Stableford or Strokes?

[WGC]

Which do you prefer and why?
I personally prfer stableford because it tends to be a bit more forgiving. You can get ten on a hole but still be in with a chance you just wont score. In strokes one hole can be the end of your day.
I was playing in our boys open competition on Monday when i took 16 shots just to finish the hole after paying a visit to the beach(sand and water!)But of course I couldn't pick up or my card wouldn't count.

 

[level5s]

i like the challenge of stroke play, yet to master it. i cant keep a 7 or 8 off the card at present but i will, i can feel it coming.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Stroke play is the purest form of golf. It is just you, your game and your emotions against the course and the conditions. Sadly I've not had the best year in stroke events after winning one last.

Stableford is more forgiving and at the moment is better suited to my ailing game

 

[RGuk]

Can't vote on this one. One day I'll fry up the whole fridge....another day I'll eat muesli and a royal gala.

""The style of how we play is very important. But it is omelettes and eggs. No eggs - no omelettes! It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have class one, two or class three eggs and some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes. So when the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem."

 

[andycap]

""The style of how we play is very important. But it is omelettes and eggs. No eggs - no omelettes! It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have class one, two or class three eggs and some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes. So when the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem."

[/QUOTE]

I think rguk has been on the advocaat!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Dave

That is straight from the Cantona school of the seagulls following the trawler!!!

 

[Cernunnos]

I Can't really vote on this either, as it depends how consistently I'm playing. The beauty of stapleford certainly is that you can have a really bad hole & it doesn't matter, much as in match play, but to keep a good or steady round going for 18 holes well that's a chalenge... And I like chalenges.

For instance, there is a mate I play that I can beat hands down over stapleford when I'm playing at least reasonably well, as I can out drive him & on most occasions my short game is better. However he generally will put together a better overall score.

 

[OldWindy]

Neither one or the other, really. Wouldn't choose matchplay, either. They all have their goods/bads.

 

[brendy]

Strokeplay, you didnt see Arnie Palmer, Ben Hogan nor Jack Nicklaus pick the ball up after a bad hole so why should us aspiring golfers?
Even on a "dinged" hole in stableford, I still finish out as I feel im not playing the game if I do, obviously if I have lost a ball and time is against me to go back and hit another, Ill have to march on but not willingly. I dont hold up play and take as much time over the shots that dont count so sods law says I hole more of them that I really should.
I know I will get flamed here but I believe stableford points were created by Dr Stableford to keep the game interesting for higher handicappers who would lose the will to play on when faced with marking a high score at a particular hole. Regardless, its a refreshing change from strokeplay week in week out and I far prefer it to the horrible texas scrambles etc that rear their ugly heads each year.

 

[GB72]

At my current level I had to vote for stableford as I can be competitive both within my group and in comps whereas I still blow up on too many holes to put together a decent strokeplay card. That said, I can see that changing as I improve as I can agree that the aspiration has to be to be able to put together a decent medal round.

 

[mrobbie]

I voted stableford as its what I am playing each week at the moment when I'm out for a round with friends. Each week I play with guys with handicaps ranging from 3 to 28, so stableford keeps us all happy and on a more level playing field.

Strange though, as when in the UK I always played stroke play, but I think that was due to having a similar handicap to my playing partners so it was even anyway.

I'd much rather finish a round and say I shot an 82 compared to getting 40 points... Maybe its just me, but hearing 82 is a good score. 40 points makes you sound like a bandit!

 

[mboy1980]

Strokeplay for me.

All Stableford does is give bad golfers a "Get out of jail free" card.

 

[Cernunnos]

Now been thinking about this & even when I've been playing stapleford, I do like to finish out on a hole & I don't like picking up always trying to keep a tally of strokes taken, not to mention a tally of my putts during a round. So, I think in hindsite I prefer Strokeplay on that basis, that I like to know how I've really done.

To me Stapleford is like a compromise between Strokeplay & matchplay in its purest form.

(It would be interesting who would vote for matchplay, as you really don't see people doing this now, mainly because I think of the complexety of working out handicap differences in fractions & then working out which holes who gets how many shots, stuff that If the other player is better, then the other player is better, stuff this level playing field rubbish with handicaps. I'm a 28 handicap & I know full well I can beat a scratch player on at least one hole out of 18, wheres the fun in trying to eaqual of beat someone who plays better than you if you've got an extra 28 shots in the bag, or 2 shots on this hole & a shot on that etc.)

 

[viscount17]

Just to confound brendy, I think overall I prefer strokeplay, though lately I've been playing bogey golf as you don't get as hung up about scores since you are playing it one hole at a time.

Quite often though I'll score a round using all three methods.

 

[mrobbie]

Absolutely - I'll always finish the hole (with the exception of any gimmees) and score properly

I know I got 36 points last Friday, which was an 89 and included iirc 37 putts

 

[USER1999]

Stableford is rubbish.

The purest form of golf is foursomes matchplay.

I think stroke play seperates out the men from the boys. Other forms of golf to be despised are bogey, stableford, foursomes (see comment above), greensomes (especially mixed), and any 'fun' games like scrambles, yellow ball, etc.

I like skins though if you have a three ball.

 

[bernix]

For me it is Stableford because of the faster pace. I played 2 18 holes Stabs last weekend and I only had one hole with no Stableford points (I tried to chip-in to save a point but failed narrowly), so actually it made no difference whether we playd strokes or stabs. I scored 86 or 33 stableford point both days although on different courses, so after 17 years playing my golf is stable enough that it's not a big difference.

 

[Cernunnos]

Now if we are talking variations of the game, nothing focuses the mind for the Adults amoungst us & gives one more determination to do well than playing SKINS even for 5p or 20p - 25p a hole.

Wouldn't really bother with any of the other golf games that invole any form of gambling, as a skins match often as not ends in something close to a tie. Though it is possible for no-one to win a hole outright right down to the 18th I wouldn't play it every time I was ina 4ball, but quite interesting on a hot summers day or when you are on holiday with some friends. Probably easiest sorted out at the end, & use balls or tees as currency that you can all chip in together for before the round 75p for a £3 bag of 75 golf pride tees. about 6 tees a skin.

 

[WGC]

Most aspiring golfers will never be as good as Arnie Palmor Ben Hogan or Jack Nicklaus so we might as well pick up to save our round. We could continue our bad form or get frustrated.

 

[theeaglehunter]

I know I will get flamed here but I believe stableford points were created by Dr Stableford to keep the game interesting for higher handicappers who would lose the will to play on when faced with marking a high score at a particular hole. Regardless, its a refreshing change from strokeplay week in week out and I far prefer it to the horrible texas scrambles etc that rear their ugly heads each year.

I really wouldn't disagree with this Brendy. This may not have been the direct motive for him to develop stapleford scoring (to stop high handicappers loosing interest) but it would certainly have been aimed at helping the worse players win competitions or be able to gain more satisfaction from their rounds- in other words with high handicappers in mind.

As for my opinion I certainly prefer strokeplay as it is the from of the game that really will punish you if you loose concentration where as stapleford gives you an escape route that sort of makes the game more easy and this is not how its meant to be. Having said that the only competitions I have won are stapleford so I am not against them at all ! I do well because I am the sort of person that either pars/birdies a hole or treble bogeys it so I get rich rewards for the holes I do well on and don't have to worry about the trebles so much.