Match play advice needed....

[Scotty01292]

I'm actually unsure whether you're joking or not...

[Augster]

How did I miss this post?

Match play is all about psychological warfare. It is the ONE TIME it is you against an opponent and not the course.

If your opponent duckhooks one OB on a par 4, what is the new par for the hole? Five. Play as safe as possible to make a 5. He'll have to birdie to tie. You need to keep your gameplan flexible based on your opponents shots.

I love the suggestion to concede putts that come up short. I'm adding that to my arsenal. Subconciously brilliant.

On the greens, always mark. Never finish out. And don't let him tell you otherwise, but it is ALWAYS the furthest from the hole who has to play regardless of where each ball lies. You may be hitting out of a bunker from 5 yards while he is putting from 20 feet. He's out.

YOU CONTROL YOUR OPPONENTS BALL ON THE GREEN. Let's say you are putting from the fringe and his ball is a foot left of the cup. If he tries to mark, don't let him. You can use his ball as a backstop if you happen to be offline.

If you really want to be a prick (which I doubt you do), players that play a minimum of match play tend to hole out putts inside a foot out of turn instead of marking. The real prick thing to do is to say, "Could you remark that? I believe I'm away." Then hole your putt, and concede his anyway.

DO NOT ASSUME they are going to make a birdie. This used to get me in trouble when I first started playing match play. If these guys were great putters, they wouldn't be playing club events. When a guy stiffs one on a par 3, say 3-5 feet, and you miss the green, the tendency I used to have was to try to hole the chip. That is wrong. Make your par. If he makes the birdie, so be it. Just don't be so aggresively trying to hole out from a longer putt, or off the green, that you blow it 5 feet by and take a bogey. He is going to beat you every day of the week if you give him 2-putts to win from 4 feet. If he needs 1-putt to win, it's a different story.

STAND OVER A PUTT you would like conceded for a long time and look up at the guy. Then down at the ball, then up at the guy, then down at the ball. Then step off the putt and resume this again. Especially if it's a putt you'll make 95% of the time, like a 2-footer that he's not conceding for some reason. When you hole it after all that you say, "Whew, tough putt." Or you can say, "What? You got Lock-Jaw?" The NEXT time you do this routine, make sure it's a little longer. Odds are he won't want to stand around watching you **** around and concede it.

If your opponent goes OB off the tee, you need to change your gameplan and play for bogey. If he only goes in the WATER, you still need to try to make par. The only change to your gameplan is to KEEP IT IN PLAY. Opponents WILL make penalty-stroke pars on shorter par 4's and most par 5's. Keep the ball in play. It's assinine to hit into the same hazard your opponent just did.

In match play an opponent ALWAYS has to tell you his correct amount of strokes during a hole when asked. When things are going bad on a hole for him, ask often, "How many you lying?" Make him think about score when he should be focused on his next shot. If he gives you an incorrect tally, and you KNOW he's taken more shots than that, ask him if he's sure. If he sticks by his original incorrect answer, inform him of his error, and notify him he just lost the hole. "Shall we walk to the next tee or finish out the hole for fun?" You NEVER have to hit a shot in match play WONDERING how many strokes your opponent lies. (Read RULE 9)

An 18-inch putt for a halve is 2000% tougher than an 18-inch putt to win a hole.

RULE 7-1a MATCH PLAY: On any day of a match-play competition, a player may practice on the competition course before a round.

So if it's not busy, feel free to warm up your putting on #18, or #9 of the actual course to be played. That will give you a truer feel for the speed of the actual greens. Plus it will give you the break for the actual putts you may have later. If the course is empty enough, go play a few holes. (Check with the committee to make sure there is no local rule prohibiting this. Though, if they do, have them look at Rule 7, Rule 1-3 and most importantly, Rule 33-1 and tell them to kiss your ass. )

Almost all of RULES that are 2-stroke penalties in MEDAL play are LOSS OF HOLE in match play.

There is NO PENALTY for teeing off in front of the marker in match play. If your opponent catches you, the worst he can do it make you retee it without penalty. (RULE 11-4a) I don't know why you would do this, but it's there if you want to use it. YOU can't choose to retee. Your opponent has to ask you to retee. And you know he isn't going to ask you to retee your bad ones.

