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Matchplay Style

Depends on the opponent and the course really but usually i play it conservative 75% of the time and take my chances when i can or need to. If its a team match and my partner is in good position i will use my length to take chances. But if its singles and my opponent is in trouble, i bail out from trouble as much as i can. Par is good enough to win most holes, double bogey will lose you holes. Fairways and greens and two putts will do wonders in match play
 
Matt E. said:
Really depends on the opponent. If you're giving up a lot of strokes and you know they are very consistent then you have to be aggressive. If you're playing with someone you know will make mistakes you just prod along and wait. I generally will play the first 4-5 holes as a feeler for both my game and my opponents and go from there.
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Just my opinion, but if you get too wrapped up on how many strokes your opponent is getting, youve already lost. You cant control how many strokes hes getting so why worry about it? Play your game and make as many pars as you can
 
My answer is just playing my game and swinging my swing. Take the opportunities as they come but know when to play safe when it is wise, if the opponent gets in trouble off the tee, you know you can play the hole conservatively and most likely walk away with it unless of course they make a heck of a recovery somehow which at most you should halve. Even 2 down or 3 down with 3 to go, I'm still not pressing, I would rather have my opponent beat me than beat myself stepping outside of my game to step on it


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I try to play my own game. If I do that I am fine. If I think something like he is in a good spot so I need to be more aggressive or he is in the woods so I can lay up, it gets me in trouble. I just need to play my own game and go low. When I do that, I tend to win.
 
I would tend to lean towards conservative, but pick my spots where I can be aggressive to apply some pressure.
 
PhillyV said:
Just my opinion, but if you get too wrapped up on how many strokes your opponent is getting, youve already lost. You cant control how many strokes hes getting so why worry about it? Play your game and make as many pars as you can
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I don't worry about the strokes but it's very important IMHO. At my club I know that I'm almost always going to lose hole #4 (my nemesis hole) to someone I'm giving shots so I might try a bit harder on the first three to make up for it. Hole #7 is another that's very easy to lose giving up a shot. Hole #18 is our #1HC hole so I know that I don't want to take a match there if possible. There's a lot more strategy in matchplay than I think people realize which is why I enjoy it so much.

Also, never give up on a hole. I can't even count the number of times I thought I was out of a hole, or going to easily win a hole, only to find one of us suddenly having to buckle down and make a putt.
 
Matt E. said:
I don't worry about the strokes but it's very important IMHO. At my club I know that I'm almost always going to lose hole #4 (my nemesis hole) to someone I'm giving shots so I might try a bit harder on the first three to make up for it. Hole #7 is another that's very easy to lose giving up a shot. Hole #18 is our #1HC hole so I know that I don't want to take a match there if possible. There's a lot more strategy in matchplay than I think people realize which is why I enjoy it so much.

Also, never give up on a hole. I can't even count the number of times I thought I was out of a hole, or going to easily win a hole, only to find one of us suddenly having to buckle down and make a putt.
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I personally think you absolutely need to know what your opponent is doing on a hole as well as what type of player they are. I never worry about strokes as that takes care of itself but if a person is in trouble and the best they can do is bogey or double then just play safe. I had a par 5. hole at the legacy where I literally hit punch 7 irons to the green to stay away from any trouble because of where my opponent was sitting. I ran away with a par and the hole. Had I played it super aggressive like I was the rest of the week who knows what would have happened.
You absolutely need to know what your opponent is doing but also know you can't control what they do.

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For me I like to stay conservative and get a feel for the match before I decide to get aggressive or not.

A lot of time though I make silly mistakes early on and force myself to be aggressive when I don't need to be. If I can play solid gold right off the bat I can usually set myself up for a W. unless of course the guy in playing against shoots a 65, not gonna do much to beat that.
 
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I used to play a purely conservative game. My intent was to keep myself level headed for the entire match, and not making big mistakes really helped with that.

Recently, I've started to take a couple risks on shots that may be a forced carry, taking super aggressive lines and often times being successful. It's one thing to par someone to death, but another entirely to do something they don't believe they can replicate after you've done it. Not sure which style I prefer, but risk taking is a lot of fun when in a casual match with a bit of smack talk going on.
 
I have never played match play except one time to help prep Ole Gray for a team event. I really did not do anything different so I would say conservative is my approach.
 
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DawgDaddy said:
I have never played match play except one time to help prep Ole Gray for a team event. I really did not do anything different so I would say conservative is my approach.
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You better be careful double D, a #THPCallOut might come your way later this year!
 
Mostly conservative now... although I do a better job now of when to push it and when not to. Funny, 10 years ago this answer would have been the dead opposite.
 
Where's "Awful"? I fit in some where between awful and turrrble.
 
So much of it depends on who I'm going against. If they're steady Eddy and not going to make many mistakes, I'll play a little more aggressive knowing a double only loses one hole. If they are the type that has a ton of firepower but can also implode, I'll try to be steady Eddy and see what they do
 
I'm conservative until I'm forced to be aggressive. That could apply hole by hole or for the match as a whole.
 
Conservative, I try and wear out my opponent, tire them out a bit, even make them frustrated. But I've had a couple matches in the last couple years I can remember that, that was easier to do it, because I got out to such a large lead, if I'm behind in a match I probably have to change it up a bit and get more aggressive.
 
I think it's been a while since my last match play situation, but I tend to play on the conservative side. If I limit my mistakes and force the opponent to do the gambling, more often than not that will pay off.
 
I'm a slightly aggressive player as it is, and it shows in match play. I feel like if I can pull off an unlikely shot, especially early in the round, it will cause my competitor to try something he's not comfortable with. There's been several times, though, that this way of thinking has come back to bite me.
 
Play conservitive until the opportunity presents itself to play agressive.
 
A good friend gave me some great advice...

"Pars win or half holes, bogeys lose holes usually."
 
I will be a touch more conservative on the holes where I get a stroke. Otherwise, I play my normal game. I know I will win holes with par, and I know I will have a blow up hole or two, just have to make sure that the blow up does not happen on the hole where I get a pop.
 
Scared money don't make money.

Aggressive.
 
I really just try and play my game, keep the ball in front of me minimize mistakes and penalties - my game is more conservative so I guess you can call my match play style the same.

The parts where I do get aggressive are the strengths of my game short game and putting
 
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