Match Play
The game in 20 seconds
Two players, one match. Every hole is its own contest: the lower score wins the hole and goes 1 up; the same score halves it. Win it by one shot or five — it's still one hole.
The match is over the moment someone is up more holes than are left. Three up with two to go is a 3 & 2.
Who plays
- Exactly two players — the first two on the card. With a bigger group the game picker greys Match Play out.
- Nothing to settle on the tee — no teams, no order, no options of its own.
- Two more join mid-round? The score screen asks what they're playing: Team up (a Best Ball, the original pair against the newcomers), Their own match (a second 1 v 1), or Just keep score.
Scoring a hole
- Lower score wins the hole — net or gross, whichever you're playing.
- Same score halves it. Nothing carries.
- The match reads from the leader's side — "Nate 1 UP thru 2" or "All square" — at the top of every phone's score screen. Standings shows who won each hole, ½ for a half.
Halved — all square.
Nate wins the hole → Nate 1 UP thru 5.
Dormie, and when it's over
Dormie means up by exactly as many holes as are left. The leader can't lose from there; the other player has to win every hole left just to halve. Battle Tees adds "dormie" to the status line.
17th, par 5, stroke index 6: both make 5 and both get a stroke → halved, and Nate wins 2 & 1. The 18th isn't played for the match.
- Over early. Had Nate won the 16th (a 3 to Greg's 4), Nate would be 3 up with two to play — Nate wins 3 & 2, on the spot.
- All square after 18 is a halved match. No extra holes, nobody pays.
- Nine holes is a nine-hole match.
Handicaps
Each player gets their full course handicap — one stroke a hole on the hardest holes first, by the card's stroke index. The better player gets his strokes too; where both get one, they cancel. Dots on the score screen mark them.
Net, that card is Nate 2 & 1. Gross, it's Nate 7 & 5.
A plus handicap gives strokes back on the easiest holes: a +2 adds a stroke on stroke index 17 and 18, while his 14-handicap opponent gets 14. A second match works the same way — Mike (16) and Tyler (22) each get their own. Course handicaps come from index and tees, at the group's handicap allowance (100% unless you change it); at 90%, Nate's 6 becomes 5 and Greg's 14 becomes 13.
💰The money
Battle Tees prices a match by the hole: the winner collects the rate once for every hole they're up. A match won early pays as won: 3 & 2 is 3 holes, even if 17 and 18 are played out.
Set the $ per hole under Settle up on the Standings screen.
Nate wins 3 & 2 → $15, whatever happens on 17 and 18.
All square after 18 → $0.
The Settling on Net / Gross switch under Settle up picks which match pays. Battle Tees shows who owes whom; it never touches the money.
Options in Battle Tees
Match Play has no settings of its own. What applies to it:
- Handicap allowance — 100%, in 5% steps down to 50%.
- Scored as — Net unless you pick Gross. It sets the win–loss record; Settle has its own toggle.
- Their own match — offered when two more players join.
- $ per hole — under Settle up on the Standings screen.
Allowance and Scored as are set before the first hole and stay for the round. Every phone in the group plays with the same settings.
⚡How to win it
- Play the opponent. If they're in the trees, a safe par wins the hole. If they're stiff, take on the flag — a 6 costs the same as a 5.
- A blow-up costs one hole. Forget it on the next tee.
- Know whose dot it is. On their stroke holes you need a birdie or a mistake; on yours, a net par may do.
- Down late, attack. Two down with three to play, you need holes, not pars.
Variations you'll hear about
Extra holes. Club matches that finish all square often go to sudden death. Battle Tees calls it a halved match.
🔥If it is halved
All square after 18 is a halved match — a real result, not a failure. Formal events go to extra holes and play until somebody wins one. Most games just split the bet and go to the bar.
Either way the card is already settled on every phone before you reach it.