Medal vs Stableford.

kid2

kid2

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Ok....Bare with me for a moment....

After our round today of our usual 3 ball My Dad, Cousin , and Myself we had the post round analysis like always and the conversation chopped and changed through many angles and fell on the above topic.....

Now my dad isn't the longest hitter but is more often than not straight...He is also a very impatient person by nature quite the opposite of me even though we are related.:smirk::smirk:

Anyway his thoughts and my cousin seemed to agree was that Medals are only for low handicappers and solely for their benefit and their reasons were that if you blow up on a hole then your basically out of the competition.........
They reckoned that because stableford was points based and the fact that you were able to get points back somewhere through the round in the case of a blow up hole or two that it was less punishing and easier.

I strongly disagreed.....
My argument was that a score is a score on a hole regardless whether it be a medal or not and just because you double or triple a hole in a medal doesn't mean that all is lost.....
Im not sure whether i just have more confidence and self belief than they have or not but i just couldn't seem to get them to reason with my argument.......

Surely a 6 on a par 4 in stableford is 2 over par the same as it is in a medal. 6 of one half a dozen of another so to speak.....

Are players like these mentally beaten before they even step on the first tee?

I dont mind playing in either and when i play a stableford like today im actually counting shots rather than points......Is this wrong?
 
I disagree too, I have seen single figure players blow up as good as any 25 handicapper could.

I think the one thing about stablefords is that you can have multiple bad holes and still post a respectable score.

Just like in stableford a player could have 17 good ones and one bad one playing a medal and still post a winning score.

Another thing to remember is that everyone else playing golf is also human so other people will make mistakes too! The winner on the day probably deserved it, both in medal and stableford!
 
Ethan said:
The only true difference occurs for scores worse than net double bogey, where stableford limits the damage to 0 points but otherwise there is no difference.
Click to expand...



Thats what i was trying to tell them Ethan......A blow up in a medal can easily be got back with the odd lucky Birdie......And you keep the odd Bogie off the card and your doing well.....

Take last sunday for instance.....A Medal but crazy wind made the course much longer.....My Dad and I are both off 16.....I turned having used 10 of my 16 shots but having just 6 left i battened down the hatches and kept the head down to Post a 91..... Which was +4 on the day.... Level par had won on the day which was good shooting......I was pretty happy with my round considering the elements were well against us.

My Dad N/R'd........
 
ScienceBoy said:
I think the one thing about stablefords is that you can have multiple bad holes and still post a respectable score.
Click to expand...



I agree with this too SB........I experienced this today.......I had 3 one pointers and scratched 2 holes and also and still had 32 points.....

But i only turned with 15......Put a ball in the water on our 10th to scratch it....Missed a 2ft putt on our 11th for a par.....I parred 12,13,14,15 and lipped on 16 for a bogie, bogied 17 and scratched 18.......
I didnt throw in the towel after 10 though......
 
G1BB0 said:
much harder for a high capper in stroke play imho

I know there isnt much difference overall but a blob is easier to take than a 10!!!!
Click to expand...

Yes, but surely part of the learning process for high handicappers is to learn how to avoid racking up a 10 or worse by damage limitation. You can learn something by scrambling a 9 rather than a 10.
 
kid2 said:
Are players like these mentally beaten before they even step on the first tee?

I dont mind playing in either and when i play a stableford like today im actually counting shots rather than points......Is this wrong?
Click to expand...

yes to the first, and no to the second.

how do they think a low handicapper feels when they get an 8 early in the round?

the real issue is that most high handicappers haven't got a clue when it comes to course management and risk reward equations; in fact they don't even think about either. this is the real factor in medal play
 
If the pros can rack up the odd 8 on a card then why worry. I've played a comp before where I've used all my shots before the 9th tee and then managed to have a good back 9 and only just fail to get in the buffer. Yes a big score will usually stop you winning but it doesn't need to mean you won't get cut.

A lot of our older members don't play medals off the whites as they think the course is too hard for them and I respect that. They will enter a stableford because on the really tough holes they just accept a blob and know with their shots they are more than likely to make that up. If it means they can still play comps then I'm all for them making that choice. For me though medal is the only real indicator of how well you are playing as a stableford can mask a bad hole.
 
Talk about putting the world to rights.

Medal is good for us all; I've seen many a good player (like well down into single-zone) take a triple or quadruple, write off their card and go on to do OK and enjoy the game regardless. Stableford is a silly format in many respects i.m.o. and panders to players that can make a snowman or worse, still get 38 points and brag in the bar. This includes high and low h'caps it's just that low h'cap players normally secretly know they were crap.

I've been 6 over on the 16th and made a 10 before. Winning £6.80 (or something equally pathetic) hardly makes up for the fact I've blown my h'cap for 9 holes in one hole. :(

I like both, can't see it makes much difference except in attitude.
 
I enjoy both formats, stableford gives me chance to compete and pick up points with my shots while medal is more of a test of me versus the course and makes me concentrate more. I've learnt to not to stress and worry in medals and treat it as just another round which really helps.
 
i think i could course manage a 28 handicapper easily around under handicap. as long as they had a half decent short game and dont lose too many off the tee.
 
Playing a single hole to either scoring system then yes there's not much to choose, however over 18 holes Stableford is a sham to the point of the game of golf (too strong?) OK basically its 2nd chance golf

They came up with a system to allow all levels to compete 'fairly' using h/caps & at some point it was thought that its not 'fair enough' because any more than one nightmare will typically put you out/lose interest.....along comes this lad & introduces stableford 80 some years ago & now you can blob several holes and still post good (if not winning) scores!

It absolutly has its place & perhaps even makes for more exciting/enjoyable golf as you take on shots you wouldn't in medal but its not as indicitive of how you played a round of golf. It still decides the 'right' winner on the day but for those not in contention its a false assessment to the game

Put's on tin hat & retreats
 
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