Great Games for Golf
Traditional Formats
A brief explanation of some of the best known
competitive formats
Match Play
Playing to win individual holes
This game is played by matching strokes with your opponent, hole by hole. The goal is to win the most holes. The winner of each hole is the player with the lowest net score on that hole. When a player wins a hole, they go “one-up.” A hole that is tied is “halved.”
The player that has the most holes won at the end of the round is the victor. When a player has won enough holes that their opponent, even by winning every remaining hole can only tie, the match is “dormey.” Once a player has won enough holes that they cannot be beat, the match is over (although most people play out the remaining holes).
In Match Play a player’s total gross score does not dictate winning or losing. What does matter is how you score on each hole compared to your opponent. So you can have a couple of bad holes and still win. This is why the game is so well liked by amateurs.
The game is best played with handicaps. The player with the lower handicap gives the player with the higher handicap strokes equaling the difference between their handicaps. For example, if the better player is a 10 handicap and their opponent is a 15, the high-handicap player would receive a stroke on the five most difficult holes as indicated on the scorecard.
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