Stableford V Strokes

[bladeplayer]

I didnt want to hijack KeefeG thread re his first medal experience , but ive seen a few comments here regarding people liking one & disliking the other , normaly split into high preferring stableford & low favouring the strokes ..

Question , should the aim of golf not to be to shoot as few a shots on every hole no mater the format ? ok i understand in stableford you can pick it up if you are having a bad hole , but what do you learn from that ? to quit when things aint going well ? cant be good surely ?

I actualy think a high handicapper picking a ball up hurts his/ her game more than if you were a low handicapper , yet high handicappers are sometimes encouraged to pick up when they are out of the hole ..

Somedays we all have a great round of golf , what do we learn from that ? apart from we can actualy play this game the odd time ,IMO, NOTHING , why do i think this ? because when we are in or find that zone it happens natrualy , you dont have to think about the game ,
in a bad round or hole on the other hand you learn to deal with it when things dont go right ..

Should the way we play be influenced by the format or should we try shoot out best score no matter what ?
Thoughts ?

 

[FairwayDodger]

Personally, I prefer "normal" stroke play to stableford. In fact when playing stableford I don't work out the points - let the computer do it at the end. OK, double bogeys for me are the exception and (usually) I'd have at least had a putt at the bogey, esp nett, so I'm not often in a position to pick up.

 

[AxelBenito]

I prefer stroke play. Although I am still a high handicapper, why should I give my mates extras shots, purely because I have put in much more time practicing than they have. I never turn down a stableford game, but stroke will sort the men from the boys.

 

[chris661]

I see the attraction in both forms but personally prefer stroke as IMO it is a true reflection on how you are playing (which I think is what to are trying to say bill). Theoretically stableford should be quicker but never works tha way

 

[BTatHome]

Picking up is surely a method to speed up play. What's the point of putting out a hole when your already 8 to get to the green?

Learning things on the course, and practising on the course are different things. For me someone putting out for 10 is not learning much at all.

 

[FairwayDodger]

Picking up is surely a method to speed up play. What's the point of putting out a hole when your already 8 to get to the green?

Learning things on the course, and practising on the course are different things. For me someone putting out for 10 is not learning much at all.

True, but if it tends to take you 8 shots to get into greenside bunkers and you always pick up at that point how's your bunker play going to be when you need to get up and down in a..... "proper" competition.

Definitely a place for it but I hope nobody is playing stableford exclusively.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

My mindset is that I don't play medal, bogey and stableford or matchplay.
Instead I play strokeplay or matchplay.
One is against the course / myself, the other is against an opponant.

In medals you still use stableford scoring for handicap purposes and in stableford and bogey com's you still try to take as few shots as possible. It's just harder for a higher handicapper to win a medal than bogey or stableford as they are more likely than us to "blow up".

 

[Region3]

Golf is golf.

I find the only difference is I feel a bit more relaxed on a difficult hole playing stableford knowing that OOB etc won't ruin my chances of a decent finish.

 

[louise_a]

I am quite happy to play in either, the big advantage of stableford is one bad hole doesnt ruin a round, although medal is a true reflection of your play.

 

[USER1999]

My view, (and it will be a controversial one), is stroke play for cat1 and cat 2, stableford for cat 3 and 4. Cat 3 and 4 should under no circumstances be allowed to play stroke play. Cat 1 and 2 rarely blow up completely, so the odd 8 on the card is a rare event. Most of these players will shoot the same score using either scoring method.

Cat 3 and particularly cat 4 can have nightmare rounds where they don't get near breaking 100. This has to have an effect on the pace of play, and in stroke play, will eliminate them from winning anything. If they are going to be out there for 5 hours, with no chance of winning, what is the point? For any body?

It also splits the field, so the cat 1 guys won't get upset when a 25 handicapper comes in with 46 points with 3 blobs, when they have played 'proper' golf.

Touch paper lit, retire to safe distance.

