How should the winner be decided if scores are tied?

[The Fader]

Agree that board events should be decided by some form of play off.

Countback is flawed in many ways. Why is a birdie on the 18th worth more than a birdie on the 1st for example? To relate to football
using golf countback theory a team who scored more goals in the second half of a draw would be declared the winners. Any takers
for that scenario?

Golf is a game that, as others have said, rewards mediocrity at times with no discernible benefits to being a low handicapper
beyond prestige. That said the handicap system does allow players of varying ability to compete alongside each other
in a way not possible in the vast majority of other sports so surely giving the low handicapper an advantage on the times a tie
occurs in an ordinary competition is not too much ask.

As a percentage of how much they have beaten their handicap by against the higher player - they have, in my opinion,
played better on the day. And it offers some small reward for the hard work involved in improving their handicap.

This is from an aging mid handicapper currently going the wrong way!!

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Nonsense. Extra time is the same as a play-off in golf.

By your logic, what has happened in the previous 90 minutes in football, or 72 holes in golf means nothing. But the previous 90 minutes takes you to extra time, and the previous 72 holes take you to a play-off.

It isn't even remotely the same.

Reread my post.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Countback for me. Surely the point of a handicap is we're all effectively playing off the same level. Even for board events, I can't see logistically how clubs can hold a play off when players could have played and already left the premises. When do you hold it then? Some can only play at weekends, some once a month. The only exception I would make for this would be the club championship. Our main contenders go out at the back of the field in scorecard order so there is more chance of them still being around especially as the club like to make the presentation in the evening (and then re-present at prize giving night)

 

[howbow88]

Reread my post.

I've reread, and clearly others earlier in this thread did too, yet your comparison still makes no sense

 

[Grant85]

Countback.

The whole point of a handicap is it allows people to compete on an equal footing.

Yes - countback is arbitrary but it still gives everyone a chance to win. And of course means the winner will have played well down the stretch when they knew they were on a good score and the pressure was on.

My course has got this green that runs parallel to the 1st. It would be a stiff par 3 to a raised green with a carry over a burn. There are flat teeing areas at c 150 yards but it's not maintained to a competition standard and more of a practice area. Assume it's maybe a spare hole they used previously if one was flooded or getting work done.

Have thought it would make a good playoff hole, or could set it up as a nearest to the pin for tiebreaks. Everyone with a decent score can go and hit a shot and record their distance.

 

[GreiginFife]

Head to head sudden death putt off on the putting green.


Ok, maybe not.

 

[Sam_R]

Nearest the pin on a par 3?

 

[Slab]

Isn’t 'count back' the result of the playoff?

Result decided over 18 holes if tied then back 9, 6, etc etc meaning all the various playoff scenarios have (knowingly) already taken place concurrent to the score for the full 18 holes. Why repeat a playoff that every player knew has already taken place

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Don't agree with that as a general rule.
Most golfers are playing for their handicap. A lower player has a much smaller buffer and can really feel the pressure are the round nears the end. I know I do, especially at cat 1 when you only have a 1 shot buffer.

Thankfully I have slipped up to cat 2!

Just thinking that in general lower handicap players tend to cope with difficult conditions better than higher handicap players - they’ve more likely to have been there seen it done It. And I’d chuck ‘being in contention‘ into difficult conditions. So the higher h/cap player is more likely to struggle as they feel the pressure come on...and so when they succeed in coping then they have done really well in what for them may well have been ‘the first time’. So reward them on the count back.

 

[garyinderry]

Detest count back. Feel robbed when I lose, Feel embarrassed when I win.

Lower hc for me all day ??

It can be fairly embarrassing to beat someone shooting in the 60s gross.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Still have bad memories of countback and the GM Centenary Final but then again what else can you do. A play-off on the par 3 18th at the Forest of Arden would have made a great feature piece for the magazine but to have tied for first place was more than enough and didn't think my total would have been close anyway. At club level I don't see any fair way around it and yes there probably is a level of embarrassment "beating" a guy who has gone round in a great score off a low handicap but that's the whole purpose of the system so we can compete equally so in my case it would be short lived

 

[Deleted member 3432]

Countback, and make sure you play better on the back nine....

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Nearest the pin on a par 3?

Doesn't work for a handicap competition...

 

[patricks148]

Countback, and make sure you play better on the back nine....

sorts the sqeeky bum types who realise on 15th they have a good score out

 

[Bwgan]

Lower handicap doesn't work for me as a result is already confirmed before going out (in the event of a tie)?
In another sport I play, we have discards to a series (get rid of your worse result). eg. why not drop your worst performing hole and keep dropping the next one until there's a winner

 

[chrisd]

Don't allow anyone with a low handicap to play, they get arsy too when you do things like compliment every shot or hit their ball by mistake, so just have mid - high handicappers just playing for fun ??

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Don't allow anyone with a low handicap to play, they get arsy too when you do things like compliment every shot or hit their ball by mistake, so just have mid - high handicappers just playing for fun ??

Rabbits golf

 

[Deleted member 3432]

sorts the sqeeky bum types who realise on 15th they have a good score out

Wouldn't know, that long since I have had to worry about finishing off a good score

Usually needing to shoot 4 under or better on the back 9 to buffer

 

[clubchamp98]

Yes, football. It's the same principle as extra time. The winner is the team that plays best in the last 30 minutes, not the whole 120 minutes.

No it’s not ,it’s the team that scores the most goals .
That’s not always the team that plays best.

 

[Grant85]

Isn’t 'count back' the result of the playoff?

Result decided over 18 holes if tied then back 9, 6, etc etc meaning all the various playoff scenarios have (knowingly) already taken place concurrent to the score for the full 18 holes. Why repeat a playoff that every player knew has already taken place

I guess this is the theory. When you think about it, a 9 hole scorecard playoff gives the chance for handicap to take some account - that a real time single hole or nearest to the pin playoff would not. Even assuming you could get everyone with a decent score to hang around till all scores were in and you play down the 1st... A 4 handicap vs 11 handicap... if the 1st hole was SI 7 or below, then a full 1 shot advantage for the higher man over maybe 380 yards of golf. If it's SI 8 or above, then clear advantage for the low man who is going to make par or better probably 40% to 50% of the time on the 'easier' holes.