Match Play Game Setup

Scrolf has two options for setting up Match Play events:

Option 1: Set a Score Entry Method of 'Match Play'. This option is used solely for Match-play events like Ryder-Cups. The result of each hole is entered as either a win, loss, or push. Strokes are not collected and any handicapping must be determined by the players when entering the win, loss, push result. Setup is typically a bit easier for this option. For more information on Option 1, click here.

Option 2: Setup a Stroke-play event and add match-play games. When using this option, scorers will enter gross strokes and the all related match-play games will be automatically updated to reflect the matches current status. Any number of games and match-ups can be created. This option provides great flexibility and also provides stroke-play leaderboards. It is somewhat more difficult to setup, however, than option 1. This page documents the Option 2 Games setup. For more information on Option 1, click here

Match Play Setup is used to create events (like Ryder-Cup) and related games inside of a stroke-play event. You must first create the underlying stroke-play event and rounds. Then, from the <My Tournaments> page or the <Dashboard> page for the event, click the 'Match Play Setup' link. You will be presented with a tabbed interface that is used to setup the Sides for the matches as well as the various games for each round.

Games and Matches Setup

Once the side items have been established, you can create games and underlying matches. There can be any number of games and within a game, any number of matches. To begin game setup, simply click on the tab corresponding to the round of the game you want to create/edit.

In the example below, There are two games setup for Round 1: Alternate Shot and Singles. Within each game there are matches which are displayed in a second grid below the games. The displayed matches correspond to the selected (hilighted) game row. To see the matches for other games, click the corresponding game row.

To Edit a game, click its corresponding 'Edit' link. To add a new game, click the 'New' link either in an existing row or at the top left of the grid.

Game Setup

In the example below we are in the edit mode for a particular game.

Game Name - The name you want to assign to this game. It will be displayed on the leaderboard.

Start Hole - The beginning hole for this game. Typically 1 (first hole) but can be any hole between 1 and 18.

End Hole - The ending hole for this game. Typically 18 but can be any hole between 1 and 18. Note that if the start hole is greater than the end hole, then it will be assumed that you are starting somewhere in the middle of the course and wrapping around the front.

Win Points - The number of points assigned to each match in this game.

Better Ball Count - The number of 'best balls' per side that should be used to determine the side total score for each hole. Most of the time this will be one, but in some formats can be more.

Player Per Side in Each Match - Select from the dropdown the maximum number of players per side in each match. Typically this would be either one or two. When creating matches the system will not allow more players than defined here on each side of a match.

Player In Multiple Matches? - If a player can appear in more than one match in this game, then set the dropdown to 'Yes', otherwise set to 'No'. Typically this would only occur in Events that have more than 2 sides.

Expected Number of Matches - Your best guess at the number of matches in this game. This will be used to generate a number of empty match-up rows for you to select player match-ups.

Note on Scoring of scramble or alternate shot type matches - The gross score for the players on the same side should be entered as the gross score for both players. Also, if using handicaps then the match-play game should be setup to use Net scoring AND the handicaps for both players should be the same "team" handicap by whatever method you use for calculating the team's handicap for the alternate shot or scramble format.

Scoring - Select from the dropdown to choose how scores are used to determine the winner for each hole of this particular game.

Gross Scores - Use Gross Scores.

Net using Handicap x Allowance - Calculate the net score by using the course handicap multiplied by the Handicap Allowance Percent (halfs are rounded up).

Example - 75% Handicap Allowance

Bob course Handicap of 10

John course Handicap of 20

Bob match handicap = 10 x 75% = 7.5 rounded up to match handicap of 8.

John match handicap = 20 x 75% = 15

Net using Handicap Difference x Allowance - Calculate the net score by using the difference between each player's course handicap and the lowest course handicap in the match multiplied by the Handicap Allowance Percent (halfs are rounded up).

Example - 75% Handicap Allowance

Bob course Handicap of 10

John course Handicap of 20

Peter course Handicap of 22

Jeff course Handicap of 29

Bob match handicap = (10 - 10) x 75% = 0

John match handicap = (20 - 10) x 75% = 7.5 rounded up to 8

Peter match handicap = (22-10) x 75% = 9

Jeff match handicap = (29 - 10) x 75% = 14.25 rounded down to 14

Net using Handicap x Allowance then Difference - Calculate the net score by first adjusting each player's course handicap (halfs are rounded up) and then using the difference between each player's adjusted handicap and the lowest adjusted handicap.

