does always playing stableford help your game

[Region3]

There was one occasion where i put 3 OOB on the 15th and NR'd (I never NR, but didn't want to hold the group up any more ), but continued to mark my score. So i couldn't beleive it when i checked the scoreboard and i'd buffered.

Sorry if I'm saying something you already know, but if that had been a strokeplay round, you'd continued with the hole and recorded a 15, you would still have buffered.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

There was one occasion where i put 3 OOB on the 15th and NR'd (I never NR, but didn't want to hold the group up any more ), but continued to mark my score. So i couldn't beleive it when i checked the scoreboard and i'd buffered.

Sorry if I'm saying something you already know, but if that had been a strokeplay round, you'd continued with the hole and recorded a 15, you would still have buffered.

Indeed, many people don't seem to realise that the score for a comp and the score used for h'cap are different. The worst you can have on any hole for h'cap purposes is a nett double bogey.

 

[MashieNiblick]

I generally approach each the same except maybe I'll be a little bolder with a putt if it's for a point. I generally have a strategy to play the course which I'll stick to whatever the format although it will change depending on the circumstances of the round.

Interesting to see how many people only talk about scoring points. Golf is about how many shots you take. Stableford is just a scoring system to help people stay in a comp despite a blow up or 2. It factors in your handicap and stroke indices and I think obscures what you are actually as a golfer trying to achieve - taking fewest strokes! I agree there are too many Stableford comps and it's now becoming the norm.

A player can can think, "great I scored 38 points". That is good no doubt but it might make him feel complacent. Maybe if he thought "I shot 90" he might not feel it sounds as good and there would be more incentive to improve.

I also agree that always thinking in terms of your net score has the same effect and agree that h/cap comps are basically artificial. Better players only think in terms of their gross medal score but I think that mind set encourages a better attitude whatever your standard of play.

I have always thought that all big club comps should have 2 trophies - lowest gross as well as lowest net.

 

[granters]

There was one occasion where i put 3 OOB on the 15th and NR'd (I never NR, but didn't want to hold the group up any more ), but continued to mark my score. So i couldn't beleive it when i checked the scoreboard and i'd buffered.

Sorry if I'm saying something you already know, but if that had been a strokeplay round, you'd continued with the hole and recorded a 15, you would still have buffered.

Indeed, many people don't seem to realise that the score for a comp and the score used for h'cap are different. The worst you can have on any hole for h'cap purposes is a nett double bogey.

I only found this out about 4 months after i started playing again! Back when i was playing seriously, there was no such thing as a double bogey limit. The score you shot was the score that counted. I can see the idea behind it, but i still feel there's something not right about being able to buffer with a 15 on the card. But the game has changed beyond belief in tht time i've been away from it.

I've yet to make my mind up whether it's for the better or not- at the moment i'm not sure it is.

Perhaps a better system would be appyling the double bogey limit to those playing over , say, 20 handicap? Everyone else shoots what they shoot.

Can you imagine a scratch golfer Hitting an 80 on a par 72 due to an obliteration of a hole (it does happen), and buffering due to the DB rule? I just don't get it.