Tactical or is it even legal or am I reading too much into it?

Curls

Curls

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So we're playing in a club matchplay comp (fourball better ball) and deadline to play the first round is next week. Match arranged for Monday, dude rings me tonight and says his partner can't make it but that he'll play us on his own. Fair enough/he must be mad I think, then my partner points out he might be pulling a fast one...
This guy is off 16 and his partner off 8, I'm off 15 and my partners off 23. The handicap allowance is 3/4 the lower h/c. So if we played him and his buddy they'd have to give us 5 or 6, but now we're playing him on his own we'll have to give him a shot. Now, I realise it's one man against two but

A. my partners off 23 for a reason, not sure how much he will contribute
B. This guy we're playing is doing well at the moment, was just in the final of the winter leagues (not sure how he did yet)
C. His partner has barely played any comps this year and where has he's not played well (30/32 points for example)

Am I being paranoid, should the two of us be able to beat him anyway and finally is this even allowed???!!!

Thanks for the advice, its my first matchplay match and I'm all at sea so appreciate ye're thoughts.
 
1. it's legal for one person to represent a side in this format
2. handicaps are still calculated and played from the lowest player even if he isn't actually there!

not likely to be a ploy - just play.
 
Sounds a pretty genuine offer to me with deadline looming, there is no benefit in playing on his own, what you have missed here is he would get 3/4 of shot difference off lowest handicap so nearly same shots as you but the same difference of 1 whether he plays with his partner or on his own. Just need to relax your partner and get him to help out on the holes he has shots. Good luck.
 
Curls said:
So we're playing in a club matchplay comp (fourball better ball) and deadline to play the first round is next week. Match arranged for Monday, dude rings me tonight and says his partner can't make it but that he'll play us on his own. Fair enough/he must be mad I think, then my partner points out he might be pulling a fast one...
This guy is off 16 and his partner off 8, I'm off 15 and my partners off 23. The handicap allowance is 3/4 the lower h/c. So if we played him and his buddy they'd have to give us 5 or 6, but now we're playing him on his own we'll have to give him a shot. Now, I realise it's one man against two but

A. my partners off 23 for a reason, not sure how much he will contribute
B. This guy we're playing is doing well at the moment, was just in the final of the winter leagues (not sure how he did yet)
C. His partner has barely played any comps this year and where has he's not played well (30/32 points for example)

Am I being paranoid, should the two of us be able to beat him anyway and finally is this even allowed???!!!

Thanks for the advice, its my first matchplay match and I'm all at sea so appreciate ye're thoughts.
Click to expand...

Q.In a four-ball handicap match, the player with the lowest handicap is unable to play. Should the absent player be disregarded in determining the handicap allowances?
A.No. Under Rule 30-3a, a side may be represented by one partner for all or any part of the match. In determining handicap allowances, the handicaps of the three players should be reduced by the handicap of the absent player.
If a wrong handicap is declared for the absent player, Rule 6-2a applies.
 
pbrown7582 said:
No.2 ....You learn something new every day on here! :-)
Click to expand...

it's logical if you think about it.

the primary reason is that there are a lot of possible reasons that the missing player is missing on the 1st tee, and he is allowed to join the match at any subsequent tee prior to the other players teeing off on that hole

it does make a difference to the strokes - not the number but the effective holes on which the strokes are taken. in this case the OP will get shots at 1-5, the opponent at 1-6 and the OP's partner at 1-11. this means that the net shots for his partner will be on holes SI 7-11 rather than 2-6.
 
Yeah it makes perfect sense just something I'd never thought of and the allocation of sholdie relation to SI could make a difference to the outcome.
 
"He's behind you."

Seriously, don't give it a second thought and just go ut and benefit from the 2 against 1. He' will blob a few holes and its unlikely both you and your partner will both blob at the same time.
 
Great stuff, what a fountain of knowledge! Would have just wondered all weekend, cheers guys makes perfect sense but wouldn't have known where to find the answer!
 
the answer is in the name FOUR ! ball better ball, tell him to bog off. far too much giggery pokery goes on in arranging these type of games . one team we were to play wanted to play 9 holes on the monday and the other 9 holes on the tuesday, but at least there were 2 of them. good luck in the next round
 
Last edited:
williamalex1 said:
the answer is in the name FOUR ! ball better ball, tell him to bog off. far too much giggery pokery goes on in arranging these type of games . one team we were to play wanted to play 9 holes on the monday and the other 9 holes on the tuesday, but at least there were 2 of them. good luck in the next round
Click to expand...

You are perfectly entitled to turn up for a 4-ball better-ball matchplay with an absent partner.
 
I'd play it and not worry. Don't be too quick to dismiss your partner. Withe less pressure on scores in matchplay where a 7 still beats an 8 he can still come good especially on shot holes. I played with a a 75 year old guy off 23 in a match the other week who had had more than a couple of sherberts before the game. Granted he didn't do a lot but made two valuable halves when needed. The pressure is on the guy playing on his own as any bad tee shot or duff may be costly with no-one to fall back on and get him out of jail
 
HomerJSimpson said:
no-one to fall back on and get him out of jail
Click to expand...

That was my take on it homer but I wasn't even sure it was okay to play until the answers here, top stuff, not writing him off at all either, he has good days and can definitely nick a hole or two he's just not playing great at the moment, has taken off to his brothers to play golf for the weekend so hopefully he'll be in good form next Monday, I was playing really well a month ago but between work and travel havent played much at all recently, was looking forward to my first 4 ball match but looks like itll be 3! Cheers lads
 
Like others have said before, it's perfectly legal. And the advantage is with you. But I think the OP perhaps misinterpretted the handicapping. 4BBB is usually each individual getting 3/4 of the difference off the lowest player. So the differential between the three who are present remains the same as they would have been if the fourth (lowest) turned up. What the oppo lose is the skill of the better player.
 
make sure your mate gets 11strokes, and you and the 15 handicap guy get 6 strokes each, to be taken at the appropriate stroke index holes, whether the 8 handicapper turns up or not. you still stroke off him. any other opinions.
 
Our 4BBB rules say that if a player cant make a fixture and it cant be rearranged, then the lone golfer is expected to play on his own rather than cancel.
 
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