What Formats do You Play?

[wacker]

I live in the UK, although I realise most forum members come from the USA. Other than competitions nearly all our casual play is  Stableford. so I wondered what do you tend to play on your side of the pond?

[iacas]

I don't often play in many actual competitions, but it's typically just my individual stroke play. Occasionally with some others I'll play a game: Hi/Low/Total (team game 2 on 2), some match play. Sometimes bingo bango bongo (with a stroke play round)…

[dennyjones]

It's always stroke play for our foursome.  Maybe it's time to branch out to something different

[klineka]

I'd say stroke play like 75-80%+ of the time, but occasionally we will mix it up and do like a 2v2 scramble or 2v2 best ball depending on who is playing and what their skill levels are.

I prefer to play my own ball, but a scramble every once in a while can be fun too.

[bkuehn1952]

Predominently stroke play. My regular group plays a rotating partner 6 hole fourball.  Another buddy and I play a match play Nassau ($2/$2/$2). A bit of foursomes when playing with the family.

I have only played Stableford a few times in 60 years of play.

[mcanadiens]

I'm not playing in much of anything competitive these days. But the one exception is a quota game that my old Kittyhawk guys hold at Dayton's last remaining course, Community GC.

Basically, it is Stableford scoring where the objective is to hit your quota. The quota is initially based on your handicap and goes up or down depending on whether you hit the quota number or not the previous time out. We all chip in $10. The greater you exceed the quota, the bigger your share of the pot relative to what the other players do.

It's a pretty relaxed deal. Everyone roots for each other. I make it down there two or three times a year.

Edited January 31, 2023 by mcanadiens

[Elmer]

Nothing officially competitive over here.
My league match plays a combined match/stroke play for a total of 4 points each season.
I also never turn down an opportunity to play a scramble, it is like practicing on the course, but turned up to 11.

Otherwise I try to get my 4some to play Back Stabber
The game is played in twosomes, stroke play. At the end of each hole, the two teams add up their scores. If one player shoots a 4, and the other a 5, their team total becomes 45 (the lower number being the first number). The team with the lowest team score takes the difference . Here's the clincher - if a player on a team scores a birdie, the opposing team must reverse the digits of their score. So if player one shoots a 4 on a par 4, and his teammate shoots a 9 - guess what, their score is 94! 
Some people play points =$$$$, but we play for food and drinks. Losing team buys the beer and pizza after the round.

I have found this game to be fun, unless your opponent birdies a hole that you just carded a quad boogie!!!!!

It also helps if someone in your group is good with numbers, such as an accountant!

 

[Loose Cannon]

We are a group of old geezers.  When all show up, we have 7 or 8.  Just never know how many will be there, so have formats for different numbers of players.

Two or three players:  Par or better

Four players:  2 vs. 2, changing partners after every 3 holes

Five players:  Wolf

Six to eight players:  Split into two groups of three to four.  Play group against group, best ball

We trash talk.  We take our bets seriously!!  We play for quarters.  One of our Superintendents said we "fight like sisters".  A really great group.  Quite a mix of careers we all retired from.  Our group has the first tee time at our course, 7 days/week.  They say we play NASCAR golf.  If our group is 3 or less, we'll play 18 in right at 2 hours.  Four or five will take us about 2 hours, 30 minutes.  Never had a twosome in a cart be able to catch us.  Much better than sitting in our recliners, collecting dust!

 

[DaveP043]

I play in a pretty big group, typically 12 to 16 on a weekend.  Within the group, we play fourball match play, rotating partners every 6 holes.  We also play one best ball for the group against each of the other groups, nassau stroke play.   Then there's the "trash" pay-outs, and 2 to 4 low net stroke play scores get a few bucks.  Sound complicated?  Its not too bad, really.  A lot of the fun is the matching of cards between groups while having a beverage or two after the round. 