If he plays fast, you play slow. If he plays slow, you play fast, or play even slower. If you lose the group ahead of you, mention it a lot. Make your opponent concentrate on ANYTHING besides his target.

[Loop]

Originally Posted by Augster

YOU CONTROL YOUR OPPONENTS BALL ON THE GREEN. Let's say you are putting from the fringe and his ball is a foot left of the cup. If he tries to mark, don't let him. You can use his ball as a backstop if you happen to be offline.

Are you utterly conscious of what you're saying? Since when a player cannot allow his opponent to mark his ball?

BTW, if you do those tactics to me, I'll do the same to you... In the end, completely useless strategy.

[Augster]

Ouch, I think you got me Loop.

I re-read the Rules tonight and could NOT find where I read before that you control your opponents ball. Maybe an old wives' tale or something. Or else I derived too much from Rule 19-5a and decision 22/5. (You are "A" and I am "B" )

Decision 22/5:

22/5 Assisting Ball Lifted by Opponent Replaced on Request; Player’s Ball Then Strikes Opponent’s Ball and Opponent Lodges Claim


Q. In a match between A and B, A’s ball is near the hole in a position to serve as a backstop for B’s ball. A lifts his ball to clean it. B requests A to replace his ball before he (B) putts. A protests but B insists that, under the Rules, A must replace his ball immediately. A replaces his ball but disputes B’s right to require him to do so and claims the hole. B putts and his ball strikes A’s ball and stops very close to the hole. A replaces his ball and holes out for a 4. B then holes out for a 4. The match continues and the claim is later referred to the Committee. How should the Committee rule?

A. The hole stands as played. The Rules do not require A to replace his ball, but B was not in breach of the Rules by asking A to replace it — see Rule 22-1.


Rule 19-5a:

a. At Rest
If a player’s ball in motion after a stroke is deflected or stopped by a ball in play and at rest, the player must play his ball as it lies. In match play, there is no penalty. In stroke play, there is no penalty unless both balls lay on the putting green prior to the stroke, in which case the player incurs a penalty of two strokes.


So from what I get from 22/5, you can't MAKE him mark it, but you can ask him. And from Rule 19-5a, I KNEW that you can bang your ball off of his without penalty in match play. I guess in order to do it though, you'll need to hit quick before he marks.

[Loop]

Originally Posted by Augster

So from what I get from 22/5, you can't MAKE him mark it, but you can ask him. And from Rule 19-5a, I KNEW that you can bang your ball off of his without penalty in match play. I guess in order to do it though, you'll need to hit quick before he marks.

You've been playing too much pool in the winter my friend.

I do find rule 19.5a completely aberrant for the penalty issue. There should be a penalty in both format...

[cypressperch]

It is important that you know the rules very well. If you look through the rules, you will see very often that a breach of a rule results in "loss of hole."

Be ready for the opponent that gives you short putts at the beginning of the match, but later on at crunch time, requires that you putt every thing out. This is not a bad tactic to use yourself!

It is usually best to just play the course. I like to play for pars. You seldom lose a hole that you par. Let the birdies come where they may. If I have a bad hole, I want it to be a boggie which often can halve the hole.

The neatest thing in match play is when the player with the real good short game goes head-to-head with the guy that crushes his drives 300+ yards but is a little weak at the short game. Few long knockers can stand it for long when they are putting for birdies from fairly short range and missing and their opponent is off the green but pitches/chips/lobs/blasts to the green and one putts.

A hole is not over until its over. And a match is not over until its over. A very long time ago, I was 4 down with 6 to play. I lost one of those holes, but won the rest of the eighteen and won the match on the 23rd hole. I coached a JV basketball game that was 20 points down with two minutes and thirty-seven seconds left in the game. We tied the game at the buzzer and won by ten in over-time. In both cases, the one behind gained confidence as the lead was reduced, and the leader began to have doubts. Doubt can lead to a total collapse, and in both cases it took a total collapse to make a come-from-behind victory possible. That is why Dick V. was so right to say, "Never give up. Never!"

The best of luck to you in the tournament. Sincerely, CP