[76lsjumb]

To me it makes sense for the team competition.  It takes a complete team to win it.  If one guy is a -10 and the other four on his team are scratch golfers, then their team would be -10 in stroke play.  A team that had five -1 golfers would lose to them in stroke play by 5 strokes, but would beat them 4-1 in match play.

I have to agree. I think the idea that golf is a "team" sport is a stretch, but if that concept can ever make sense, it would be only through match play.

I'm fine with match play and think it makes spectating a whole lot more fun.  However, I think stroke play with cumulative scores is clearly much more of a "team" concept.  An analogy would be a 4 x 400 relay race where the first three of a relay team's runners each complete their laps 1 second faster than the other team's runners, while the fourth gets beaten by five seconds by his/her counterpart.  Viewed in "match play" terms, that team wins 3-1.  On the other hand, viewed in "stroke play" terms, that team loses by two seconds. 

It seems to me that the total TEAM score in stroke play represents more of what the players accomplished as a whole unit [i.e., a team] than does adding up each individual player vs. player outcome as is the case for match play.

[76lsjumb]

To me it makes sense for the team competition.  It takes a complete team to win it.  If one guy is a -10 and the other four on his team are scratch golfers, then their team would be -10 in stroke play.  A team that had five -1 golfers would lose to them in stroke play by 5 strokes, but would beat them 4-1 in match play.

I have to agree. I think the idea that golf is a "team" sport is a stretch, but if that concept can ever make sense, it would be only through match play.

I'm fine with match play and think it makes spectating a whole lot more fun.  However, I think stroke play with cumulative scores is clearly much more of a "team" concept.  An analogy would be a 4 x 400 relay race where the first three of a relay team's runners each complete their laps 1 second faster than the other team's runners, while the fourth gets beaten by five seconds by his/her counterpart.  Viewed in "match play" terms, that team wins 3-1.  On the other hand, viewed in "stroke play" terms, that team loses by two seconds. 

It seems to me that the total TEAM score in stroke play represents more of what the players accomplished as a whole unit [i.e., a team] than does adding up each individual player vs. player outcome as is the case for match play.