Standard Forms of Play

Strokeplay

aka “Medal” or “Medal Play.”

This is the most basic format for golf tournaments / competitions and the objective is to have the lowest overall score.

Contestants simply play 18 holes, recording their score on each hole, and prizes go to players with the lowest Total Scores (called “Gross” scores if no handicap deductions have been applied) and / or lowest “Net” scores (which is with handicap deductions – Total number of strokes minus handicap).

Strokeplay is the most serious and least forgiving tournament format because you have to play until the ball is in the hole, counting every shot (including air shots and any penalty shots incurred), and there are no gimmies!

Variations

Generally a player’s full handicap is used, but there have been times where a percentage of full handicap (75%, 80% or 90%) has been enforced in order to prevent “sandbagging” (see the Glossary for what a sandbagger is).

Matchplay

The aim of the game is to beat your opponent by winning as many holes as you can until there aren’t enough holes left for them to overturn the deficit.

Scoring during the game is announced as the number of holes “up” / “down” or “all-square” if neither player is ahead.

Here is an example :

Hole 1 – Player A scores a 5, and Player B scores a 7 – Player A is now “1 up” (A has won one more hole than B, so far);

Hole 2 – A scores a 3, B a 5 – A is now “2 up” (A has won 2 holes more than B);

Hole 3 – A scores a 4, B scores a 3 – A is now “1 up” (although both players have now won at least one hole each, A has won one more than B so the score is declared as such, rather than 2-1 … it gets too complicated, too quickly if the scoring were done this way);

Hole 4 – If A wins the hole, then the match score goes back to “2 up” to Player A, if B wins the hole then the match score goes to “All Square”, or if both players make the same score on the hole, it is called a “half” or “hole halved” and the match score stays at 1 up, in favour of Player A.

If someone were to ask what the match score was, it would be common practice for whichever player was asked to give the score from their standpoint. So for example, if Player B were asked after hole 3 in the above example, he would say he was “1 down” and if A were asked he would say he was “1 up”.

At the conclusion of the match, scores are announced as the number of holes won compared to the number of holes remaining (eg. 4 holes up with 3 holes remaining is called “4 and 3” and the match would have ended after the 15th hole), or if 18 holes are completed and neither player is “up” then the match is a tie and said to have finished “All Square”.

Matchplay differs from Strokeplay in a few key ways :

1. Players compete head-to-head in their own 2-, 3- or 4-ball group (in Strokeplay the competition is between all players in the field);
2. The objective is to win the hole, by having the best score on that particular hole (in Strokeplay it is to have the best score for all the holes once they are added together);
3. Concessions such as “gimmes” are allowed (but not in Strokeplay);
4. The match is won when a player or partnership leads their opponent/s by more holes than remain to be played, so it is possible (common) that not all 18 holes will need to be played.

Variations

* I have only ever played competitive Matchplay where the full handicap allowance was used, however I have seen that in places like the UK the more common practice is to use a percentage depending on the number of players and the type of match involved – eg. 90% of the difference between the lowest handicap player and the others in a Fourball Betterball match and 50% of the difference between combined handicaps of each side in a Foursomes match.

Stableford

The point of this game (pun intended!) is to accumulate the most number of points over the stipulated round (usually 9 or 18 holes).

Perhaps the easiest start-point for scoring is to say that before any handicap allowances are made, a Par is worth 2 points, and scoring goes either higher or lower from there, eg. Birdie gets you 3 points and a Bogey only gets you 1 point.

Handicap strokes are applied according to the hole’s S.I. (see Glossary for Stroke Index).

So, for example, if your handicap is 15 then that means you will “receive” 1 shot on holes with an S.I. of 15 or lower (your Stableford points are calculated by subtracting 1 shot from your “gross” score on these holes and points allocated accordingly), and no extra shots on S.I. 16-18 (Stableford points calculated on your gross score only).

If, for example, your handicap was 22 then your allowance would be made up of 2 shots on S.I. 1-4 (the harder holes) and you would receive 1 shot on S.I. 5-18 to calculate your points.

The idea is that your score “nets” back to an average of 2 points per hole and therefore you would score 36 points at the end of the game if you played to your handicap. 37 or more and you have beaten your handicap, 35 or less and you have played over your handicap.

