Hi all Team Captains and players
We at Southern England Links have competed in numerous of Paulfinn's excellent tournaments. Again we are very excited to participate. I however messaged Paul yesterday with a small suggestion, which I think would improve the competition slightly. He asked me to post it on here, and if I get enough support the rules will be amended . So please if you agree with the following pls reply to this message on this thread.
Normally Paul asks for the teams in chronological order ito averages and tiers, and thus matchups are done on this basis eg the player from club 1 with the highest tier and lowest average will play the player with the same attributes in the encounter.
My suggestion was to give teams through to Paul in any order the team captains feel like. The reasons for this being:
1. In some cases, a player with a very low average is not necessarily a better Matchplay player. Players lower their averages using different methods (I will not give my opinion on this, but it is a fact). Average and to a lesser extent Tier has nothing to do with players ability to be a good matchplay player. Players handle the pressure of live matches differently, and as CC's with inhouse matchplay tournaments would know, it is not always the highest tiered player that who wins these tournaments.
2. Players lose form and, we all know that WGT's handicap / calculation of average is flawed.
3. I think that giving this option to captains will enhance the management aspect of the tournament without giving any team a unfair advantage. Even if you play your statistically best player at 8th spot, players 1-7 will move up in the order and will probably have a more difficult game, thus eradicating the advantage of the player moved down.
4. In previous competitions, if a player had a low average and same as here (see teams announced above), your squad does not have many TLs and Champs, it may happen that your low average Legends keep playing Champs and TLs of other clubs. I just found that this was very demoralizing for some players in the Xmas Challenge. Giving such a player an "easier" game now and again, will lift his/her spirits, and also keep interest in a long competition.
5. Lastly and to summarize, I feel that team captains would know best who their best players are regardless of average and tier, and should be giving the opportunity to use this inside knowledge of their squads.
Sorry guys for rambling a bit, but I would like this changed. Please support me (well if you agree lol!) to enhance an already brilliant competition.
Nico Zandberg
Southern England Links