Giving shots in match play.

swanny32

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Can someone shed some light on this for me....

Why is it that when you're giving away shots in match play, you give them on the "hardest" holes on the course? I've never understood why it's done like this. I recently gave away 6 shots to a chap, (it was full difference which is BS, but that's another argument), playing off 15 I find stroke index 1-6 tough (and at my gaff they are truly tough especially at this time of year), why should I then give a shot away to someone of the hardest frigging holes??

Surely it would be better if I gave shots to him starting from SI 18, 17, 16 etc after all, in a Stableford competition I wouldn't get a shot on those holes and he would, so therefore I'm almost expected to make par on those holes whereas he's expected to make bogey.
 
Does it matter? Wherever you give the shots he is getting the same number.
 
Generally though SI's are roughly around "hardest to easiest" that's the way most people look at it. Our SI 1 is a 470 yard par 4, dogleg left, smallish green, it's an absolute beast of a hole and one that most people would snap your hand off for a 5, heck, the way I've been playing it recently I'd snap your hand off for a 6 but then also to be giving a shot away on it.....eeesh!
 
Generally though SI's are roughly around "hardest to easiest" that's the way most people look at it. Our SI 1 is a 470 yard par 4, dogleg left, smallish green, it's an absolute beast of a hole and one that most people would snap your hand off for a 5, heck, the way I've been playing it recently I'd snap your hand off for a 6 but then also to be giving a shot away on it.....eeesh!

About 3.5 billion people believe in God. Doesn't make it true though.
 
Can someone shed some light on this for me....

Why is it that when you're giving away shots in match play, you give them on the "hardest" holes on the course? I've never understood why it's done like this. I recently gave away 6 shots to a chap, (it was full difference which is BS, but that's another argument), playing off 15 I find stroke index 1-6 tough (and at my gaff they are truly tough especially at this time of year), why should I then give a shot away to someone of the hardest frigging holes??

Surely it would be better if I gave shots to him starting from SI 18, 17, 16 etc after all, in a Stableford competition I wouldn't get a shot on those holes and he would, so therefore I'm almost expected to make par on those holes whereas he's expected to make bogey.

Someone playing off 15 doesn't get a shot on SI holes 16, 17 or 18 either so they are expected to get the same score as you on those holes i.e. a Par.

But I get the point you are trying to make, and so your proposal should be they get strokes on the holes they normally get strokes on but you don't i.e. SI holes 15 down to 10.
 
I normally find myself giving shots rather than receiving them and have found that it all works out well in the end, also the harder the hole the more chance they have to mess up

Also, why do you think full handicap is BS? that's the point of having handicaps.
 
I've always found that the giving or receiving of shots is an 'in the mind' thing on most courses!

However, some have either distorted the SI allocation or the the allocation method doesn't quite fit in with how the course plays - so it's quite possible for the match to be over before the 'hard against SI' holes occur (so the lower capper is at possibly 'disadvantaged'), or it's tough to actually stay ahead in the later group of holes and a run of losses can take the wind out of the higher capper's sails on the 'easier' last couple (so the lower capper is likely to have an 'advantage').
 
Because Stroke Index is not determined on hole difficulty but on ensuring an equal distribution of strokes is given/received in a match play competition.

More information here - http://www.englandgolf.org/page.aspx?sitesectionid=337&sitesectiontitle=Stroke+Index+Recommendation

That's the way its supposed to be.
Many, many courses up and down the land have SI that reflect difficulty alone and there are probably very few courses that follow the guidelines to the letter.
 
Whatever the rule it normally is the case that the lowest stroke holes are the hardest, it certainly is on my course. As someone who often gives, rather than receives, shots I don't mind giving them on the hardest holes. Often, on a difficult par 4, I've got as much chance, if not more, of getting a 4 as the other guy has of making 5. Often I've won with a par 4 against a 6 net 5. As has been said before, it's the distribution of the shots which is more important.
 
Can someone shed some light on this for me....

Why is it that when you're giving away shots in match play, you give them on the "hardest" holes on the course? I've never understood why it's done like this. I recently gave away 6 shots to a chap, (it was full difference which is BS, but that's another argument), playing off 15 I find stroke index 1-6 tough (and at my gaff they are truly tough especially at this time of year), why should I then give a shot away to someone of the hardest frigging holes??

Surely it would be better if I gave shots to him starting from SI 18, 17, 16 etc after all, in a Stableford competition I wouldn't get a shot on those holes and he would, so therefore I'm almost expected to make par on those holes whereas he's expected to make bogey.

I would have thought that someone playing off 21 would find SI 1-6 even harder than you do so those should be the holes where he gets his shots.
 
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