Nod along if you recognise this depressing early season routine. The entries would go up and I would sign on for all the match play competitions in sight. The singles, the pairs, the mixed – anything I could get my hands on.
It was time to sit back and relish an entire season of head-to-head combat. Except that was never how it went down.
By the beginning of May it was usually all over. Hopes were dashed, usually thanks to a series of heavy first round defeats. I used to tell myself it was a conspiracy. I’d been dusted 8&6 by a 20-handicapper who’d had ‘the round of his life’. It can’t have been MY fault.
Most of the time, though, I’d just played badly. And that was it. Over before it had ever really begun. A six-month wait until the winter foursomes.
It was such a massive shame because I love match play. It might be my favourite form of the game. None of the problems with stroke play. It doesn’t matter what you score, just make sure you beat your opponent.
There’s something about the contest that really gets my competitive juices flowing. I love the tactics and the psychology.
So it was pretty annoying when I felt it was all over way too soon. But what if there was another way – a novel match play golf format?
Plenty have had a go. Remember the group stages at the World Matchplay? It was sunk by a load of dead rubbers. Ties also meant a winner could emerge who also hadn’t won every game. Where is that competition now?
But Match Play World might have a different way with the Match Play Matrix. Instead of win or go home, it’s win and go on. It’s works as a matrix with an even numbered full field.
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Match play golf format: Is this the way to run a match play competition?
Each player plays every round and every game counts for a final finishing position. There are no dead matches.
Each game is also a level playing field between opponents with the same win and loss record. So if you lose five games, your next game will be against someone with an equivalent record. Win all your games and it comes down to a battle of the unbeaten.
Score difference separates those who’ve won the same number of games in the overall leaderboard. The bigger a win, the bigger the score difference. You’re rewarded if you hand out a hiding, but games also go through to the end – whether that’s 9, 12 or 18 holes. So you are also encouraged to fight until the end.
The overall winner is the only player who is left undefeated, ensuring the format retains a key part of the match play ethos. But prizes can also flow down the leaderboard.
I imagine you have questions. I did. If you’re losing all your games, what incentive is there to carry on? Won’t you just see a load of withdrawals as people get frustrated?
Well, you could offer a nominal prize out of the pot for each game won – even if it is as little as a pound or a Pro V1. Or you could also impose penalties for those who fail to meet their commitments when signing up.
How would you fit all the games into a busy club calendar? If you’ve got 64 entrants, for example, playing all season, that’s six rounds. That’s a lot of games when you’re into the height of the campaign in July and August and there’s a demand on tee sheets.
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But could the upshot also be more people in the clubhouse and more people in the bar as these games take place? Could you bookend start and finishing rounds – a beginning and finals day – and try and turn them into a big club event?
And are these rounds that members would play anyway, with a weekly bounce game simply turned into something a little more formal?
Could it also be a new way of meeting people within the club – in a way that might not happen with a one-and-done match play format – or yet another meeting of the same weekly fourball?
Clearly it’s a format that’s club dependent. But for those with the capacity, or looking to keep people engaged throughout the season, could this be a good way of ensuring the excitement keeps going from April until October?
The Match Play Matrix is an interesting twist at any rate, and a good discussion point for those of us who may find their match play calendars empty far too early in the campaign.
Now have your say
What do you think about this new match play golf format? Would you be interested in seeing it at your club? Let me know your thoughts by leaving me a comment on X.
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