Hi guys,
SN said a key thing here:
"No matter how you break it down, each time you go out you're trying to shoot as low an overall score as possible."
Yet, what this does not take into account (and why, for me, its argument is discounted in evaluating match vs medal play courses) is that the player's design of " low as possible" is completely dependent on "what is probable," and that factor is itself completely different for match play as opposed to medal.
In medal play, "low as possible," for every hole, is measured for you; it is "1." The closer to "1" the more positive the situation, the negative value ("high as possible") however, is infinite... the higher you go from "1" towards that infinite value the worse it is...to the extent that people have walked off not finishing a hole or the tournament round.
In medal play, "low as possible" and what is probable have little to do with the fellow competitor, who is merely a field opponent, his situation has no consequence to that lowest possible score, except where it provides data to your own game (club selection, lines of putts, etc)...AND "low as possible" is only contained in your skills and abilities, from shot to shot, and your own judgement of what is probable.
In match play, low as possible is is finite, wins losses and halves..entirely governed by what is probable...for both parties...right on back to the honor on the tee and who plays first...right on through the specifics of an individual shot whose player knows he is up 3 up or 3 down in a match on some back nine hole....it governs the extremes of an opponent laying 3 in a greenside water hazard and you laying 2 in a greenside bunker that faces that hazard. And low as probable governs the extremes of being given an 8 foot putt (so the medal play march to the infinite stops) when you've just been beaten on the hole by a 25 footer.
But all this exposition is still in service to the thread topic:
Q: Are the terms "Match Play" and "Medal Play" courses valid, to start with?
Sub-Q1: If yes, then what distinguishes them in features?
Sub-Q2: If yes, then isn't it likely that the most interesting courses straddle the boundary lines between whatever definition is given?
Sub-Q3: If yes, can an architect (free to do so) impose/expose those features naturally within a given site?
Isn't the discussion advanced if we state our answers to that (those) question(s), and then give some course examples that everyone is likely to be familiar with, if not played.
For me those answers are:
Q: Yes, the terms are valid labels, even in retrospect and not "intended" by the architect or planner.
SQ1: I've already said earlier on in the thread...but in principle...a match play course brings disparately-skilled competitors closer together and more measures fortune, whereas medal play courses will more reward and measure raw skill...the better player (measured by hcp or the eye) will prosper (or suffer less) than the lesser player.
SQ2: I'm not sure, but if I agree the terms are valid then it follows that maximum utility of the course between the two labels is desirable at first glance.
SQ#3: Also not sure, but a little more sure, because match play elements (as I define some of them them..."blindness" "audacious contours" "big greens") can seemingly be introduced/advantaged at any part in the design and build process...from the first ideas of routing to the last touches before grass growing.
My last additional point is that if you accept the terms themselves (match play/medal play courses) as valid and worthy of discussion, then one thing that I think must be obvious is how much more difficult and subject to error golf is the further and further you get from the hole, especially between two golfers (or a golfer against a field)...and how a medal play course/hole seems to present obstacles all along the route where the lesser-skilled player is more vulnerable...whereas the match play course tends to present its interest closer to the hole itself, where the lesser player is on better skill-footing
Imagine....225 yard carry over a gorge just to reach the fairway of a 430 yard hole...a fine or elite player has the advantage over me nearly every time out of 100... 22.5 yard pitch over a bunker to reach a 43 yard stick...the elite player is still the winner, but I get a few more cracks like 30 out of 100 we halve and 3 out of 100 I win...22.5 inch putt...I'm almost dead even.
If anyone is still interested, I'll give a few familiar examples of which I think are MEDAL course and which are MATCH courses, and which course strain to meet the definitions neatly.
cheers
vk