Why are people A-Holes when playing MATCHPLAY?

[Skytot]

So my club is in its Matchplay phase and I played round one last weekend.

I am totally new to Matchplay and only been playing golf for 3 years.

The guy I was against was off 11 and me 13 as he decided we should play off the very back competition tees.

He told me as he had the lowest handicap, he got to select what tees to play off. I know that's BS now.

We played the back 9 first and then the front 9. I got a shot on the 12th (par 4) and 8th (par 3).

He tells me he will score for us but I did know that the MISCORE app we use in Australia has a feature where it scores matchplay so I just used it to keep track. (tell you this for a reason later on)

The *** experience begins here.
I say, "I'm new to the club as I've only been here 8 months so never played in the matchplay comp"
and he responds, "Oh you cant play matchplay unless you've been here 12 months".
"Oh well they took my entry so I'm playing.

I have a 2 wood mini driver (taylormade burner), so I am about to hit, I've addressed the ball and he goes, "We are playing off the black tees not the ladies".

Anyway I lose the first 2 holes and win the next 2.

more comments like
What football team do you support, I reply I don't and he goes, oh so you are gay. I ignore him (I'm not gay).
I just counted your clubs and you have too many. Me: really? I only have 12 in the bag. How many do you have? he just smirks.
I've just remembered you can't use an electric buggy for matchplay. You should have carried them like me. thats a walkover win for me. I ignore him.

Over the first 16 holes its just back and forth with me going 3 up and then starting the 8th where I get a shot, I am 1 up but he has the honors.

Anyway, he absolutely nails his shot to 1 mtr of the pin. Sadly I put mine in the short side bunker. I get it out about 5 mtrs from the pin.

It is now he goes to me, "That has to be the worst looking putter I have ever seen and your grip is all wrong. I am surprised you've even sunk a putt today with that grip". (FYI Its a normal grip)

but go on to 3 putt as I might admit he did get into my head. He pars and wins the hole.

We walk to the last / 9th on our course and he goes he's 1 up. I look at the app as I was sure it was even especially as I was pissed for not winning on the previous hole when I had the extra shot on him.

I say no we are even, he says we arent and I said we can go thru it when we finish the last. He grunts and looks at his card again.

9th hole he absolutely BOMBs a drive down the middle. I spray mine to the right. Worst tee shot all day.
I then have to hit a 7 wood over a tree but I then hit the second tree and it drops to the ground in the bark lie.

He hit his second into the left green side bunker.

I am thinking that I am so sick of this and I'm either going to win with glory or go out in a blaze of fire.

I thin my sandwedge into a tree that the ball bounces off and then it runs thru the right side bunker and come to rest 1 mtr from the pin.
He hits his bunker shot out over the green into the rough on the other side of the green.

I go on to get a par (4) and he gets a 6.

View attachment 57951

So I win.

Not as far as he is concerned. So we sit down and go thru each hole and after doing this twice, he admits I've won and just stands up and walks off. Never to be seen again.

But here's the kicker to the story

The pro shop guys see me walking into the club house bar with the other 2 guys from our group and 2 of them come out to ask who won. I tell them the above and they then tell me he is the biggest cheat in the club and he has won everything other than the matchplay championships. They then tell me his handicap is usually 6 but he has been blowing it out for 6 months in preparation for the MatchPlay champs.

I only played matchplay so I could meet some new people in the club. He is the first ahole I've come across in the 8 months Ive been there.

The really funny part was I didnt care if I won or lost.

But to the title of this thread.

Why are people like this? Its just a game of golf.

Good post. As I was reading it and you were describing the last hole , I was itching for you to win it . What a total Pr### he is . Everyone’s different but he would have got a mouthful from me . Glad you won

 

[Billysboots]

There are probably two ways to view that sort of behaviour.

First would be to tell this prat that if it means that much to him, he can have the match. Walk in, report him to the committee, and move on.

The other, and it would be my choice, is to ignore him for the person he is, concentrate on your own game, and knuckle down to do your absolute best to beat him.

