do you approach strokeplay differently to stableford?

[G1BB0]

Got the monthly medal on Sunday but as I have only really ever played stableford I thought I would ask your opinions

Do you approach strokeplay differently?

I guess with stableford, you have a crap hole its a blob so can quickly chalk it off and move on to the next, strokeplay though means one triple or worse severely fooks up your card.

over to you.....

 

[Oddsocks]

Stapleford / match play - [****] or bust
Medal rounds - risk vs reward (has to ve 75% success rate +)

 

[ScienceBoy]

Not at the moment, probably will as I get better.

I think for the club championship I will, my main weakness is anything other than a driver off the tee. I am very limited with long options from between the pegs. If I have a wild day with the driver the score suffers, if I find fairways I shoot low!

Note to self, buy 3 wood or practice with my rescue!

 

[robbest3offthetee]

Always play medal differently,Try to get off to a nice steady start,ease your way into the round,and go from there,know the holes you can play well ,and the more difficult ones play a bit more conservatively,keep the ball in play with good course management,and thats all there is to it!!!!

 

[G1BB0]

I guess that sums up my thoughts, just get round in as few as possible and the total whether it be strokes or points will take care of itself.

 

[HRC99]

For me, it's the same game until you get to the point where you have to hole something to score a point and then you have nothing to lose.

 

[EZprophet]

It depends on your aim for the tournament. If your aim is to win then I can't think of any good reason to change strategy for either format.

If your aim is to "not shoot a high number" then yeah you should probably adjust your strategy in strokeplay to eliminate any chance of carding any big numbers, but in a one round tourny, I cant see any reason why you would want to.

Personally I wouldn't change my strategy for strokeplay or stableford at all. No matter what format I make every decision on the golf course with the idea of shooting the best score I can.

I think most people that play more "conservative" in strokeplay probably play too aggresively the rest of the time.

Having said all that I've never got into the 40's in stableford before so maybe you should ignore my advice...

 

[JT77]

I find that I play with more freedom in stableford, I go for more pins and dont mind going for the par 5's in 2, regardless of the situation.
Medal play I play more conservative, more middle of the green and less flag hunting, its not a good thing though, I think I need to find a happy medium as I get tight in medals, but am fairly relaxed in stableford.

 

[Ethan]

I don't. A zero pointer is usually a double or triple bogey, so it is only scores worse than those which are differentiated by the format difference, and you are more or less equally buggered either way.

 

[DCB]

And there was me thinking Stableford is a form of Strokeplay

You hit it, walk after it and hit it again. Count the number of hits and bobs yer uncle

 

[freddielong]

Yes I play strokeplay

 

[robbest3offthetee]

Ethan,You can still score 1 point if you get a double on the holes you get shots on,whereas a double in a medal kind of wrecks your card!!!!!

 

[JT77]

surely stableford you count your points not your strokes

so an 8 doesnt matter in stableford, but an eagle say is pretty valuable.

and once you have the points, you cant lose them! so going for greens can be more rewarding, without as much risk.

 

[patricks148]

Makes no difference to me, I’m shite at both.

 

[RGDave]

Almost the same.

The only holes where I take a different view are those where I get no shot in stableford. In stroke play, I'll settle for a double if it's all gone wrong. In stableford, if I'm nowhere near the green in GIR, it's do or die.

 

[ash01]

Stableford - I try to pick the holes out that I am going to "go for" before I start the comp and similarly pick the holes out that I am going to attempt to par and also ones where a bogey with a shot for a handicap par will suffice.

Matchplay - Go nuts. Go for absolutely everything and smash my opponent to bits.

Strokeplay - Very conservative off the tee to the extent where I will just get it in play and pick shots extremely carefully to reduce risk. For example I will play very few approach shots without any spin as I want the ball to stop on the green every time. Running over and going into bunkers or difficult chips are card wreckers, I would rather the ball stop at the front of the green when the pin is at the back, than head to play out of a bunker at the back of the green.

General Play / Practice Play - Try different shots and also walk along for short periods without playing shots to look at the course and visualise shots in my head.

Ash!!

 

[GB72]

I play both exactly the same. If you want to feature anywhere near the top at my club then your looking at scoring 40 points. With this in mind you have to play a good round in any form of competition. More than one blob and that is it for being competitive.

 

[Durango]

I'm always far more relaxed playing stableford. For me stableford is the carling cup and medal the FA cup. Both well worth winning but I get more satisfaction from winning a medal. Yes I'm probably weird.

 

[Ethan]

Ethan,You can still score 1 point if you get a double on the holes you get shots on,whereas a double in a medal kind of wrecks your card!!!!!

Yes, I know that, but the difference between the formats only kicks in on holes where you score higher than the lowest score that gives you 0 points.

If I score a 6 or 7 on a par 4 with a shot, I get 1 or 0 point(s) and there is no advantage to stableford over medal. It is only if I score a 8 or higher that I "save" shots by playing stableford.

Having a double on my card has exactly the same effect in either format, whether or not I get a shot on the hole.

 

[Robobum]

And there was me thinking Stableford is a form of Strokeplay

You hit it, walk after it and hit it again. Count the number of hits and bobs yer uncle

Shouldn't that be BLOBS your uncle?