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The Old Committeeman returned to his usual chair at
the octagonal table after posting today's score and
found the Golf Chairman with an attentive look on his
face. The chairman said, "You emailed me that you had
finished the article about a club match play event for
the club bulletin. May I have a go at it, if you have
it?"
"Yes, you may. Here it is," said the O.C.
The golf chairman read the following article:
It's the Match, Not the Score.
To many club golfers,
the way to play golf is stroke play, not match play.
Why is that? The professional tour on TV may be one
reason. Another may be the American notion that the
score is the only way to determine who you are as a
golfer. You may come up with other reasons.
But are we overlooking something by not playing
more match play? The following quotation from a Golf
Digest article about the Ryder Cup matches a few years
ago may give us an insight into match play: Freddie
Tait, a British amateur, said it nicely almost a century
ago: 'A golf course exists primarily for match play,
which is a sport as distinguished from stroke play,
which more resembles rifle shooting than a sport, in
that it lacks the joy of personal contact with an opponent.'
Freddie Tait knew our game, for he had won the
British amateur twice and had finished third in their
Open before was killed in action in the Boer War while
leading his company of Black Watch as Lieutenant Tait.
Through this personal contact, a player has a challenge
that is dependent on his every shot and very importantly,
the shot of his opponent, who is with him on every hole.
The Rules for match play recognize this personal contact
and reflect this shot-for-shot and hole-by-hole challenge
to determine the outcome of the match.
To support this match play challenge as a good
thing, a report on a match play event at one of our
clubs may be of interest. Each spring for the past 27
years, an enthusiastic group has conducted a one-round
outing playing both four-ball and singles matches at
match play. The results have always been close, but
this year when the last group reported their results,
the match was all square.
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Before we review the results in detail, let us
consider the conditions. All play was match play off
current handicaps in three matches in each four-player
group. The players on the left of the pairings played
the players on the right in one four-ball match and
two singles matches between opposites in the pairings.
The scoring was a nassau format in each match; i.e.,
one point for the front nine, one point for the back
nine and one point for the 18 for a total of nine nassau
points. This year the sign-up produced five four-player
groups and one two-player group who played a singles
match for three points. The winner was the side scoring
the higher number of points.
With the passage of time, most of these players
now play from the forward tees, but a few still play
from the middle tees and the prescribed handicap adjustments
for match play from different sets of tees were made
for the matches involving both middle and forward tee
players. The pairings were made in ascending order of
handicaps; therefore, very few strokes were given between
or among players although the spread between the handicaps
of the groups was eight to 22.
Why review the results? We know it was all square,
but underneath this, what do we find? There were eight
matches that were all square; three in the four-balls
and five in the singles matches. This involved 22 players.
If one had made a putt or even missed a putt, the outcome
would have been 24 ½ to 23 ½. Twenty-two putts were
very important and they were all in the presence of
opponents.
If match play is not part of your game, give it
a go, but remember that it is the match that is important,
not the score.
After his reading, the chairman looked up and remarked, "I knew that you were going to write something like this. It tells a story that many of our members don't know but should. Let's go to press with this one. I'll turn it in. Many thanks. I'll excuse myself now with another many thanks. Good night."
The O.C. then asked James for his unsigned tickets. James replied, "There are none. You sent the chairman home with a smile on his face and his signature on your tickets."
"That's good news," replied the O.C. "Now, I'll say good night."
"Good night, sir." |
