Stableford Scoring

[Fourputt]

A quick question for our friends across the Atlantic:  What is considered a good score in the standard Stableford system?  I ask because I actually shot a decent round today for the first time in about 5 years, and since we rarely play Stableford over here, I don't really know just how that compares.  

My game has been in the crapper for the 2 years since moving back to the US after 2½ years in the Bahamas with no golf.  I was curious about how it would have been received had it been a qualifying handicap score under your handicap systems.   I shot an 85 (45-40) with a course handicap of 19 (course par 72), which resulted in a Stableford score of 43 (20-23).

[Club Rat]

6 hours ago, Fourputt said:

What is considered a good score in the standard Stableford system? Stableford score of 43 (20-23).

A Sandbagger...........

We play a Stableford point game a couple of times each summer. The field average has usually low thirties points.

[graham57]

These two charts bear out what Club Rat says: The first is a typical distribution curve of tournament scores of club golfers, peaking at around 31 points. The second I find very interesting: it shows the average tournament score in stableford points over the course of the year and demonstrates clearly that scores are typically higher in summer (weather warmer, ground firmer, etc.) than in the spring, probably due also to the fact that the season is just starting and people are out of practice (Frühjahr = Spring, Sommer = Summer, Herbst = Fall). In Germany, there are strict rules about which rounds can be posted to count towards a handicap, and in the main only rounds played under official competition conditions are posted. Since posting a score above 36 makes your handicap go down faster than a round under 36 makes it go up (for mid-high handicappers, each point above 36 reduces your handicap by 0.5 points (so your score of 43 points would be an excellent round and would reduce your handicap by anything up to 3.5 points), whereas your handicap is only increased by 0.1-0.2 points when you score under 36, regardless of how many points you were short.

The result is that a German (and generally any European) handicap typically represents pretty much your best golf, and is accordingly hard to play to all the time. Any round with more than 30 points is regarded as pretty good. Hope this helps!

[paininthenuts]

9 hours ago, Fourputt said:

A quick question for our friends across the Atlantic:  What is considered a good score in the standard Stableford system?  I ask because I actually shot a decent round today for the first time in about 5 years, and since we rarely play Stableford over here, I don't really know just how that compares.  

My game has been in the crapper for the 2 years since moving back to the US after 2½ years in the Bahamas with no golf.  I was curious about how it would have been received had it been a qualifying handicap score under your handicap systems.   I shot an 85 (45-40) with a course handicap of 19 (course par 72), which resulted in a Stableford score of 43 (20-23).

I live in the UK, and it's rare we don't play stableford. It's brilliant because if you play a bad hole it doesn't ruin your round. 43 points is amazing, as the best I have ever scored is 39. 36 equates to your handicap, and I would say a decent average for anyone is around the 30 mark. If your not familiar with the scoring, and you have a smart phone, there is a free app that does it for you.

[Fourputt]

40 minutes ago, paininthenuts said:

I live in the UK, and it's rare we don't play stableford. It's brilliant because if you play a bad hole it doesn't ruin your round. 43 points is amazing, as the best I have ever scored is 39. 36 equates to your handicap, and I would say a decent average for anyone is around the 30 mark. If your not familiar with the scoring, and you have a smart phone, there is a free app that does it for you.

As I said above, this was the first round in several years that I felt a little bit like my old self.  I don't know if it's an aberration or if it's a sign that I really have found some of my old swing.  This round was a good 7-8 strokes better than I've been scoring.  A couple more like that in the tournament today and tomorrow and my handicap will start heading down toward where I'd prefer to see it.  

Then too, since my cap isn't established under a system that's system designed with Stableford in mind, it may not translate that well, and that could account for the high point value.  If my scoring list was transposed to your system, my cap might be 2 or 3 strokes lower and my net points would then drop too.  I don't know enough about it to say for sure.  Just wish I'd saved this for today, as the tournament uses a modified Stableford scoring which would have given me 21 points (our modification is not as generous as the official method), which would certainly be in the money in my flight.

[Missouri Swede]

11 hours ago, Fourputt said:

I shot an 85 (45-40) with a course handicap of 19 (course par 72), which resulted in a Stableford score of 43 (20-23).

Slow morning, and I was curious since I hadn't looked into Stableford scoring before.

See if I've got this right:  If you shoot a score equal to your course handicap this gives you a score of 18x2=36,  before adjusting for holes more than 2 shots over (par+strokes received) for the hole, so you don't get negative points for any individual hole.  That adjustment seems similar to match play, in that once you're out of the hole, it can't do you any more damage.

I played the best round of my life yesterday, shot 9 shots under my handicap--I think that gives me a Stableford score of 45. (I'm not worried, though--regression to the mean may catch up with me today!)

1 hour ago, Fourputt said:

A couple more like that in the tournament today and tomorrow and my handicap will start heading down toward where I'd prefer to see it.  

Just wish I'd saved this for today, as the tournament uses a modified Stableford scoring which would have given me 21 points (our modification is not as generous as the official method), which would certainly be in the money in my flight.

Good luck this weekend 

[paininthenuts]

1 hour ago, Missouri Swede said:

Slow morning, and I was curious since I hadn't looked into Stableford scoring before.

See if I've got this right:  If you shoot a score equal to your course handicap this gives you a score of 18x2=36,  before adjusting for holes more than 2 shots over (par+strokes received) for the hole, so you don't get negative points for any individual hole.  That adjustment seems similar to match play, in that once you're out of the hole, it can't do you any more damage.

I played the best round of my life yesterday, shot 9 shots under my handicap--I think that gives me a Stableford score of 45. (I'm not worried, though--regression to the mean may catch up with me today!)

