaps” tab on our league website. To find out what someone’s current
handicap is, see the “Handicaps” tab on the league website. It will look
something like this:

The second column lists each players “handicap index”. This is a “portable”
handicap that measures a player’s ability independent of what course or set of
tees they are playing. The remaining columns list that players “course
handicap” for the various nines we play at Stow Acres. They are based on the
players’ handicap index but are normalized to account for the relative
difficulty of the course being played (again, go to the “Calculating Handicaps”
tab, it’s all explained there).

Applying handicaps to your score

Since we use “Match play” scoring points are won and lost on a hole-by-hole
basis. Therefore, the handicap strokes need to be spread out and assigned on
a hole by hole basis. If you look at the scorecard for Stow Acres (or any golf
course), you will see a row labeled “Handicap”. This row assigns a number
between 1 and 18 to each hole.
This ordering determines how handicap strokes are applied. The first
handicap stroke would be applied to the #1 handicap hole (in this case, the
ninth). The next to the #2 handicap hole (the 18th) etc. etc.

Calculating Match Scores

Here is an example of a typical weekly match.

Let me explain how we calculates points. In this match, team one (Jonathan
Baron and Walter Kelt) played team two (Shaunak Desai and George Paglia).
This match took place on the North Back.
The A player match was played between Jonathan and Shaunak. Since
Shaunak has the higher handicap he is entitled to 3 strokes (NOTE: we use the
difference between the 2 player’s handicaps. 8 – 5 = 3). These get applied (one
stroke per hole) on 10th, 11th and 18th holes (highlighted in red). Based on this
Shaunak won the 11th, 13th and 18th holes (highlighted in green) and tied the
17th (lighter green). So in the A player match, Jonathan beat Shaunak 5.5 to
3.5.

The B player match between Walter and George was scored similarly. Walter
receiving four handicap strokes (13 – 9 = 4) which were applied on the 10 th,
11th, 15th, and 18th). In this match, Walter won the 18th hole and tied the 10th,
11th and 15th. So in the B player match George beat Walter 6.5 to 2.5

Turning our attention to the team match:

Before we can score the team match, we need to calculate each players net
score for each hole. Since Jonathan has a course handicap of 5, he gets one
stroke each on five holes (the 10 th, 11th, 15th, 17th and 18th highlighted in red).
His partner Walter has a handicap of 13. Since this represent more strokes
than holes, he gets TWO strokes on four holes (the 10 th, 11th, 15th and 18th) and
one stroke on each of the other holes.
The team score for Walter and Jonathan is derived from whichever teammate
posted the best NET score for a given hole (the scores in the boxes). The team
score for George and Shaunak is calculated in a similar way (I left out the
highlighting for clarity). We then compare the two team scores and award
points for winning or tying holes just as in the “A” and “B” player matches.
As you can see, the team of Shaunak and George won 3 holes, Jonathan and
Walter won 1 and they tied the remaining 5 so Shaunak and George beat the
team of Jonathan and Walter 5.5 to 3.5.

Finally, you can see the summation of the “A Player”, “B Player” and “Team”
matches. For the night, Shaunak and George beat Jonathan and Walter 15.5
to 11.5

Substitutions
Match scoring in the event of substitutes will be identical. The handicap
information for the substitutes will be used in place of the regular league
player. As indicated earlier, the “A” player will be the player with the lower
handicap even if that player is a sub. So, for example, if Bob and Joe are
teammates and Bob has a 10 handicap while Joe has a 15, then Bob is the “A”
player and Joe the “B”. If Joe can’t play on a given night and gets Frank
(with a 5 handicap) to sub for him, then Frank becomes the “A” player even
though he is subbing for the “B” player

First time subs

Every year we see a few subs who are playing in our league for the first time.
In most cases we have NO handicap information for these first time subs and
since all of our match scoring is based on net scores we need to assign some
sort of handicap to these players. Since we need to concoct that handicap
without the benefit of any advance information, our policy is to wait until
after the round and then invent a handicap based on the score they just shot.
Specifically, we set their handicap such that the first time sub’s net score is 38.
The reason we chose 38 is that, historically, a net 38 will be about “mid pack”
in our weekly low net calculations and it is a couple of strokes better than “the
blind” (see below) “the blind” is the score that we use for a missing player and
we want to reward teams that take the trouble to find a sub rather than just
rely on the blind.

Missing players
In the event a player is missing (i.e. the league member cannot play and no
sub is taking his place), a “blind” score will be used. “The Blind” is an
imaginary golfer who shoots double bogey on every hole and carries a course
handicap of 13. When scoring the individual matches (“A” player and “B”
player), “The Blind” cannot score points for his team. However, his opponent
is not automatically awarded 9 points for the night. If the opponent’s net
score is better than the blind’s, then he will get a point for that hole. If the
opponent’s net score is NOT better than the blind, no point is awarded (to
anyone). When scoring the team match, the Blind’s score is ignored (the team
score for a hole will be that of the team member who is actually present).

Missing Team
If neither member of a team either plays of finds a substitute (double no-show)
then the individual matches (“A” player and “B” player) will be scored as
described above (two “blinds”). For the team match, scoring will be similar to
the treatment of “the blind” as described above (the missing team will be
awarded zero points and the team that was present will be awarded points
only if they beat the “blind” score). However, for purposes of scoring the team
match ONLY, the blind score will be net par on each hole. Net par was chosen
based on an analysis of historical data. It represents an “OK” but not great
team score (much is the same way double bogey and a 13 handicap represents
an OK score for an individual blind).

Missing Holes
In the event a player arrives late or leaves early and misses a hole (or 2 or 3),
he/she will receive the most likely score for the missing holes, based on their
handicap, FOR HANDICAP CALCULATION PURPOSES ONLY. However,
for the purposes of individual match scoring, the missed holes will be treated
as if the missing player was “the blind” and points will be awarded as
described above. If a Player completes fewer than 6 holes, his score will be
considered “unofficial”. His score will be discarded and replaced by “the
Blind”. Please note: players will not be eligible for the weekly low net prize
unless they have completed all 9 holes