Winter Foursomes Knockout

I posted about this on the other place but can't update it there so thought I'd mention it here to avoid cluttering the "how was your game" thread

I originally posted because I was looking for hints and tips on this format as now in my 3rd winter at the club, this is the first time I and my partner have played in it; the first year we weren't organized enough and last year we entered but had to withdraw through injury after getting a bye in the first round!

Anyway we thought we'd try again this year and got through our first round match in a real thriller that saw us (21 and 22 h/c) get through in the last against a 10 and 9 h/c who were giving away 12 shots. We really did play exceptionally well that day as the opponents also were on form apart from missing a couple of little putts. We were 2 up after 9, they fought back to 1 up after 16 and we ended up having to par the last two (both shot holes) for the win - a real knee-trembler!

So onto round two which we play tomorrow (weather permitting) and this time we are receiving 14 strokes (opponents are 10 and 6 - and one of them is an ex club championship winner). Knowing both guys I doubt very much they will make the same mistakes as our first round opponents so I think we'll really have to be on form to even give them a game. Rather scarily, the 4 holes we don't get a shot on are all even holes (3 par3s and a short par4 that I've mentioned before which is a pretty easy hole for low handicappers but a tough one for higher handicaps). My partner seems to trust me more to hit the par3s thoughs so he's nominated me for the even holes - no pressure there then!

If I can hit the 3 par3s and get a decent drive in play on the par4 then I think we've got a chance, but I know we'll both have to play to the best of our abilities to progress. We are both normally OK around and on the greens so we'll just have to make the most of our shots - try to play for bogeys on the shot holes (and hope to get some pars) and make them make pars at least to half the hole.

The nerve ends are starting to jangle already just thinking about it! In our favour, we both quite fancy ourselves in matchplay when receiving so many strokes. I'd fancy taking them on less in strokeplay

foursomes is a funny game where you find yourself worried about what you might leave your partner with.

My advice is to never apologise for a bad shot. It always makes you aware that you might have put yourself in a bad position and thus tighten up on the next one.

Use your shots and don't take on anything marginal to your ability, including using driver on a tight par 4... just take 3 to reach the green and you'll still have a shot at the win more often than not.

Bear in mind that to beat you giving that many shots away they will have to be spot on in terms of almost everything... a big ask in foursomes golf.

Oh.. and remember to laugh whenever you hit one in the woods as it releases tension. Just laugh harder if you chip one in or hole a massive putt for the win. Really irritates the opposition and usually has them smacking it one on the next tee. Usually OOB or something.

Good advice LJ - pretty much what we did in the first round. I had a suspicion we had them rattled when 2 up on the 10th and they pulled out the driver to take on a tricky dogleg when for them it was probably just a 4 or 5 iron to the corner leaving about 160 yards to the green. Although it was a shot hole for us they really didn't need to take that gamble as it's not an easy hole for us shorter hitters. As soon as I saw the driver come out I knew we had them. As it happened, they didn't pull off the tee shot but a miraculous 2nd shot from the edge of a hazard saw them par it and we had to scramble for a 5 to half it.

Hear what you are saying about the par4s though - the only one that really worries me is the one we don't get a shot on - it's a tough drive for me but for them (both big hitters) it's only an iron and a flick with a wedge to the green. For me it's a driver (or at least a big 3 wood) and then the second shot is over a pond which probably won't bother them but has its demons for my partner!

Davie wrote:Hear what you are saying about the par4s though - the only one that really worries me is the one we don't get a shot on - it's a tough drive for me but for them (both big hitters) it's only an iron and a flick with a wedge to the green. For me it's a driver (or at least a big 3 wood) and then the second shot is over a pond which probably won't bother them but has its demons for my partner!

It's not a sprint though.. Accepting that a loss on one hole isn't the end of the game makes a big difference mentally. You know that you are going to drop a few holes here and there... just play them with no fear as you know that won't really hurt you and you'll be shocked how often you manage a half or even the odd win.

These knockouts are addictive - but nerve wracking!

Round 2 today and we got through 2&1.

Against a 10 and 6 h/c we were getting (an arguably silly number of) 14 shots. The 6 h/c played extremely well (hs short game was superb) but we used our shots to best effect.

