Matchplay Foursomes

As I enter my 3rd winter at my club, my friend and I have entered the Winter Foursomes knockout this year (we actually entered last year but got a bye in the first round then both of us got injured/ill and had to default the 2nd round match) - so this will be our first match

I've tried to familiarize myslf with the rules etc but does anyone have any thoughts on tactics or any rules/situations that we should be aware of? Our first round match is scheduled for this coming Saturday morning. Handicap is half the combined difference and we are playing a 9 and 10 handicapper so by my calculation we will be getting 12 shots!

Any hints, pitfalls or tips?

biggest tip: Never apologise.

If you make a mistake accept it, don't apoligise to each other for doing it as that breads insecurity, and never get annoyed at your man if he messes up a shot as you'll both do it at some stage.

Be there ready to give advice when it's your partner's shot, but be carefull not to take over.

No tips really other than to think through the round in advance i.e. look at the tee shots etc. Are you good with irons or is your partner better (re. the par 3s and approaches to par 4s)? Are you better with the driver? Who's the best long putter and how would you predict to arrive on the green? Who's better pitching (i.e. maybe 3rd shots into the par 5s)? Etc etc.

Thanks for the advice so far.

NBS - we've already thought through the tee shots and my partner feels I'm better on the par3s with 4 of the 5 par 3s being "even" holes, so I looks like I'm taking those. The only par3 on an "odd" hole is the one with the biggest carry over water which probably suits my partner better than me so that works well. Of the split of odd/even holes, there is only one hole where I'd rather have it the other way around so I guess I'll just have to do my best on that one.

Significantly, of the 6 holes where we don't get shots, 4 of them are par3s so the pressure will be on with those holes (mostly for me!)

in my experience you will very rarely lose if you play to your handicap.
- if possibly try not to give advice unless asked! it can be very hard to club someone else and its often the case that different players see shots differently
be aware that depending how the cookie crumbles you can have very few puts. i can remember last year i didnt have a put inside 30 feet the whole way around and then suddenly i had a 3 1/2 footer to make on the last. be prepared for this and take it into account when deciding whether to concede puts.
(ps i missed!)

hend085 wrote:in my experience you will very rarely lose if you play to your handicap.
- if possibly try not to give advice unless asked! it can be very hard to club someone else and its often the case that different players see shots differently
be aware that depending how the cookie crumbles you can have very few puts. i can remember last year i didnt have a put inside 30 feet the whole way around and then suddenly i had a 3 1/2 footer to make on the last. be prepared for this and take it into account when deciding whether to concede puts.
(ps i missed!)

Singly the most important piece of advice you can get when playing any format that has a partner involved whether that be 4BBB, foursomes or greensomes. Only offer advice if asked, only offer line on a putt if asked and no matter if you disagree with whats offered up tell your partner to trust their own judgement. I know whenever I play with a partner the one thing I don't like people trying to read my putts, not because I'm rude, it's just for me reading a putt is to open to debate so I trust my own judgement.

Good advice all round.
Keep telling yourself that you are a team and get on with it.
Never apologise ~ never explain ~ never concede.

Like bogey competitions the scoring is generally poorer so aim for 8 pars and 10 bogeys in your round and you will win.

Is that net pars and bogeys Doon? I'd fancy us to be able to do that. 8 gross pars might be a slightly taller order

communicate- talk to each other about where you would like to play the next shot from, don't just bomb it down to the position you would like to find yourself in for the next shot, after all you will not be the one playing it. For example my half to three quarter wedges are not my strong point at the moment (READ: utterly disastrous and needs serious improvement). On shots where he normally would have tried to get closer to the green e.g 2nd shot on par 5s, tee shot short par 4, (the shorter shot he would have preferred playing his own ball) I just kept advising him to club back to leave me a full shot in (the shot i prefer). Worked well for us this year and we won the club foursmoes

Sorry Davie missread, I thought you guys were the 9/10 handicappers.

This form of match tends to favour the low handicappers so all I can say is get stuck in and stay positive. Forget what has happened and concentrate all your efforts on winning the hole you are playing.
You can get huge swings in foursomes so keeping the momentum up is important.

I wish we were the 9/10 handicappers! We are 21/22 which is why I figure they are giving away 12 shots.

Seems an awful lot for them to be giving away though!

Good thinking Davie~ They will be more worried than you.

I hope you dedicate your win to 606v2

In foursomes, the golden rule is to keep it on the short stuff. It's very rare that you are faced with a birdie barrage in foursomes, most of the time anywhere near your handicap will be more than enough.

Holes won with sixes, sevens and eights - happens regularly in foursomes.

I agree with all the advice given and would add that if your partner asks for confirmation on a green read, unless you are absolutely sure he is wrong, confirm what he is thinking otherwise he will be in two minds and guaranteed to miss!

golfermartin wrote:I agree with all the advice given and would add that if your partner asks for confirmation on a green read, unless you are absolutely sure he is wrong, confirm what he is thinking otherwise he will be in two minds and guaranteed to miss!

That's a VERY good point. I like that one

I've been having a pint with my partner after work tonight - we are totally confident on who is taking odds and evens etc - including thinking of second shots. There is only one hole where we feel the order doesn't suit us but we won't change our thoughts for the sake of one hole. Just for information, the one hole we aren't happy about is a short par4 (I've mentioned it on here before even with diagrams!) - I get the tee shot which is (for me) the hardest tee shot on the course - and he gets the second shot (assuming I get my drive in play) over a pond to the green.

