How do I set up match play?

Match play scores holes as won, lost, or halved between opponents. On the leaderboard, a match will show how many holes one golfer is up against their opponent, "A/S" for all square, or the final match score if its over (for example "5&4" won 5 holes with 4 to play). PlayThru supports individual and team match play.

Step-by-step setup

1: Event tab

Turn on match play in the Outing Organizer > Event tab.

  • Individual (Stroke Play format name) — head-to-head between individual golfers
  • Team formats (Scramble, Best Ball) — head-to-head between teams

When Match Play is selected, scoring format (Strokes/Points), flights, tiebreakers, and dual format options are hidden — they don't apply to match play.

2: Course tab

  1. Add at least one tee box with par for each hole.
  2. If handicaps are enabled, enter hole handicap indexes.
  3. If adjusting handicaps for the course, enter in the slope and course rating.
  4. Save.

3: Golfers tab — Assign opponents

Every golfer (or team) needs a Match Opponent:

  1. Add all golfers.
  2. For individual match play: set each golfer's Opponent to the golfer they are playing against.
  3. For team match play: assign Combo Team names, then set opponents between teams.
  4. Assign tees and handicaps if using net match play.
  5. Save.

For convenience, when assigning an opponent, PlayThru will automatically find the other golfer or team name and update their opponent to align.

Step 4: Scorecard tab

  1. Resolve checklist items — "Missing opponents" is the most common match play error.
  2. Share the scorecard link.

Match Handicaps

One important note about match handicaps. They are not applied the same way handicaps are applied in an individual event.

In match format, handicaps are applied relative to the group. In other words, the golfer with the lowest handicaps plays as a 0 handicap and everyone else's handicap is adjusted to align.

For example, Keith (10 handicap) is playing Dan (18 handicap). For the match, Keith will play as a 0 handicap and Dan plays as an 8 handicap (18 minus 10).

This way, for the match, the higher handicapped players get their match strokes on the hardest holes.

How match play scoring works

  • Each hole is won, lost, or halved based on net (or gross) scores.
  • The leaderboard shows match status, not total strokes, in other words, holes won.

Multi-format match play events

For events with multiple match formats (e.g., singles + foursomes), see this Multi-Format Match Play Guide.

Limitations

Multi-round + match play requires Full Event Team Competition and has limited support. You cannot add a match play round to an existing multi-round stroke play event without Full Event Team Competition turned on.