Games

Most golfers count every stroke and at the end, know their score. This is called medal play and leads to frustration and sadness. The US Open counts every shot, you really don't have to. As opposed to match play, in medal play, each missed putt is one more agonizing stroke. Even if you have a run of good holes, they can all be wiped out with one bad break. There is a lot of luck involved in good results, a luck that doesn't last for the whole round. With medal play there are then just two possible outcomes. You can play poorly for most of the round, very frustrating. Or you can play well for most of the round and know that if it wasn't for the few bad shots, it could have finally been a really good round. Sadness. This brings us to match play. The score on each hole is only used to determine the winner of that hole. After one hole, you are either 1 up, tied or one down. Even if you topped it three times and three putted the worst that can happen is being one down. That's the worst. At best you can still win the hole. Putts in match play could be unimportant or worth the whole point. At the end of the round at least one person has won, less sadness. Four ball is team match play with the best score between teammates. Two ball is team match play, with players alternating shots. "Skins" is a game where only the best score gets the point. Putts are either very important or unimportant, but never grueling. Have fun, play fast, good luck.