Why do you enter competitions?

[Lord Tyrion]

I have always viewed myself to be the very antithesis of a golfing snob.

And yet your post says otherwise. If you belittle a format enjoyed by many as you did, look down on that format as a novelty, that's golfing snobbery

 

[upsidedown]

Scratch foursomes Matchplay sorts the wheat from the chaff

 

[clubchamp98]

Stableford was invented by Dr Frank Stableford at Wallasey golf club for golfers that couldn’t hack the weather on the links course.

Just a guess but it probably wasn’t intended to be used in nice summer weather. ( whatever that is)
He could see golfers giving up after a few holes because their card was already “ruined.”

Ironically the Frank Stableford Memorial Tournament is played off scratch over 36 holes i have played in it lots of times.
If you ever get the chance Wallasey GC is one of the best links courses in the country you should play it.
Two friends are GKs there and I play it often.

 

[PaulMdj]

I only play the monthly medals and a couple of knockouts now. The medals because it’s when the course is set the hardest and in best condition.

I haven’t really bothered with the stablefords for a long time. I played them as medals anyway. They are great for beginners and higher handicappers, but the point of stroke play golf to me is to see how many shots it takes to get the ball in the hole. I’m just not interested in net scores or stableford points.

I like match play because it is just me against another person.

The real competition is with yourself though. Have you got the mental fortitude to try your hardest on every shot. Especially when out playing on your own for nothing!!

I get what you are saying and on the other hand confused!

Why not just play the Comp, regardless of format, with the same attitude?

Play the 18 holes, the Course, exactly as you describe in your last paragraph, add your score up at the end and then complete the card as required.

 

[Voyager EMH]

And yet your post says otherwise. If you belittle a format enjoyed by many as you did, look down on that format as a novelty, that's golfing snobbery

I have to disagree. It is a different view, not snobbery.
I would not call anyone a stableford snob, merely because they like to play in stablefords rather than medals.

Playing in a stableford comp gives me no less or more enjoyment than medal - I think stablefords became too prevalent.
Our club has slowly reined a bit of that back with no adverse consequences regarding participation. We are still offering a weekday stableford every week. And all such comps have a lowest gross prize. We make a lot of effort to cater for everyone - avoiding snobbery as much as possible.

 

[Voyager EMH]

Scratch foursomes Matchplay sorts the wheat from the chaff

Played a fair bit of that. County championship was inter-club two pairs vs two pairs knockout.
Got to final one year. Me and partner halved - other pair lost 1 down. Runners -up, but a great game.

 

[Mandofred]

Each to their own. I prefer medal. Even when playing Stableford I still pay more attention to how much over par I am. Nothing against Stableford, I'd never even heard of Stableford until I moved to the UK. Then again, I just played for the heck of it up until 10 years ago and only kept track of strokes. I also avoid Matchplay like the plague....well, singles. My regular groups will play 2 against 2 matchplay for £3. I also prefer not to play for money.....but when everybody else seems to insist on playing for money I don't have a lot of choice.

 

[Orikoru]

I remember quite surprisingly clearly the first time I broke 100.
It took me a further 4 years to break 90 in a junior comp.
And another three years to get to single figure handicap.

Here is a score from July 2023. It gave me a score differential of 16.8 in a comp with a playing handicap of 4.
No chance to pick up. Played every hole as best I could. Very demoralising, but very pleased with the 18th.
I always feel like coming back - no matter how badly it goes.

View attachment 56585

There is nothing worse than a double on this card man, that is not even close to demoralising by most people's standards. You have no idea.

 

[2blue]

Stableford was invented by Dr Frank Stableford at Wallasey golf club for golfers that couldn’t hack the weather on the links course.

Just a guess but it probably wasn’t intended to be used in nice summer weather. ( whatever that is)
He could see golfers giving up after a few holes because their card was already “ruined.”

Ironically the Frank Stableford Memorial Tournament is played off scratch over 36 holes i have played in it lots of times.
If you ever get the chance Wallasey GC is one of the best links courses in the country you should play it.
Two friends are GKs there and I play it often.

Oh yes & didn't the low golfers just love that? In the 'balloted-out' events it opened up the opportunity to N/R in droves, so CSS went to 'reductions-only' & their H/caps didn't change at all.
I don't think that Frank Stableford had anything against Medal play, he just realized that golf could be enjoyed using another scoring system which I'd hazard a guess has become far, far more popular, day in and day out in England. Do we need a Poll?

 

[Crazyface]

It's (was) the banter during the round as my place. Many places where groups can meet up / pass each other and you can gather information of who doing well / having a nightmare and have alaugh about it. Although this has been removed as membership has dwindled because we now go out in groups as we like, whereas on competition day tee times were set aside for it. ie 7.30am until 10.30am, plus an hour in the afternoon for the lazy superstars who played in the afternoon. This is now gone. We have no idea if players on the course on comp day are actually in the comp or not. So it's actually rubbish now. Yes I have pointed this out to the relevant people, but nothing will be done. My involvement in comps is now down to about 6 a year. Rubbish.

 

[clubchamp98]

Oh yes & didn't the low golfers just love that? In the 'balloted-out' events it opened up the opportunity to N/R in droves, so CSS went to 'reductions-only' & their H/caps didn't change at all.
I don't think that Frank Stableford had anything against Medal play, he just realized that golf could be enjoyed using another scoring system which I'd hazard a guess has become far, far more popular, day in and day out in England. Do we need a Poll?

Well he was off +2
Wallasey in a stiff wind is a beast.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I think I’m pretty much 100% with @Voyager EMH on this matter…

 

[Swango1980]

To win