This is nothing to do with the format you played. Life is, sadly, full of pillocks. You just happened to play one of them.

 

[rksquire]

When I was being reviewed for the league team they sent me out with the most obnoxious bloke. The plan was to see if I could cope with this. The thing that is really funny is this bloke didn’t know he was the obnoxious bloke .. his behaviour was the same irrespective of competition type.. he was generally not liked.
Anyway I survived that, I would, my plan has always been to play the way they want to play .. if you want to banter I am okay with that, but be aware I go from 0-100 with no in between ( younger brother syndrome- you have to give back harder than you get) . If they Quote rules at me, I will pull out the rule book and ask which your referring to and paragraph.. believe me this can really be annoying despite being justified. Then I will argue the toss and bend the meanings… this is really annoying, apparently. Even when I know I am wrong
As for noise makers and movers .. it’s tough you just have to develop a shutting out mechanism..

Little did you know they were sending him out with you to see if he could cope......

 

[harpo_72]

Little did you know they were sending him out with you to see if he could cope......

Quite possibly… I broke him ..

 

[HomerJSimpson]

There are probably two ways to view that sort of behaviour.

First would be to tell this prat that if it means that much to him, he can have the match. Walk in, report him to the committee, and move on.

The other, and it would be my choice, is to ignore him for the person he is, concentrate on your own game, and knuckle down to do your absolute best to beat him.

This is nothing to do with the format you played. Life is, sadly, full of pillocks. You just happened to play one of them.

This. I will do as Seve said and look them in the eye and wish them luck but inside thinking I am going to smash you up as quickly as I can

 

[nickjdavis]

This. I will do as Seve said and look them in the eye and wish them luck but inside thinking I am going to smash you up as quickly as I can

Playing a mate in the first round of our matchplay in a couple of hours....this is my attitude...primarily so we can get off for a curry after the game and then get home in time to watch Inter v Barca.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

If I were the OP I might well be inclined to write to the committee - or raise with a committee member - my confusion over some of the things the opponent raised or pointed out about the format and conduct of the match, and so I was just checking - but I'd probably set aside and not raise the stuff that was just plain rude.

In a non-complaining way I'd be focusing on the competition rather than the personal - but it would be clear to any reader what the wider context was - the guy was being a total berk and behaving in a completely unacceptable manner.

 

[Skytot]

Playing a mate in the first round of our matchplay in a couple of hours....this is my attitude...primarily so we can get off for a curry after the game and then get home in time to watch Inter v Barca.

I played an old mate last year. We were both pretty crap but him less so. Spent our time talking football

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I played an old mate last year. We were both pretty crap but him less so. Spent our time talking football

Played an old mate in our summer knockout and like you spent most of the match reminiscing. Golf got in the way

 

[SocketRocket]

It's against the rules to give advice to another player during a round. I believe he could have been disqualified for some of his comments.

 

[Deleted member 18645]

I played a guy once who I heard "was well prepared to beat me" in a singles match. 3rd and 5th tees, violent cough at the top of my backswing. 7th tee, I deliberately stopped at the top of my swing just as he did it again. Picked my ball up and walked back to the clubhouse. He tried to claim the match. He was out of the club by the end of the week when it became clear he had told about four other people what he was planning to do.

 

[Swango1980]

You're title is misleading, suggesting golfers are nasty when playing Match Play.

Whereas, it was simply a fact that the individual you played against was a nasty piece of work. I doubt he'd have been lovely had you played him in stroke play.

Sounds like an extreme character. If he is known to be a cheat and horrible person, I'm surprised he hasn't been dealt with by the Club to be honest.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

You're title is misleading, suggesting golfers are nasty when playing Match Play.

Whereas, it was simply a fact that the individual you played against was a nasty piece of work. I doubt he'd have been lovely had you played him in stroke play.

Sounds like an extreme character. If he is known to be a cheat and horrible person, I'm surprised he hasn't been dealt with by the Club to be honest.