Example - 75% Handicap Allowance

Bob course Handicap of 10

John course Handicap of 20

Peter course Handicap of 22

Jeff course Handicap of 29

Bob match handicap = (10 x 75%) - (10 x 75%) = 0

John match handicap = (20 x 75%) - (10 x 75%) = 7

Peter match handicap = (22 x 75%) - (10 x 75%) = 9

Jeff match handicap = (29 x 75%) - (10 x 75%) = 14

Net using Side Handicap Total x Allowance - This would typically be used for alternate shot or scramble type formats where each side records a single score. Calculate the net score by using the total course handicap of each side multiplied by the Handicap Allowance Percent (halfs are rounded up).

Example - 50% Handicap Allowance

Bob (USA) course Handicap of 10

John (USA) course Handicap of 20

Peter (Europe) course Handicap of 22

Jeff (Europe) course Handicap of 29

Bob and John match handicap = (10 + 20) x 50% = 15

Peter and Jeff match handicap = (22 + 29) x 50% = 25.5 rounded up to 26

Net using Side Handicap Total Difference x Allowance - This would typically be used for alternate shot or scramble type formats where each side records a single score. Calculate the net score by using the difference between the higher total course handicap of a side and the lower total course handicap of the other side multiplied by the Handicap Allowance Percent (halfs are rounded up).

Example - 50% Handicap Allowance

Bob (USA) course Handicap of 10

John (USA) course Handicap of 20

Peter (Europe) course Handicap of 22

Jeff (Europe) course Handicap of 29

Bob and John match handicap = ((10 + 20) - (10 + 20)) x 50% = 0

Peter and Jeff match handicap = ((22 + 29) - (10 + 20)) x 50% = 10.5 rounded up to 11

Net using Side Handicap x Allowance then Difference - This would typically be used for alternate shot or scramble type formats where each side records a single score. Calculate the net score by first adjusting each sides total course handicap (halfs are rounded up) and then using the difference between the higher adjusted side and the lower adjusted side.

Example - 50% Handicap Allowance

Bob (USA) course Handicap of 10

John (USA) course Handicap of 20

Peter (Europe) course Handicap of 22

Jeff (Europe) course Handicap of 29

Bob and John match handicap = ((10 + 20) x 50%) - ((10 + 20) x 50%) = 0

Peter and Jeff match handicap = ((22 + 29) x 50%) - ((10 + 20)) x 50%) = 11

Note!!!... For formats like alternate shot or scramble where each side records a single score: The gross score for the two players on the same side should be entered as the gross score for both players during scoring. If this is part of a multiple round event and you want to ignore the stroke scoring for the round, then on the tournament setup for the round select the 'Exclude this round's scores from stroke-play leaderboard totals' under advanced settings.

Maximum Player Course Handicap - When set greater than zero, it will limit all player course handicaps to the set value for this match-play game. So for example if set to 27 and a player's course handicap is 35, then the player's course handicap will be reduced to 27 (for this match-play game only). Not relevant for Gross Scoring.

Handicap Allowance Percent - Adjustment allowance applied against the calculated handicap. Not relevant for Gross Scoring.

Enable Relative To Par Scoring - Most match-play events are scored by comparing the actual gross or net results. In events where players are playing from different tees (or courses) then it would not be unusal to have different pars (and hole handicaps) between the tees. If you are using tee assignments by player for the underlying stroke-play set up, then you should enable relative to par scoring to adjust for the different pars and hole handicaps. So for example if John gets a 4 (a par) on the first hole and Jill, playing the women's tee gets a 5 (par) on the first hole, they would push for the hole as they both parred even though John's score was lower.

Sub-Games - If this is an 18 hole game, then you can optionally easily create Front 9/Back 9 and/or Front 6/Middle 6/Back 6 sub-games. A sub-game uses the same game match-ups and applies win points based on the defined section of the course. Sub-games will appear as individual leaderboards. The Win Points should be set accordingly. A win point value of zero indicates that there is no sub-game for this section of the course.

Matches Setup

Matches within a game are setup by selecting the players for each match-up from a drop-down list. To edit an existing match simply click on the players names (or blank entry field) and a dropdown list of players for the corresponding side will appear. You can also start typing a player's name in the entry field and players matching the letters typed will be listed.

If there are more than 2 sides setup for the event, then you can optionally change the Side A and Side B designations to correspond to the sides that are competing for each match. If you need to add more matches, then select either the 'New' link available on each row or the 'New+' link available at the top left of the grid. The 'New+' link creates three new rows each time it is clicked.

All entries must be saved by clicking the 'Save Changes' link at the bottom right of the grid.