Matchplay - Where can you begin

[Old Skier]

We are going through all our comp policies and conditions of entry and on an old conditions of entry it states that matchplay comps must start from the 1st tee. I cannot find anything in the rules of golf and would appreciate input from those that know (quoting relevant rule if appropriate) if this may have just been something the (very) old committee came up with or is indeed a rule of golf.

Apologise if this has been asked before but I cannot find anything on it using the search.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Our conditions of the comp suggest we can start on either the first or tenth tee. But when I checked a while back you can start on any tee you wish but any extra holes must start from the hole you started the match on.

 

[Ross61]

I believe it is to do with the SI distribution. It is recommended that holes 1,9,10 and 18 are SI 9,10,11 & 12 (in any order). Also there are recommendations to the SI spread over each 9 so as to distribute the holes where the higher handicapper is likely to receive their strokes.

edit.. Rule 33-4 Appendix g

http://www.englandgolf.org/page.aspx?sitesectionid=337

 

[Colin L]

We are going through all our comp policies and conditions of entry and on an old conditions of entry it states that matchplay comps must start from the 1st tee. I cannot find anything in the rules of golf and would appreciate input from those that know (quoting relevant rule if appropriate) if this may have just been something the (very) old committee came up with or is indeed a rule of golf.

Apologise if this has been asked before but I cannot find anything on it using the search.

Rule 2-1
A match consists of one side playing against another over a stipulated round unless otherwise decreed by the Committee.
Definition
The "stipulated round" consists of playing the holes of the course in their correct sequence, unless otherwise authorized by the Committee. The number of holes in a stipulated round is 18 unless a smaller number is authorized by the Committee.


Thus, unless the Committee has said anything different, your match must be played over 18 holes in the correct sequence i.e 1 to 18.

 

[Old Skier]

Thanks for that but I cannot see where it suggests that matchplay matches cannot start on the 10th hole, and if the SI have been distributed as per the recommendations I cannot see any advantages or disadvantages.

 

[Old Skier]

Rule 2-1
A match consists of one side playing against another over a stipulated round unless otherwise decreed by the Committee.
Definition
The "stipulated round" consists of playing the holes of the course in their correct sequence, unless otherwise authorized by the Committee. The number of holes in a stipulated round is 18 unless a smaller number is authorized by the Committee.


Thus, unless the Committee has said anything different, your match must be played over 18 holes in the correct sequence i.e 1 to 18.

Cheers - so basically the committee can make the decision.

 

[Old Skier]

Our conditions of the comp suggest we can start on either the first or tenth tee. But when I checked a while back you can start on any tee you wish but any extra holes must start from the hole you started the match on.

Thanks, just trying to see if there are definitive - do not's - before I put the policy document back to committee.

All feedback welcome.

 

[Colin L]

Cheers - so basically the committee can make the decision.

That’s right, the default position being that in the absence of any such Committee modification, you must start at the 1st and play 1 to 18 in numerical order.

 

[Ross61]

Our conditions of the comp suggest we can start on either the first or tenth tee. But when I checked a while back you can start on any tee you wish but any extra holes must start from the hole you started the match on.

the problem is if the 1st hole played is a low SI and the match goes to a 19th hole the higher handicapper has a distinct advantage by receiving a stroke.

 

[rulie]

the problem is if the 1st hole played is a low SI and the match goes to a 19th hole the higher handicapper has a distinct advantage by receiving a stroke.

Not a problem for the person receiving strokes! Perhaps the Handicap Committee should review the SI allocations?

 

[backwoodsman]

the problem is if the 1st hole played is a low SI and the match goes to a 19th hole the higher handicapper has a distinct advantage by receiving a stroke.

In which case, the lower handicapper should have killed the match off sooner, shouldn't they

 

[backwoodsman]

Our conditions say that matches must start on the 1st tee except that they may start on 8 or 13 (our other two start places) by agreement. (2 balls, and 3/4 balls start in different places at different times). So our matches can start elsewhere, but if one player wants to start on 1st, then that's where it starts

 

[LCVreg]

I believe it is to do with the SI distribution. It is recommended that holes 1,9,10 and 18 are SI 9,10,11 & 12 (in any order). Also there are recommendations to the SI spread over each 9 so as to distribute the holes where the higher handicapper is likely to receive their strokes.

edit.. Rule 33-4 Appendix g

http://www.englandgolf.org/page.aspx?sitesectionid=337

One of the silliest recommendations to come out - Stroke Index's should be as they always have been, 1 being the hardest and 18 the easiest - Medal / stableford play is much much more prevalent in play and isn't it fun to play a 470 yard par 4 with a SI of 18!, and then a 250 yard open par 4 with a SI of 1 - Majority of clubs have seen the light and have reverted against these recommendations. I wish all would realise that many of these rules are made for the Cat 1 golfer, which is in fact just 0.5 % of the golfing populace - support the majority I say!