See below for full details of how the scoring is calculated:

Stableford Scoring (No Handicap Strokes applied)

• Double-Bogey or greater – 0 pts
• Bogey – 1 pt
• Par – 2 pts
• Birdie – 3 pts
• Eagle – 4 pts
• Albatross – 5 pts
• Condor – 6 pts

Stableford Scoring (One Handicap Stroke applied)

• Triple-Bogey or greater – 0 pts
• Double-Bogey – 1 pt
• Bogey – 2 pts
• Par – 3 pts
• Birdie – 4 pts
• Eagle – 5 pts
• Albatross – 6 pts
• Condor – 7 pts

Stableford Scoring (Two Handicap Strokes applied)

• Quadruple-Bogey or greater – 0 pts
• Triple-Bogey – 1 pt
• Double-Bogey – 2 pts
• Bogey – 3 pts
• Par – 4 pts
• Birdie – 5 pts
• Eagle – 6 pts
• Albatross – 7 pts
• Condor – 8 pts

Stableford is a very popular game because once you have played too many shots to be able to score any points you can pick up your golf ball and call it quits for that hole – great if you’re not very good / not having a good day, and great for pace of play / getting you round the course quicker.

Variations

“Medal-Stableford” is a game where your handicap is the number of points you start with, but you have to play the round off a Scratch handicap.

Can seem quite daunting at first but you get used to it really quickly.

Bogey

The objective here is to score more plusses than minuses, or at least avoid a net “minus” result over the stipulated round (usually 9 or 18 holes).

Perhaps the easiest start-point for scoring is to say that before any handicap allowances are made, a Par is a “Square”, a Birdie scores a Plus (+) and a Bogey scores a Minus (-).

See below for full details :

Bogey Scoring (No Handicap Strokes applied)

• Bogey or worse – 1 minus
• Par – Square
• Birdie – 1 plus
• Eagle – 2 plusses
• Albatross – 3 plusses
• Condor – 4 plusses

Bogey competitions are (in my experience) the only format less popular than Strokeplay / Medal because nearly all recreational golfers will struggle on every single hole. It’s a fun test if you’re an elite level golfer, but a tough day’s golfing for everyone else.

Variations

“Bonus-Bogey” is similar to the above but with Handicap strokes applied (a much more friendly version of the game for recreational golfers). Scores better than Par earn extra +’s but you can only get a maximum of 1 “-” on any given hole.

Handicap strokes are applied according to the hole’s S.I. (see Glossary for Stroke Index).

So, for example, if your handicap is 15 then that means you will “receive” 1 shot on holes with an S.I. of 15 or lower (your +’s or – are calculated by subtracting 1 shot from your “gross” score on these holes and the + or – is allocated accordingly), and no extra shots on S.I. 16-18 (+’s or – are calculated on your gross score only).

If, for example, your handicap was 22 then your allowance would be made up of 2 shots on S.I. 1-4 (the harder holes) and you would receive 1 shot on S.I. 5-18 to calculate your +’s or -‘s.

The idea is that your score “nets” back to an average of “Square” on each hole and therefore you would finish “Square” at the end of the game if you played to your handicap (add up all the plusses and subtract the minuses to get your result). If you have net +’s you have beaten your handicap and if you have net -‘s you have played worse than your handicap.

Bonus Bogey Scoring (One Handicap Stroke applied)

• Double-Bogey or worse – 1 minus
• Bogey – Square
• Par – 1 plus
• Birdie – 2 plusses
• Eagle – 3 plusses
• Albatross – 4 plusses
• Condor – 5 plusses

Bonus Bogey Scoring (Two Handicap Strokes applied)

• Triple-Bogey – 1 minus
• Double-Bogey – Square
• Bogey – 1 plus
• Par – 2 plusses
• Birdie – 3 plusses
• Eagle – 4 plusses
• Albatross – 5 plusses
• Condor – 6 plusses

Maximum Score

I have never personally played this format but the Rules of Golf describe it as :

“A form of stroke play where a player’s or side’s score for a hole is capped at a maximum number of strokes (including strokes made and any penalty strokes) set by the Committee, such as two times par, a fixed number or net double bogey”.