We started off the 10th - our 1st nine is much wetter than the back nine and it was touch and go if the 18 could be played but they put us off the 10th to give the front nine as long as possible to drain and also have the people only playing 9 holes not giving the front 9 too much punishment

They gifted us the 1st to a net bogey but we won the second with a net birdie. Lost the par3 3rd after I put my tee shot in a greenside bunker and we could only manage a 4 (no shot on that hole). We then net birdied the 4th (index 1 hole) and halved 5 and 6 to net pars. 7th showed me and my partner up as the hackers we are as we chopped up the par, conceding the hole before we even reached the green.

A win on 8 after the 6 h/c hit a good shot to the green which span back about 15 feet into a pond when it seemed the ball was more likely to plug than pull back that far - and then they gifted us the 9th (though we would have had a good chance of winning it in our own right) to be 3 up after 9.

Net birdie on 10 (a par 4 we would struggle to reach) but my partner knocked his 3rd shot stiff and 4 up with 8 to play

Lost the 11th to a gross birdie (the hole that is easy for good players but a challenge to us higher handicappers) and also lost 12 after my partner put tee shot in a pond

Now we were getting twitchy - won 13 but lost 14 and 15 (I missed a 2 footer for the only REAL bad mistake of the day) and we are now only 1 up with 3 to play. The 6 h/c then hit his only real bad shot of the day to go OOB off the 16th and suddenly we are dormie 2. 17 is a LONG par3 (for us tappers anyway) and my partner advised me not to go for it but to lay up just short - he then chipped to 12 ft and I lagged up for a net par - they just missed the (long) birdie putt and we halved the hole for a 2&1 victory.

Personally I'm happy to give my partner the plaudits today - I played steadily enough and apart from the 2ft miss didn't make too many mistakes. Didn't hit my tee shots as well as I wanted on the non-stroke holes but they ended up "just good enough" (on the 4 non-shot holes we were only 1 down). I think I just about held my own today but partner played very well - as a team we didn't play as well as the 1st round victory but at the end it was still good enough.

Now onto round three! Next round is against a 17 and 11 so we'll only be getting 8 shots

Just bumping this one up in preparation for Round 3 tomorrow.

These comps are still a novelty for me as I've never entered one before - receiving 8 shots tomorrow and feeling confident - hope that's not shooting myself in the foot!

(My partner who is Scottish is out at a Burns Night tonight - hope he behaves himself!)

The adventure is over for this year

I really fancied our chances in this match over the two tough games we got through in the first couple of rounds but today we came down to earth

Lost 4&3. We didn't really deserve to win to be honest though our opponents played very steadily after the first couple of holes. We were playing brothers who had handicaps of 11 and 17 and so were still getting 8 shots. The first couple of holes where we were getting strokes we didn't exactly set the course alight but neither did they - and we were 2 up after 2. Next few holes were shared then my partner went through a bad spell of topping the ball (off the tee and off the fairway) and suddenly we went from 2 up to 2 down at the turn

At this point I'd not really played as well as I wanted and only really made one mistake but on 10 (and later on 14) missed short putts that could at least have prolonged the agony. I don't think it would have helped in the long run.

I don't feel TOO bad about my own game (short game was quite good apart from the two short putts missed) but it wasn't us at our best.

A good day on the course though (apart from the result) - the two brothers were great company and we had a few laughs along the way (especially one hole where both me and my partner hit most of the trees on the course - at least it felt that way!). Highlight of the day from a non-competetive point of view was one of the brothers holing his 2nd shot on the 18th (imaging how gutted we'd have been if the match was still live at that point!) - Spot on 150 yards out, I didn't see his shot off the club face but was looking up at the green to try to see it pitch. Didn't see a thing but heard an almighty CLANG as it clattered the flagstick. As we walked up it could have been anywhere as it hit the stick so hard and could easily have ricocheted off the green, but it was there in the hole - no damage to the hole so I can only assume it hit the stick quite low down and just dropped in dead. None of us actually saw how it went in!

The comp was great fun for me and my partner as we were both new to this format - looking forward to the summer knockouts now!