 

[PhilTheFragger]

One of the silliest recommendations to come out - Stroke Index's should be as they always have been, 1 being the hardest and 18 the easiest - Medal / stableford play is much much more prevalent in play and isn't it fun to play a 470 yard par 4 with a SI of 18!, and then a 250 yard open par 4 with a SI of 1 - Majority of clubs have seen the light and have reverted against these recommendations. I wish all would realise that many of these rules are made for the Cat 1 golfer, which is in fact just 0.5 % of the golfing populace - support the majority I say!

These are recommendations that should be taken into account when designing and building a new course, obviously an existing course will have to take into account what is already there, But it is a common misnomer that the only criteria in deciding SI is difficulty of hole, You have to spread out the SI , common sense if you ask me

 

[Ross61]

One of the silliest recommendations to come out - Stroke Index's should be as they always have been, 1 being the hardest and 18 the easiest - Medal / stableford play is much much more prevalent in play and isn't it fun to play a 470 yard par 4 with a SI of 18!, and then a 250 yard open par 4 with a SI of 1 - Majority of clubs have seen the light and have reverted against these recommendations. I wish all would realise that many of these rules are made for the Cat 1 golfer, which is in fact just 0.5 % of the golfing populace - support the majority I say!

Within reason I can agree but the SI is for match play purposes. SI has no use in medal play and generally overall it doesn't matter in Stableford.
In your example if I play a 470 yd par 4 with SI 18 I get 1 stroke and take 6 I get 1 point if I play the 250 yard par 4 with SI 1 I receive 2 strokes I complete in 5 and score 3... 4 overall the SI the other way around I score 2 on each.. Still 4 overall.

To have the SI purely on difficulty you could have all the hardest holes on the back 9 where someone receiving, for example 7 shots, would more likely beaten before he has even received more than 3 or 4 of his strokes.

 

[Colin L]

One of the silliest recommendations to come out - Stroke Index's should be as they always have been, 1 being the hardest and 18 the easiest - Medal / stableford play is much much more prevalent in play and isn't it fun to play a 470 yard par 4 with a SI of 18!, and then a 250 yard open par 4 with a SI of 1 - Majority of clubs have seen the light and have reverted against these recommendations. I wish all would realise that many of these rules are made for the Cat 1 golfer, which is in fact just 0.5 % of the golfing populace - support the majority I say!

You make a basic error in thinking that the SI has any relevance in stroke/medal play. Since your total handicap allowance is deducted from your total gross score, there is no relationship between any handicap stroke and a particular hole.

In saying that stroke play is more prevalent, you are presumably only taking account of competition play. If you think about the golf that goes on day in day out, then match play predominates. Where you might have a stroke play competition on Saturday, you have players going out the other 6 days a week playing against each other for a beer, a few bob or whatever. What format do they play? In terms of total club golf being played, I would say match play is the predominant format. Distribution of strokes in match play to avoid imbalances and daft things happening rather than solely on the basis of difficulty is so obviously sensible. Say you were in a match and were receiving 3 strokes from your opponent on a course which fixed the SI purely on difficulty. It just happens that the most difficult hole on the course is the 16th, followed by 17 and 18. You lose 4 & 3. Are you really happy with that arrangement?

In short, it makes no sense to base the SI on order of difficulty for the sake of stroke play. It makes complete sense to use various criteria to balance things out etc for match play.

Which leaves stableford, but I’ll have to come to that later.

 

[Beedee]

I know some course have separate SI's for stroke and match play. Why not just make that more common or even compulsory - a Stroke Index that that is the accurate difficulty of the hole and a Match Index that distributes shots.

 

[rulefan]

Which leaves stableford, but I’ll have to come to that later.

The figures suggest it is swings and roundabouts.

 

[rickg]

One of the silliest recommendations to come out - Stroke Index's should be as they always have been, 1 being the hardest and 18 the easiest - Medal / stableford play is much much more prevalent in play and isn't it fun to play a 470 yard par 4 with a SI of 18!, and then a 250 yard open par 4 with a SI of 1 - Majority of clubs have seen the light and have reverted against these recommendations. I wish all would realise that many of these rules are made for the Cat 1 golfer, which is in fact just 0.5 % of the golfing populace - support the majority I say!

For someone who purports to be a former committee member, captain "and more", you don't half make a lot of incorrect assumptions.

 

[rulefan]

Majority of clubs have seen the light and have reverted against these recommendations.

As the recommendation was not a requirement and not widely publicised, many/most clubs did not take up the idea. There has not been a significant reversion.

The biggest problem re changing one way or the other was/is the cost of cards and course signage.