New here, hope this isn’t a dumb question!

I understand the rules of match play(though have never played).

I’m curious though why the match-play index on a golf course is so different to the stroke/stableford index?

In my search here someone mentioned that the match play index is the same on every course, is this the case?

Thanks in advance and great site!

Shane.

It is the same everywhere…the idea of the match index is that strokes get spread evenly through the round, hole difficulty does not come into it.

e.g. Some courses may finish with 3 really hard holes so they are rated 1,3,5 on stableford index. If you are in a match and receiving 5 shots the match may be over before you get a chance to use over 1/2 your shots.

It is the same everywhere…the idea of the match index is that strokes get spread evenly through the round, hole difficulty does not come into it.

e.g. Some courses may finish with 3 really hard holes so they are rated 1,3,5 on stableford index. If you are in a match and receiving 5 shots the match may be over before you get a chance to use over 1/2 your shots.

down and out…did ya get that?

Ahhh, makes some sense, I think!

So when you say “It is the same everywhere” do you mean that all clubs have the same match-play index on the same hole? (i.e. all 1st holes are index 4, for example…

Ta again,
Shane.

The majority of clubs in Australia use the standerd matchplay index but there are a few exceptions. My home club changed it slightly because we found that the first 3 shots were all on par 3s which did not seem quite fair to the lower handicapper.

Nothing is fair in golf. Does not matter if you are a low handicapper or a high handicapper.

What is the biggest handicap difference you have had in a Match Play …match? – I once played a guy off 26 when I was off 3 (gave him 23 shots)...he beat me 8 and 6 even though I was only 1 over after the 12 holes…tough game :)

the limit of handicap difference at many clubs is 18 i.e a shot a hole. if your opponent has a bigger difference than that…stiff bikkies. ( at last a win for the low marker!!)

You will find that the standard match play index is designed to space out the shots evenly. If you have 4 shots you should find them on holes 4,8,12 & 16. If you have 9 shots they are normally on all the even holes. Mostly you will find the first hole rated 18 so that if the match goes to the 19th, the long marker will only get a shot there if they have 18 shots ( the count starts again for any holes past 18)

its a good theory. Unfortunately ( as previously stated) you can get a course ( like ours used to be before the routing was changed) where the longer holes are the even holes and the shorter ones odd. I was caned by an old bloke in the old Sun herald matchplay event on that basis. He had 10 or 11 shots start , but he was short but down the middle. He didn’t get shots on the odd holes, but could nearly reach most of them. he got shots on those that he couldn’t reach – where i would normally have had some advantage.

such is life i guess.

Thanks for the explanation guys, really clears it up.

So I guess the logic is (kind of) ... if I’m a high handicapper playing a low, I’ve got almost zero chance of beating him on the hardest hole of the course without a shot … call it a lost hole. However, (for arguments sake) if I do get a shot on the easiest hole of the course I should have an excellent chance of beating him … call it a won hole … and everything has evend itself out – same as halving both holes.

Similar to simply knocking your handicap off your gross stroke score to get a net result, it’s not a hole specific measure.

Oddly though, couldn’t you apply the same logic to a stableford game … 0 shots on the hardest hole = 0pts … two shots on the short par 3 = 4pts … same as scoring 2 & 2.

Any probably a bit esoteric.

Thanks guys.

Thanks for the explanation guys, really clears it up.

So I guess the logic is (kind of) ... if I’m a high handicapper playing a low, I’ve got almost zero chance of beating him on the hardest hole of the course without a shot … call it a lost hole. However, (for arguments sake) if I do get a shot on the easiest hole of the course I should have an excellent chance of beating him … call it a won hole … and everything has evend itself out – same as halving both holes.

Similar to simply knocking your handicap off your gross stroke score to get a net result, it’s not a hole specific measure.

Oddly though, couldn’t you apply the same logic to a stableford game … 0 shots on the hardest hole = 0pts … two shots on the short par 3 = 4pts … same as scoring 2 & 2.

Any probably a bit esoteric.

Thanks guys.

You’re not going one on one in Stableford… or are you? If a tree falls in the woods and one hears it….etc

Ultimately you are, aren’t you … or maybe more like one against 200?

Ultimately you are, aren’t you … or maybe more like one against 200?

For example, suppose you are a 12 handicapper who scores 5 on two different holes, one a par-5 with an index of 10, the other a par 4 with an index of index 17. Your Stableford points score would be as follows:

Hole 1: 5 for 3 points
Hole 2: 5 for 1 point

Swap the stroke indexes around and your score would be:

Hole 1: 5 for 2 points
Hole 2: 5 for 2 points

Same total Stableford score.

The ordering of difficulty of holes by index is the most needlessly discussed and agonised about handicap matter in golf, outside the dreaded CCR.

Par is another one, who do you play against when you play Par? I always consider I am playing the golf course as I would be playing someone in Matchplay…

Our club has the Stroke and Match indexes the same, but as they are fairly evenly spread, it is fairly equable for all players.

Our course is indexed with the odd numbers on 1 nine & the even numbers on the other nine. Makes for en even spread wether you are playing 9 or 18 , front or back nine. Any other clubs use this system for stroke index.

P.S. the index for each hole is fairly accurate.