[pganapathy]

As a rule of thumb, stroke play.  Occasionally it will be match play for a 2 or 4 ball.  Usually a 3 ball will be points (4-2-0).  Stableford is rare and mostly reserved for tournaments

[jsgolfer]

I play in a pretty big group (16-20) and we play the best two gross scores per hole between the foursomes and then pay front/back/overall out of our $30 bet.  And then there are usually side bets, $5/Nassau, automatic press if 2 down and $2 birdies.

[GolfLug]

1 hour ago, jsgolfer said:

I play in a pretty big group (16-20) and we play the best two gross scores per hole between the foursomes and then pay front/back/overall out of our $30 bet.  And then there are usually side bets, $5/Nassau, automatic press if 2 down and $2 birdies.

+1. Nassau is popular in our blitz. 

When we have only a 3-player group, we play Baseball. Not sure why it's named that, but whatever.

The game is a total of 9 points are available to split amongst the three players on each hole depending on relative scores.

Example, if the players A, B and C score:

- Par (A), bogey (B),  double B(C) - the point split is A gets 5 points, B gets 3 points and C gets 1 point. = total of 9. 

- If two player tie at a better score (eg. par/par/bogey) then the point split is 4/4/1. 

- If two players tie at the lower score (eg. bogey/bogey/par) then the point split is 2/2/5.  

- And of course the split is 3 each if they all tie.  

Birdies and greenies are 1 point extra. 

We play dollar a point. Usually max win/loss is less than $10. Bit of math required but is fun and easy once you get the hang of it in a couple of holes.

 

[boogielicious]

@Bob M and I play Help Find Scott’s Ball. 

[saevel25]

Just learned a new golf drinking game last night. 

Birdie, you take a shot
Par, you do not take a shot
Bogey, you take a shot
Double Bogey, you take two shots 

😛 

I would make it handicap adjusted, lol. 

[Bob M]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

@Bob M and I play Help Find Scott’s Ball. 

...when we're not playing lets find Bob's ball that is 😁

[Double Mocha Man]

2 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Just learned a new golf drinking game last night. 

Birdie, you take a shot
Par, you do not take a shot
Bogey, you take a shot
Double Bogey, you take two shots 

😛 

I would make it handicap adjusted, lol. 

Excellent!  When I am partaking of my Italian Sports Drink on the course it's nothing for a bogey or worse.  One sip for a par, 2 sips for a birdie, 3 sips for an eagle (which is a rare sip).  I've gone as many as 5 holes suffering a drought.

Last week, playing by myself and playing two balls I had 2 birdies on the par 3 #4 at my home course.  Now that can make a guy tipsy before he's halfway down the next fairway.

[ChetlovesMer]

Wow, I guess it depends. 
When out for fun, either alone, or with a group I've been paired up with, or with my usual golf buddies, we generally play Metal or Stroke Play. Most of us are working on having an accurate handicap for tournaments so we hole out everything and try to play tournament rules. (Which is really just golf rules, but I know not everybody uses ALL the rules, ALL the time.)

The main tournament I've been playing every year since 2008 is a Stableford. Which I think qualifies as a sub-set of metal play. 🤷‍♂️

The last two years I've played in another tournament which is a two person round-robin match play tournament. Personally, I really like match-play. The round-robin is also fun, it works great if there are only a few golfers. 

Last year I got to play yet another tournament which was a 2-day, Ryder-Cup Format. In my opinion, Ryder-Cup format is a blast, but I think it would lose it's appeal if I did that every week. 

Finally, the golf league I play in is a match-play league in which you also have to keep your score (technically your opponent's score) as there are additional team points handed out based on total team score. 

 

[klineka]

1 hour ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Wow, I guess it depends. 
When out for fun, either alone, or with a group I've been paired up with, or with my usual golf buddies, we generally play Metal or Stroke Play. Most of us are working on having an accurate handicap for tournaments so we hole out everything and try to play tournament rules. (Which is really just golf rules, but I know not everybody uses ALL the rules, ALL the time.)

The main tournament I've been playing every year since 2008 is a Stableford. Which I think qualifies as a sub-set of metal play. 🤷‍♂️

You know it's medal, not metal, right?