 When you want to play golf, you can find many different types of competitions to choose from - no matter your skill, the handicap
system will allow you to play against players of different abilities. You can find both team competitions and individual competitions
to choose from. In case you need to know what a foursome, greensome, stroke play or stableford is, we're here to help.
Stableford
When you play stableford, the golf round is scored in such a way that the handicap of every player is accounted for, allowing an even
playing field. If your handicap is higher, you'll have the advantage, since if you play one hole really badly, you won't lose that many
points, and you can easily catch up if you play the next hole very well. The player's handicap and the hole's difficulty is used to
adjust each hole's par, so if your handicap is higher and the hole is hard, you are given more strokes to try and get the ball sunk.
The stroke index is applied to every hole on the course to determine its difficulty, and this index is on a scale from 1 to 18; 1 is
the hardest type of hold and 18 is the easiest.
At the beginning of the game, each player works out how their handicap affects the par for each hole, so they know how many strokes
they get. Depending on their handicap, the play gets a set number of extra strokes, which are then allocated to the harder holes on the
course. For example, if your handicap is 24, you get one added stroke for each hole, using up 18 strokes, and the remaining 6 are given
to the holes that have the highest difficulty, enabling you to have more strokes to complete them.
Scoring - Depending on the adjusted par, your score can be either positive or negative - if you have 3 over par, you get no points; if
you're one over par, you get 1 point (bogey); if you get a par, that's 2 points; 1 under par gets you 3 points (birdie), and 2 under
par gets you 4 points.
Example: If a hole has a par 5, the adjusted par would be 7 if the player is allowed an extra 2 stokes for that hole. He manages to get
the ball in on stroke 6; he performed 1 under par, giving him 3 points for his efforts. If he sunk the ball on the 8th stroke he would
have performed one over par giving him 1 point.
When the golf game ends, the winner is the person with the most points. If a player's handicap is correct he would finish with a score
of 36, since that's par for the course.
Medal/Stroke Play
You count every stroke in the entire golf game with medal or stroke play, and whoever wins depends on whose score is lowest. When
you're working with a handicap, you subtract the handicap from the overall score, and that score is what determines the winner of the
game.
Match Play
Instead of playing against the course, players pit themselves against other players in match play. You have to win a hole by being the
person with the fewest strokes to complete it; whoever wins the most holes wins the game in the end. Ties are handled by having no team
win the whole, the hole is said to be 'halved'. When working with a handicap, you adjust the number of strokes you need to win the hole
according to the handicap of whatever player is playing.
Singles: The competition is between two separate
Doubles: The competition is between two pairs; each person plays the hole like they typically would, and the scores are combined and
compared.
Foursomes: There are two player teams, but there's only one ball between the teammates, as they alternate shots. Shots at the tee are
alternated between team players, so that everyone gets a chance to start the hole.
Greensomes is just like foursomes but with a bit of variation; there are still teams of two, but this time, both players tee off, and
depending on which shot went further, that shot is used.
Scoring: You win holes here, just like in stroke play, and as the game goes on, you see how many holes teams are ahead of or behind
on.
Once one team gets too far ahead to allow the other team to win, then the game ends summarily. To give an example - if Team A and Team
B are at Hole 15, and Team A is +4, there are only three holes left, but four points are necessary for B to catch up; A wins. The
winning score would be 4 and 3 for Team A.
In the event of a tie at hole 18, you have to play a tie breaker round. The two teams just keep playing holes until one team wins a
hole; that team ends up winning the game.
Best Ball
If you have two to four players on a team, you can play Best Ball. The game is played as if everyone was playing for themselves; but
handicap-adjusted score for every hole is given as a team score. Stroke play is the most popular variant of Best ball, and as a result,
you win when you have the lowest score.
Scramble
Charity and club matches often play scramble: you can play teams of two, but teams of four are often more common. It's not unlike
greensomes in that everyone tees off, but the shot that went furthest is picked to be the team ball; everyone just plays a ball until
someone gets it in the hole; Texas Scramble requires that each player makes a minimum number of tee shots. |
