From the Clubhouse: Inside the weird and wonderful world of club match play golf
Do you put on a Seve-style game face when you tee it up in the knockout or do you find match play such a fuss you don’t even bother to enter?
In this week’s From the Clubhouse podcast, in association with TaylorMade Golf, Tom Irwin and Steve Carroll go on a deep dive into club match play competitions.
Tom gets his medals out from successful forays into person-to-person combat and dissects the delights of this peculiar format – from arranging games to on-course small talk.
Steve reveals the strangest way he was kicked out of a competition and has a request for players he meets in match play: don’t ask him what he does for a living.
And, since everything always seems to end up back at the World Handicap System, the pair consider the allowances for single and betterball combat and ask if high handicappers have the advantage.
Listen to our views on match play golf on the From the Clubhouse podcast
Hear what we think on the From the Clubhouse podcast, in association with TaylorMade Golf, in the player below, or on your preferred podcast platform…
What do you think about match play golf? Are you playing in your club’s match play this year? Are they a hassle to arrange and what’s the strangest situation you’ve encountered in a game? Let us know with a tweet.
- NOW READ: Can I play a match play and stroke play event at the same time?
- NOW READ: How does match play work?
More podcasts from National Club Golfer
Steve Carroll
A journalist for 25 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long. A former club captain, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the R&A's prestigious Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar.
Steve has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying, PGA Fourball Championship, English Men's Senior Amateur, and the North of England Amateur Championship. In 2023, he made his international debut as part of the team that refereed England vs Switzerland U16 girls.
A part of NCG's Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. He currently floats at around 11.
Steve plays at Close House, in Newcastle, and York GC, where he is a member of the club's matches and competitions committee and referees the annual 36-hole scratch York Rose Bowl.
Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NTCJ exams at Darlington College of Technology.
What's in Steve's bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; TaylorMade Stealth 2 irons; TaylorMade Hi-Toe, Ping ChipR, Sik Putter.