Good luck this weekend 

A scratch player scores 2 points on every hole for a par, and 1 point for a single bogey. 3 points for a birdie, and 4 for an eagle etc. If you play off of 10 (for example) you get an additional point for holes with a stroke index 1-10. If you play off of 22 (for example), you get 1 additional point for holes with a stroke index of 1-18, and 2 additional points for a stroke index of 19-22. Ultimately if you play off of 36, you get 2 additional shots per hole. 

In the UK many club competitions use the Stableford system, in which case, if a hole is blobbed (not scored on) the system treats it as a double bogey for calculating new handicaps. We rarely play anything else at my club

Edited April 23, 2016 by paininthenuts

[MacDutch]

2 hours ago, paininthenuts said:

A scratch player scores 2 points on every hole for a par, and 1 point for a single bogey. 3 points for a birdie, and 4 for an eagle etc. If you play off of 10 (for example) you get an additional point for .....

This is correct for your playing handicap on a given course.

As for scoring 43 points, thats a score I never in my 6 years of golf made. It is 7 strokes better than playing to your handicap. 30-33 is ok, 33-36 is good, 37-39 is very good, 40-41 is best ever, 42+ is incredible. 

But when you just start playing, have talent and practice a lot, you are a lot better then your current handicap. That makes a score above 40 more probable.

 

[Fourputt]

6 hours ago, MacDutch said:

This is correct for your playing handicap on a given course.

As for scoring 43 points, thats a score I never in my 6 years of golf made. It is 7 strokes better than playing to your handicap. 30-33 is ok, 33-36 is good, 37-39 is very good, 40-41 is best ever, 42+ is incredible. 

But when you just start playing, have talent and practice a lot, you are a lot better then your current handicap. That makes a score above 40 more probable.

 

Which is just about right.  I scored 8 strokes better than my course handicap on that round.  This is not the most lopsided score I've ever made against my handicap.  Back in 1989, when I'd just begun playing in club tournaments, I shot what is still my personal best 73, one over par, while carrying an at that time legitimate 16 handicap.  It was my moment in golf when I first had that epiphany that all of a sudden the game made some sort of sense to me.  I am over the last year just coming back to the game after nearly a 3 year layoff, and hopefully struggling toward that same epiphany.  I fully understand that such a performance is contrary to the norm, and believe me, it doesn't happen to me very often either.  

Today I shot an 88 for 17 points in our modified Stableford, and I'm just above the middle of the flight.  I have very little chance to win my flight, but a decent round tomorrow could put me in the money at least.

[CR McDivot]

Our group (non tourney casual players) play straight up Stableford - no handicaps. Since we are all fairly close in typical scoring it works for us.

It gets rid of blowup holes, and speeds play since doubles are not scored and need not be played out (similar to conceding a hole in match play).

[David in FL]

Nice round!

36 points the equivalent to playing to your handicap.  As such, you'd expect to do that about 20% of the time.  So 43  is 7 strokes better than your course handicap and is huge, and cause for celebration...

...but, it's worth noting that 0 points are awarded for net double or worse, which will tend to result in slightly better scoring, especially for higher hcp players because triples and higher aren't scored any worse than the double. 

A lot of clubs also play a modified form in which they award 4 points for birdie, and 6 for eagle, instead of the correct 3 and 4 points respectively.  That will also tend to artificially improve someone's score compared to normal stroke play....but again, even though it's relatively common in many clubs, it is a modified version of true Stableford.

[Fourputt]

1 hour ago, David in FL said:

Nice round!

36 points the equivalent to playing to your handicap.  As such, you'd expect to do that about 20% of the time.  So 43  is 7 strokes better than your course handicap and is huge, and cause for celebration...

...but, it's worth noting that 0 points are awarded for net double or worse, which will tend to result in slightly better scoring, especially for higher hcp players because triples and higher aren't scored any worse than the double. 

A lot of clubs also play a modified form in which they award 4 points for birdie, and 6 for eagle, instead of the correct 3 and 4 points respectively.  That will also tend to artificially improve someone's score compared to normal stroke play....but again, even though it's relatively common in many clubs, it is a modified version of true Stableford.

Our modified version:
Triple Eagle:  10
Double Eagle:  8
Eagle: 4
Birdie: 2
Par:  1
Bogie: -1
Double bogie or more: -2

The tournament is flighted, but is still scored net with flight.  All points are net, with 100% of course handicap applied.  It's designed to encourage the player to be a little more aggressive.

Today I shot 86, made 20 points, plus yesterday's 17 for 37 total, and finished 2 points out of the money in my flight.  All I needed was to turn one net bogie into a par and I make up the 2 strokes.  

[David in FL]

5 minutes ago, Fourputt said:

Our modified version:
Triple Eagle:  10
Double Eagle:  8
Eagle: 4
Birdie: 2
Par:  1
Bogie: -1
Double bogie or more: -2

The tournament is flighted, but is still scored net with flight.  All points are net, with 100% of course handicap applied.  It's designed to encourage the player to be a little more aggressive.

Today I shot 86, made 20 points, plus yesterday's 17 for 37 total, and finished 2 points out of the money in my flight.  All I needed was to turn one net bogie into a par and I make up the 2 strokes.  

Only 10 points for an ace on a par 5?!  That's a tough crowd!  

[Fourputt]

25 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Only 10 points for an ace on a par 5?!  That's a tough crowd!  

The only reason that's there is because one guy made a double eagle a few years ago and it forced them to add the triple for net.  It's unlikely to ever happen again in this tournament that's only 2 days each year.

[paininthenuts]

I played in a comp yesterday, and everyone played really badly. The person who won it was 10 over net par. HONESTLY