Match play, hole by hole.

Overview

Match Play is hole-by-hole golf. Whoever has the lower score on a hole wins that hole; tied holes are halved. Total strokes for the round don't matter — only the running tally of holes won, lost, and halved. A blowup on one hole costs you that hole and nothing more, which is why Match Play rewards aggressive play and punishes safe pars when your opponent is making birdies.

How Match Play Works

1. Lower score wins the hole. Whoever shoots the lower score on a hole wins that hole — one point. The size of the gap doesn't matter; a 4-vs-5 win is the same as a 4-vs-9 win.
2. Tied holes are halved. If both players score the same on a hole, the hole is halved — no point either way.
3. Track the match in "up" terms. If you've won 3 holes and your opponent has won 1, you're "2 up" through that hole. Halves don't change the count.
4. The match ends when it can't be tied. A 1-up lead with the 18th hole left means the match is still live. A 2-up lead with 1 to play means the match is over — "2 & 1."
5. If 18 holes ends tied (all-square), the match either splits or goes to extra holes per your group's rules.

Detailed Rules

Hole-by-hole scoring. Duck Hook compares the players' scores on each hole and awards the hole to the lower score. Tied holes are recorded as halved. The app tracks wins, halves, and the running up/down state across all 18 holes.

Group match play. Match Play is traditionally 1v1, but Duck Hook can also score it for any number of players: each hole still has a "low score wins" winner, and the app surfaces a per-player summary of holes won, halved, and lost.

Match-Play Terminology.

• 1 up, 2 up, 3 up: How many holes you're ahead by.
• All square (AS): The match is tied.
• 3 & 2: A common final score — you won 3 up with 2 holes still to play, ending the match.
• Dormie: Up by exactly the number of holes remaining. Your opponent must win every remaining hole just to halve the match.
• Concession ("That's good"): Your opponent gives you the next stroke without making you putt. Common on short tap-ins to keep pace of play moving.

Conceded scores. A player can give an opponent a putt or even concede an entire hole. Duck Hook lets you mark a hole or shot as conceded; conceded shots are tracked but don't change the hole's match outcome.

Variants & Handicap

Gross or net. Net Match Play subtracts each player's handicap stroke for the hole before comparing. This makes a 15-handicap competitive against a scratch player on every hole — the strokes are pre-allocated to the hardest-rated holes via the course's stroke index.

Team Match Play. Best Ball Match, Scramble Match, and Alternating Shot Match are all team-based match-play variants — same hole-by-hole logic, applied to team scores rather than individual scores. See those format pages for the team-specific rules.

USGA or relative handicaps. USGA is the default; relative is available for groups that prefer it.

Presses. Two down with holes left is when the trailing side presses: a new bet on the remaining holes, all square, while the match carries on. Or a 2x, which doubles what the rest of the match is worth. Duck Hook Golf scores both, from the next unscored hole. See the guide to presses.

Strategy

• Play your opponent, not the course. If they're in trouble, lay up and let par win the hole. If they make birdie, your safe par lost the hole regardless of how it felt.
• Press the dormie. If you're dormie, you're not just trying to avoid losing — you're trying to close out. Aggressive play is fine; you can't be eliminated until your opponent wins a hole.
• Don't dwell on bad holes. A triple bogey costs one hole, period. Reset on the tee box.
• Concede generously, then ruthlessly. Early in the match, give the 3-footers to keep things friendly. Late in a tight match, make them putt everything.

Side bets. Closest to the pin on the par 3s, a long drive on the 12th: the app tracks side bets on top of the match and settles them with it.

If you like Match Play, try these

Same energy, different game. Everything below has a full rules guide of its own.

← Back to all 42 golf games