Personal information: Peter Baader, 68 years old, German and Belgian, retired EU official, Handicap 24,0
Peter, you won the 2025 Match play competition, which is organised in a 'KO'-modus. What distinguishes a match play from an ordinary stroke play or Stableford competition?
For me, match play is quintessential golf, its purest form. Look at the Ryder and Solheim Cups that are both battled out in match play formats. Captivating, thrilling! In a stroke play or Stableford competition, bad scores will usually ruin your card, but not necessarily in match play. There, one plays hole by hole, and even several holes lost or tied will not mean that one loses the entire match. Therefore, the approach to a match is different from that in stroke play - both mentally and strategically.
In addition, there is a set of specific rules that sets match play apart from stroke play: One may oversee an opponent’s breach of a rule, one may concede a hole or the next stroke (even the entire match!), the general penalty is not two strokes, but loss of hole, and when a player plays out of turn or outside the teeing area, the opponent may recall the stroke, and a few other differences. Things that do not apply in stroke play.
To be the "last player standing" (of 16 participants in total) so to speak, you had to win four matches, one after the other. What does it take to prevail? Is it a physical or more a mental strength?
I did not make too many mistakes in any of my matches - and I obviously profited from the circumstance that my opponents did not have their best days (although I won one match only one up after 19 holes!). There is a mental component, clearly: one must remain humble and just play innocent golf-shots when one sees that one’s opponent has made a poor stroke and is in trouble. The aim is not trying to excel on the hole in question, but to play just that little better than your opponent to win the hole. Again, very different from stroke play.
What I take away from my matches: All of them were played in great comradeship and ambiance. It was a pleasure.
You are not only the Vice-President of our EU Golfclub, but also a certified Referee of the RBGF (Royal Belgian Golf Federation). What were the preconditions for this status and which are the obligations it entails?
One needs to be proposed to the RBGF by one’s home club and the RBGF needs to accept the proposal (which it usually does). Then comes the hard part, one must study the rules of golf, the definitions and clarifications hereto, and the tournament-committee procedures really, really, hard - because there are yearly written exams, which run over two and a half hours each with a multitude of questions. After the first successful exam one becomes a rules observer, after the second a rules reporter, after the third an assistant referee I, then an assistant referee II, and only after the fifth successful exam one becomes a full referee. Four years are apprenticeship and in the first two years one just accompanies an experienced referee to learn how the job is done. The job, by the way, is not paid - it is volunteer work.
Two closing remarks on this: A referee’s role is not to punish players by inflicting penalties - it is rather helping players to avoid penalties as much as possible. And: Most golfers are staggeringly ignorant about the rules of golf. I recommend to all players to read the rules every now and then and to take a rules quiz. The R&A has very nice quizzes on the webpage and taking the challenge helps greatly!
