Stableford
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Stableford is a scoring system used in the sport of golf. It involves scoring points based on results at each hole. Unlike traditionally scored golf, where the object is to have the lowest score, in Stableford rules, the objective is to have the highest score.
The system was developed by Dr. Frank Barney Gordon Stableford (1870–1959). It was first used informally at the Glamorganshire Golf Club, Penarth, Wales, in 1898, and first used in competition at Wallasey, England, in 1932.
[edit] Scoring
Before play starts, players should adjust the pars on the course to their handicap. For example, a player with a handicap of 18, would increase the par on every hole by one. In the UK, the par is adjusted per the stroke index (SI) of the hole. As 1 is the hardest and 18 is the easiest hole, shots are allocated in order of difficulty. Here a few examples: A six handicap golfer would adjust the par (add one) to holes with SI 1-6. A 28 handicap golfer would receive 2 shots on SI 1-10, and 1 shot for SI 11-18. A plus 2 handicap golfer would lose two shots on SI 17-18 (as these are the easiest holes). Stableford is a popular form of the game, especially at club level. It tends to benefit higher handicappers as they are not punished as harshly for bad holes (i.e. minimum score is 0) and better players are not rewarded for their relative consistency.
The points scoring method is not a cumulative number that indicates how you fared relative to par. Instead you gather a certain number of points on every hole. That number is determined by your score. There are different forms of Stableford that use different point levels, so here are the points as specified by the United States Golf Association:
- 0 points - 2 strokes or more over your adjusted par
- 1 point - 1 stroke over your adjusted par
- 2 points - Your adjusted par
- 3 points - 1 stroke under your adjusted par
- 4 points - 2 strokes under your adjusted par
- 5 points - 3 strokes under your adjusted par
- 6 points - 4 strokes under your adjusted par
If you reach 2 strokes over your adjusted par, you may pick up your ball as you cannot do any better or worse and resume play on the next hole. At the end of the round, all points scored are added for each nine holes and totaled for the eighteen. The player with the most points is declared the winner.
The stableford competition has one major advantage, it means you can have one or two bad holes, and compensate for them during the other holes. This is because you would achieve no points on these holes rather than gaining many strokes as you would playing stroke play. If you achieve a Stableford score of 36, it would mean that you shot precisely to your handicap.
The only PGA Tour event that used the Stableford system of scoring was The International, but the event was canceled in February 2007, after 21 years as part of the tour. It used a modified scoring system adapted for the skill levels of the professionals. Two Champions Tour events also used the modified Stableford system briefly, the Royal Caribbean Classic in 2000 and 2001 and the Uniting Fore Care Classic in 2002.
- +8 points - albatross (3 strokes under par for a hole)
- +5 points - eagle (2 strokes)
- +2 points - birdie (1 stroke)
- 0 points - par
- -1 point - bogey (1 stroke over)
- -3 points - any score worse than bogey (2 strokes over or worse)
