Scottish Ladies’

Golfing Association


match-play survey


Colin Farquharson writes: The Scottish Ladies Golf Association conducted a survey of the results of handicap match-play ties in ladies' club competitions the length and breadth of Scotland (and some in Northern Ireland). The survey examined whether players who were conceding or receiving strokes won more often, what effect the length of the course had on results and several other interesting aspects.
The full results of the survey, including graphs, are the copyright of the Scottish Ladies Golfing Association and can be read on the SLGA website but Kirkwoodgolf.co.uk has been given permission to use some extracts to whet your appetite. Here they are:

Introduction
During the spring of 2008 the SLGA and SGU jointly held a number of handicapping seminars for handicap secretaries and administrators to update them on changes to the CONGU® Unified Handicap System. During the presentation data from an exercise carried by the SGU based on results of men’s match-play singles was given. This showed that with a ¾ of the difference handicap allowance, on balance 65% of matches played would be won by the lower handicapped player but when full handicap difference was given the lower handicapped player would still expect to win 55% of the time.
With ladies’ handicaps extending up to 36 there is much more likelihood of lower handicapped ladies having to concede two strokes on some holes than there is in the men’s game. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some ladies are no longer participating in handicap match-play competitions for fear of losing heavily when having to concede more than one stroke a hole. They do not believe that they have a chance of winning.
The SLGA has taken up the suggestion from one of the participants at the seminars to conduct its own survey based on ladies’ match-play events.
All affiliated clubs were offered the opportunity to participate by sending the results of their match-play knock-out competitions to the SLGA at the end of the 2008 season. Clubs were asked to ensure that the players’ handicaps were noted at all rounds of the competitions and the margin of victory was recorded.
Competitions were required to have a minimum of four entrants and must have been based on full handicap difference between the players. No capping of handicap was permitted.
Results
A total of 42 clubs (including three from Northern Ireland) participated in the survey; 73 different knock-out competitions were covered as some clubs held more than one event. Any player who had entered the draw but did not play a match, conceding a walk-over in her first round, was excluded.
In total, 1,479 individual matches were played; of these 128 were walk-overs or were between players of the same handicap so no strokes were involved. This left a total of 1,351 matches involving strokes conceded/received in the survey.
Who are the overall winners of the trophies?
The average handicap of the winners was 17.7, compared with the average handicap of the entrants of 21.5.
The results show that the Category 3 players performed in line with their representation in the field.
Category 5 players rarely get to the finals although they win some of their earlier games. Category 4 players did win the trophies in substantial numbers albeit that they did not win quite in proportion to their representation in the field.
Category 2 players, on the other hand, punched well above their representation in the field. They represented 10% of the entrants but they won just over 27% of all of the competitions.
Who wins the individual matches?
Looking at all the matches that involved strokes being conceded or received, overall 59.1% of these matches were won by the lower-handicapped player who conceded strokes and 40.9% by the player with the higher handicap who received strokes.
With full handicap allowance the lower-handicapped player still has an overall advantage and can expect to win nearly 60% of her matches.
The results support the use of the full handicap allowance as opposed to the historic ¾ allowance that until recently was a traditional feature of match-play in GB&I – the other major golfing nations and handicap jurisdictions all use full difference for singles match-play.
Does course length have any affect?
There is a perception by some players that on some shorter courses the advantage lies with the
higher handicapped player but on the longer courses the advantage is with the lower handicapper. If that were so there would be a positive correlation between the percentage of games won by the lower-handicapped player in each competition with the yardage of the competition course.
The scatter diagram displayed (on the SLGA website) shows no such correlation.
Although the correlation is positive not negative it is so low that the conclusion to be drawn is that course length favours neither the higher nor lower-handicapped player.
Does the number of strokes influence whether the higher or lower handicapped player wins?
Whilst there is a greater chance of players conceding or receiving two strokes on holes in the
women’s game than in the men’s, the majority of handicap match-play ties involve fewer than 10 strokes – indeed the average number of strokes conceded/received per match in the survey was 8. Very few matches involved more than one stroke per hole.
Even when there is a large difference in the handicaps there is no obvious advantage to being either the receiver of strokes or the recipient – it is all a matter of performance on the day.
Who wins matches by large margins?
Whilst most match-play ties remain “live” until the last few holes or even into extra time, there are always some matches that are over relatively quickly even when strokes are involved. Analysis of the results showed that approximately 9% of the matches were won by large margins – ie results of 6&5 or larger; 71% of these matches were won by the lower handicapped player and only 29% by the higher handicapped.
Few of the matches involved a large number of strokes being conceded or received, again confirming that it is performance on the day that is critical.
The high percentage in favour of the lower-handicapped player does suggest, however, that the greater experience of the lower-handicapped player is brought to bear in such situations – they are able to close games out and apply the killer touch.
CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of the golf handicap, and specifically in GB&I, the CONGU® Handicap, is to enable
golfers of differing abilities to compete on a fair and equitable basis. It is the cornerstone of golf at club level. To fully meet the overall objective, 50% of matches would be won by the lower
handicapped player and 50% by the higher handicapped player.
The results of this survey show that:
• With full difference in handicap the lower handicapped player still retains an advantage – they
can expect to win almost 60% of the time; the move from the historic ¾ difference will have
helped the higher handicappers but the balance has not been tipped into their favour.
•The high handicapped, Category 5 players, find it very difficult to progress to the latter stages
of a match-play event and these players under-perform relative to their representation in the
field as a whole. In addition, they seem reluctant to play in these events in the first place. Their representation in the events is significantly lower than their representation in the body of
lady golfers. This is something that club committees may wish to consider when trying to
encourage such players to participate.
At clubs with a large ladies’ playing membership the introduction of match-play competitions specifically for say the Bronze Division may encourage more to play if they feel they have a better chance of progressing in the event.
• Although some low handicapped players – usually single figure players – still yearn for the days of ¾ difference, some to the extent that they no longer play in handicap match-play events, the survey shows that there is no justification for this view.
Acknowledgements:
The SLGA would like to thank the ladies of the following clubs for participating in this survey: Alyth, Ballumbie Castle, Bearsden, Blairgowrie, Brora, Callander, Canmore, Cathkin Braes, Cawder, Cowglen, Crail, Cruden Bay, Duff House Royal, East Kilbride, Eastwood, Forfar, Forres, Gifford, The Glen, Gullane, Kirkcudbright, Kelso, Kilmacolm, Kilspindie, Lanark, Largs, Liberton, Lockerbie, McDonald Ellon, Merchants of Edinburgh, Panmure, Powfoot, Renfrew, Royal Dornoch, Prestwick St Nicholas, Scotscraig, Taymouth Castle, Troon Wellbeck, Turnberry and from Northern Ireland: Balmoral, Massereene and Royal County Down.
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