With a couple of match play events coming in the next few weeks, I thought I would post a short guide to the basics of match play golf:

For the casual golfer or fan, match play can be confusing. With terms like All Square, Halve, and Dormie, 1-UP, 5 and 4, Match Play is a whole new ball game.

Most golf tournaments are “stroke play.” In these events, all of the golfers play a certain number of holes, and the player who has the lowest combined total score is the winner.

In Match play, golfers are pitted directly against each other. A player is not concerned with the entire field—only with beating the opposing golfer (or side, in team play).

Scoring in match play is quite different from stroke play. Each hole in Match play is scored as a separate event. The player (or team) who finishes a hole in the fewest strokes is the winner of that hole. At the end of the match (however many holes they are playing), the player who has won the most holes is the winner.

The scoring system leads to some unusual terminology. The results of match events are not reported by strokes, or by the total number of holes won, but by how many MORE (or fewer) holes a player has won, along with the number of holes left in the match. So, if after 10 holes, Tiger Woods has won six holes and Phil Mickelson has won four, the announcers would report that Woods is 2-Up through 10. At the same time, Mickelson is 2-down. If both players have won the same number of holes, the match is “All Square Through 10.”

This weekend’s International Tournament is going to produce some funny golf scores. Instead of winning by -11 or some such, the winner is going to have a score that looks more like +22. No, it’s not because the course is so difficult. It’s because of a unique method of scoring called the “Stableford System.”

The Stableford System was invented by an Englishman named Barney Stableford, who was attempting to devise a scoring system that rewarded risk taking. In regular stroke play, players often will avoid risky moves because they can quickly balloon a score. Under the Stableford system, the cost of taking a large number of strokes on a single hole is minimized.

Here’s how it works:

The winner of a Stableford Tournament is the player who scores the most points.

Players get no ponts for a par, 2 points for a birdie, 5 for an Eagle and 8 for a double eagle. On the down side, you lose a point for a bogey, and lose three for a double bogey or worse.

The effect of this is that if you blow up on any single hole, the worse you can get is a -3. Also, note that a birdie is worth two, while a bogey costs you just one. With that kind of calculus, it pays to “go for it.”

Stableford Scoring is often used in club tournaments for precisely reason. And it’s a reason to pay attention to the International. It could be a pretty exciting weekend of golf.

I recently got an email from a reader who wanted to know what a Nassau was, and whether he should let his buddies talk him into playing one.

The answer is 1) the Nassau is a type of bet and 2) it can be a lot of fun if you put some limits on the game

In fact, the the $2 Nassau is probably the most popular betting game in golf. It’s a two-sided bet: player against player, or team against team. Nassaus lend themselves to a variety of team play formats. Scramble, four ball and alternate shot matches are common. Teams also can decide to play with, or without handicaps.

The Nasssau gets its name from the Nassau Country Club on Long Island, where the format was invented in the early 1900s. The game also is known as “2-2-2”, and “Best Nines.”

As reported last week, the USGA and R&Q have announced 111 changes to the book “Decisions on the Rules of Golf,” which will be effective for all golfers starting Jan. 1, 2006.

The 2006-2007 Decisions book includes 37 new Decisions and 66 revised Decisions, while eight Decisions have been withdrawn.

There’s a summary on the USGA site.

Has the USGA brought on the end times by allowing laser range finders?

Lorne Rubenstein thinks so.

I don’t.

I’m absolutely certain that none of the guys that I play with on a regular basis would do any better with a laser range finder than they do with sprinkler heads. In fact, I’ve got an idea that they might actually do worse by ignoring how the day feels—how they’re swinging, what the air is like—in favor of a more technical approach: “The laser finder says its 152, so it must be a 7 iron.”

I can see a lot of underclubbing in my group with one of these things.

I truly believe that these laser finders will be useless for double digit handicappers on a well-marked course. And as for the single digit handicappers who claim that they can consistently hit their balls within a foot or two of any known distance ... we’ll see.

I know several single digit guys, and they really don’t hit the ball that much better than I do (I play to about a 15 handicap right now).  The difference is that they’re outdriving me by 30 yards on every hole, and that they’re far better with their wedges and with chipping and putting. And a laser finder isn’t going to help them on any of those things.