Submitted by Carl Penfold, Head Professional
I am excited to announce that the 2025 Match Play Brackets have officially been released! Thank you to all who entered this year’s competitions. With brackets now posted and available via the website, it's time to begin scheduling your matches. I encourage you to reach out to your fellow competitors early to ensure your match can be completed within the designated timeframe. I have heard some members say that it is the responsibility of the lower handicap player in the match to take the lead on scheduling a time to play. This is not the case, the expectation is that BOTH players take equal responsibility in providing options to ensure the match is completed on time.
It is important to remind members competing in match play of some basic etiquette, and tips to ensure the pace of play is aligned with our expectations. First and foremost, both players should ensure that they are playing with the proper handicaps. The pro shop is always available to assist with preparing a scorecard. At the time of booking, please let the pro shop know that it is a match. This will give them time to prepare the scorecard.
Once you receive the scorecard, you should always double check that the handicap provided is correct. If you feel that a mistake has been made, it is important that it is corrected before the match begins. If it turns out that a player was mistakenly given too many strokes, they could be subject to disqualification. If they were given a lower handicap, there is no penalty, however, the player would have to play at that cap if the error was not resolved before the match started. You can find this in the rule book under 3.2(c).
Once you have your scorecard prepared, you are now ready to head to the first tee. Playing a match, especially for members doing it for the first time, can be a stressful situation. My advice is to RELAX and have FUN! Over the course of 18 holes, there will be ups & downs, on both sides. The nice thing about match play is that if you have a bad hole, you lose it and move to the next. On the flip side, in stroke play competition, a bad hole can often knock you out of contention.
With that in mind, this brings me to the pace of play tip/expectation. If you are clearly losing a hole, and you have fallen behind the group in front of you, please concede and move to the next hole. I find matches fall behind very quickly, the lack of understanding when to concede, and when to keep playing, is a big reason for that.
Speaking of conceding, this becomes a unique part of match play, especially once you reach the putting green. This is where you see some gamesmanship occur. For example, you might concede a two-foot putt early in the match. However, if the match is close, you likely will want the player to hole the putt from a short distance. It is recommended that you never assume anything is “good”. Even if a concession is likely, make sure your opponent verbally tells you “It’s good”. The last thing you want is to pick up a putt and your opponent is watching with their lips sealed. Back to pace of play, matches can slow down once they reach the green. As with any shot in golf or in a match, please be ready to go when it is your turn. Also, if your opponent has two putts to win the hole from inside 6 feet, unless it is severely downhill or a breaking putt, just concede and move to the next hole. Once again, playing in a match is no excuse to play slowly.
In our last Golf Activities meeting, the captains all agreed that matches must keep up the pace of play. When a match does fall behind, this year, be aware that you may be asked to skip a hole. If this happens, one of the golf professionals will inform the competitors that they need to move to the next hole. The hole that they skip would simply be halved. This is a situation that we would all prefer to avoid, so please do your part to play fast.