 

[GreiginFife]

Personally I see Stableford as strokeplay with just an additional score attached. I mean you still have to count the strokes in order to work out the points, so for me I count the strokes and then the score secondary.
Whether stroke or stableford the lowest score reaps the largest benefit so I always look to score as low as I can regardless of format.
And I try to refrain from pick-ups as I learn regardless of whether it's a 10 or not (touch wood I haven't had worse than a 7 recently and that was on a par 5... don't wan't to jinx it though)

 

[Birchy]

Im a high handicapper and Stableford is much easier imo but Stroke play is proper golf and means you need to be on your toes for the full 18 rather than having a couple of holes off. I also dont like the fact that people say well done when i get something like a 6 on a hole i have 2 shots on because its still a double bogey and its still not good enough.

 

[brendy]

Stroke for me, golf is a hard game to play well and shouldnt be made easier by stableford where a 10 is no worse than a net double bogey. Thats not to say I dont enjoy stableford too but believe any club comp should be stroke.

 

[spawn_ukuk]

If you think about it, theres no difference really
you still have to shoot your best score
So if you shoot 90 in stroke and if that gives you What ever stableford score
Still just have to play the right shot at the right time, keep yourself in the hole

 

[USER1999]

If you think about it, theres no difference really
you still have to shoot your best score
So if you shoot 90 in stroke and if that gives you What ever stableford score
Still just have to play the right shot at the right time, keep yourself in the hole

But you could win a stable ford with a 20 on the card, 44 points, one blob. You won't win zip in a medal playing like that.

 

[ADB]

Having recently joined a Club for the first time in donkeys years I have found that I actually prefer the challenge of strokeplay which I have undertaken for the past 3 rounds in order to get my handicap. After years of informal bounce games where losing a ball didn't really affect my experience on course, I am concentrating and focussing on my game, especially my course management.

Once I get my handicap, I am sure I will play in the roll-up stablefords but I think the experience of playing a number of 'medal' rounds will stand me in good stead.

 

[bladeplayer]

But you could win a stable ford with a 20 on the card, 44 points, one blob. You won't win zip in a medal playing like that.

so hypotheticaly (because it will never happen ), should there have been a facility in the stableford system to deduct points aswell ? ie triple bogey = -1 point etc ...

Would that have made the competitions FAIRER ! .. or was it purposely set up to facilitate certain ability golfer winning prizes

 

[Deleted member 1147]

There is the modified stableford scoring system which I think have been used in some pro tournaments over the years:

Albatross = +8
Eagle = +5
Birdie = +2
Par = 0
Bogey = -1
Double bogey or worse = -3

 

[StrangelyBrown]

so hypotheticaly (because it will never happen ), should there have been a facility in the stableford system to deduct points aswell ? ie triple bogey = -1 point etc ...

Would that have made the competitions FAIRER ! .. or was it purposely set up to facilitate certain ability golfer winning prizes

I thought one reason those in favour of stableford scoring for higher handicappers would be to speed up play? With this modified system you'll have to have all players putt out on each hole, so it'll be just as slow if not slower than stroke play

 

[duncan mackie]

If you think about it, theres no difference really
you still have to shoot your best score
So if you shoot 90 in stroke and if that gives you What ever stableford score
Still just have to play the right shot at the right time, keep yourself in the hole

there is a huge difference, as highlighted by Murphthemog.

I agree fundamentally with BTatHome that the issue of whether to pick up or not relates soley to pace of play - and, bluntly, when your are in a competition field you owe it to the other player in both your game and elsewhere on the course to quit when you are unable to contribute positively to you score. This applies to BB matchplay and other formats just as much. If you want to practice do so, but not in the middle of a competition field!!!! !!!!!

As to formats, preferences etc - we are now, under the currently CONGU system, all handicapped to stableford; it's that simple. The format is the one in which all handicaps are most finely tuned and that the scr and cat 4 golfer are at their most level. Fact. Generally lower handicaps gain a small edge in medal, and that same edge is reversed in match play; it's only small, and it's a huge generalisation as there are cat 4 players who don't blob, and cat 1's who do!

I enjoy all formats - except when people I'm playing with (and it includes partners) don't quit when behind.