I have a mental block over that tee shot - he has a mental block about the wedge over the pond. To add to the problem it is one of the holes we don't get a shot on otherwise I'd be tempted to be safe off the tee, let him knock one down the corner and trust me to knock it close with the wedge to the green for a possible par. Trouble is, playing it that way we are most likely to get a 5 with an outside chance of a 4 but for our lower handicap opposition the hole is much easier and an almost certain par for them with even a chance at a birdie

Mentally we've already almost given up on that hole and a half on it would be a great result. Confidence is quite high on the other 17 holes though (how's that for a kiss of death? We'll probably lose by a dog license now)

Good luck Davie!

Davie, how did you get on?

Thanks for asking 1GG - I was torn between putting this reply on here or the "game today" thread but as you so kindly bumped this one up...

TBH I'm still absolutely buzzing about this game. As I mentioned at the start, this was only a 1st round knockout match but it was our first match in a knockout competition since joining the club and also both our first experience at foursome. So it was very much a journey into the unknown

Perfect conditions (better than perfect in fact for the time of year - I was still sat outside on the patio at 4:30pm after the match, sipping beer in short sleeves - in the middle of November - I couldn't believe it!

As mentioned, we were 21 and 22 handicap against 9 and 10 - so given 12 shots over the 18 holes.

I have no doubt now that our opponents are sat pouring over the club results for the year to see how genuine those handicaps are (totally genuine I assure you as we have both played a pretty much full summer of qualifiying comps)

Basically, we played a near perfect first nine (relative to the shots we received) and after 9 holes were probably around nett par, to be 2 up - that included a shortish putt missed on 9 which could and probably should have put us 3 up.

Our opponents got a slightly fortunate half on 10 and then we started to falter, losing 11 and 12 almost uncontested so all square.

We were fortunate to halve 13 and 15 "thanks" to the opponents missing opportunities but as we got to 16 (the last hole where we weren't getting a shot) we went 1 down for the first time with 2 holes to play

At that point it was major squeaky-bum time for both me and my partner as we were into very unfamiliar territory but knowing we had shots on the last two holes it wasn't all over

17 is a long par 3 (though the tees were a little forward today) - I hit a tee shot to the heart of the green and my partner tried to lag up a tricky downhill left-to-righter, but left it about 5 foot short. I sank it with what probably looked like far more confidence than I felt for a nett 2 and back to all square going up 18

On 18 my partner totally nailed a drive (neither of us are particularly long but he hit a beaut) that left me a shot over a pond to the green. I almost wished he hadn't hit the tee shot so well which would have given me an option of laying up, but he was so (relatively) long that the layup was out of the question. Squeaky bum moment number 2 as I was compelled to take it on and thankfully hit to the heart of the green. Opponents also on in 2 but not particularly close. I was left with a tiddlerr (which looked MASSIVE at the time) for the win which thankfully I sank (squeaky bum moment number three in the last two holes!)

Honestly, for a lowly first round winter knockout match I was totally drained at the end - first time foursomes format, first club knockout match and such a tight finish!

I felt heart-sorry for our opponents who didn't really put much of a foot wrong and giving so many shots away. Their only fault was to miss a couple of short(ish) putts and other than that they played extremely well. The were very unlucky to come up against a couple of higher handicappers who both pulled out all the stops and played probably above their standard.

I don't think my poor old ticker can take too many more matches like that! I reckon we could play much worse than that and still scrape through - our poor opponents must be gutted tonight, though they accepted it extremely graciously and were perfect opponents on a great day

Well done Davie, very good finish and win.
Keep us posted on how you make your way to the final

Davie, I wasn't sure if you would post it to here or the normal game thread either. Congratulations on the win, when the pressure was on you and your partner both came through; well done. Good luck in round 2

Great effort Davie. Looks like you can produce the goods when the pressure is on. Must give you mucho confidence for the future.

Good luck in the next round.

Thanks guys. Still pretty psyched about it the day after

After a night's reflection on it I think there were two factors that were most important.

1) We stuck to our game plan of good course management and not taking on high risk shots on our shot holes, instead laying up to good yards amd playing for either 2 putts which would give us a nett par with obviously the chance that we could either single putt or our opponents wouldn't be able to convert their own par chances

2) My partner putting faith in me to play the even holes which included 4 of the 5 par3s, 3 of those 4 not being shot holes. He felt I had more chance of hitting those greens than he did and though that added more pressure to me I was thankfully able to reward his faith by hitting 3 of my 4 par3s (the other was pin high but just catching a greenside bunker). He had more faith in my par3 ability than I had myself but I was very glad to prove him right

The other thing that pleased me greatly was our putting and particularly my putts on the last two greens. A slightly tricky 5 footer on 17 and a dead straight 2 footer (which looked about 10 foot by that stage) on the last. We'd already agreed the "no apologies" strategy but as I was stood over that last putt I was trying to work out what I'd say to him had I yipped it and taken us down the 19th

Well done Davie! I've played (and won) three 4BBB and one greensome match for my club. Really enjoyed the buzz you get from the team format. Prefer it to singles and medal matches in many ways

Well done Davie

I can't see how your opponents could be bitter, given that you reached the 18th green all square.

I enjoy foursomes golf too, it really helps if your partner is a good mate.