Maybe they don't know or have chosen to turn a blind eye

 

[Swango1980]

Maybe they don't know or have chosen to turn a blind eye

The OP said the pro shop guys says he is the biggest cheat. He has won every comp except Match Play. His handicap is usually significantly less than it was in the Match Play.

I made a leap to assume the Club are aware of this guys antics. At least enough of his antics to warrant action

 

[evemccc]

I like Match Play. I like pretty much all golf but I do like singles and Foursomes Matchplay in particular.

I do think that in Strokeplay, you’re obviously playing the field, whereas in Matchplay you’re obviously playing your opponent and so idiot-like behaviour is more noticeable and more common

Partly I think because some people fancy themselves as amateur psychologists and try and ‘get in your head’, and they think that attempts at such cheating-adjacent behaviour is justified..
These types more often than not spend so much time thinking about trying to put their opponent off, they end up distracting themselves!

Retreat into yourself, keep calm and repeat / confirm the score verbally after every hole

But I also agree with the majority of posters, A-holes are A-holes, and you meet them everywhere sadly in life

 

[D-S]

I always keep a scorecard record of the way it is going (1 up, level, 2up etc) as I have known people swear blind they are all square when you know you are one up. You take them through the hole you won and they still struggle to accept it. Then youget the money/tee jangle, the cougher, the sledger. All to win a game in a competition no-one cares about in the long run. Always nice to get one over. I have a match against a well known handicap manipulator who is recognised (although the club turn a blind eye) who will have a bad comp round and a few GP stinkers just before a match to get his handicap up. He's already at it and strangely just clicked from 14 to 15 in the space of three cards. I beat him a few years back on the way to the final so hoping I can do it again

Are you saying (as this is what you infer) that your Club Handicap Committee is deliberately ignoring the actions of a handicap cheat despite obvious evidence to the contrary?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Are you saying (as this is what you infer) that your Club Handicap Committee is deliberately ignoring the actions of a handicap cheat despite obvious evidence to the contrary?

I suggest the issue is we can all say we just had a bad day and had already committed to put a card in and it was one of those things. Hard to prove so I think like many committees it has decided not to push it further for a quiet life. He just seems to have a lot just before the next knockout game. It is the same in the pairs and although I don't enter the foursome comp (hate the format) other pairs have said the same, even if they aren't drawn against the said pairing. They have definitely got a reputation

 

[D-S]

I suggest the issue is we can all say we just had a bad day and had already committed to put a card in and it was one of those things. Hard to prove so I think like many committees it has decided not to push it further for a quiet life. He just seems to have a lot just before the next knockout game. It is the same in the pairs and although I don't enter the foursome comp (hate the format) other pairs have said the same, even if they aren't drawn against the said pairing. They have definitely got a reputation

So he moves his handicap up by a shot before every round in the three (singles, pairs and foursomes) knockouts? Presumably he then comes down again otherwise he would pretty soon hit his soft then hard cap? Especially if he makes it through quite a few rounds in each competition.
That seems to be some incredibly skilful finessing if an index, he must have hundreds of rounds per year on his record.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

So he moves his handicap up by a shot before every round in the three (singles, pairs and foursomes) knockouts? Presumably he then comes down again otherwise he would pretty soon hit his soft then hard cap? Especially if he makes it through quite a few rounds in each competition.
That seems to be some incredibly skilful finessing if an index, he must have hundreds of rounds per year on his record.

Retired so lets say he gets value per round for his membership. He definitely understands the new system and what will and won't affect the counting scores

 

[Petercool]

This. I will do as Seve said and look them in the eye and wish them luck but inside thinking I am going to smash you up as quickly as I can

Yeah but when I am in a group and even if I dont know the people I want everyone to have a great round.
I want people to hole out from bunkers. Sink long putts. Get a hole in one.
I never wish someone to have a bad shot or be unlucky.

never look at someone thinking I'm going to smash this guy.

Its why maybe I struggled playing this format.

Will see how I go in the next round. Playing the guy that won last year. ha