Stableford, match play, scramble: pick the format

Most amateur golf is played as medal stroke play, which is the format least suited to most amateurs. One blow-up hole ruins the card, the round takes four and a half hours, and everybody holes out from three feet on a hole they lost twenty minutes ago. There are better options, and your club runs most of them.

The argument here is not that stroke play is bad. It is the fairest test in golf and it is why the professional game uses it. The argument is that it is a test designed for players whose worst hole is a bogey, and that a golfer whose worst hole is a nine is being measured by an instrument built for somebody else.

Stableford: the format that fits how you actually play

You score points against par with your handicap applied. Two points for a net par, three for a net birdie, four for a net eagle, one for a net bogey, and nothing at all for anything worse.

The consequence is the whole point. A disaster hole costs you two points rather than six strokes, and because a zero is a zero you pick up as soon as you cannot score, which speeds the round up considerably and spares everybody the sight of a fourth putt.

For a golfer who makes six pars, eight bogeys and four wrecks, Stableford turns a demoralizing 96 into a respectable 32 points and a round worth finishing. It also changes strategy in a useful direction: on a hole where you are already out of points, there is nothing to protect, and on a hole where a net birdie is available the aggressive line is correct.

The standard is 36 points, which is a net par round. Anything above that is a good day.

Match play: the hole is the unit, not the round

You win, lose or halve each hole, and the score resets every time. A nine on the fourth costs you exactly one hole, the same as a bogey would.

That forgiveness changes how the game is played. Aggression is correct when you are behind and wrong when you are ahead, a conceded putt is a tactical instrument, and the player who is out of the hole should pick up and save everybody time.

The rules differ in ways worth knowing. You play in order of who is away rather than ready golf, you may concede a putt or a hole at any time, and a penalty for playing out of turn does not apply as it does in stroke play. Handicap strokes fall on the stroke index holes, usually calculated as a percentage of the difference between the two players’ course handicaps.

It is the format everybody remembers, which is why club knockouts and interclub matches use it.

Scramble: the format for mixed abilities

Everybody in the team tees off, the team picks the best ball, everybody plays their next shot from there, and so on until the ball is holed.

Weaker players contribute putts and the occasional wedge, stronger players carry the tee shots, and nobody spends the day looking for their own ball in the trees. It is the format for charity days, corporate outings and any group where the handicaps run from 6 to 28, and it is the only format in which a beginner can have a genuinely good time on a championship course.

Common variants ask each team to use a minimum number of drives from each player, which stops one long hitter carrying the whole round and makes the day considerably more interesting for everyone.

Fourball and foursomes, and why they feel so different

In fourball, sometimes called better ball, each player plays their own ball and the better score of the pair counts on each hole. It is relaxed and sociable, a bad hole for one player costs the team nothing, and it is the standard for club league nights.

In foursomes, or alternate shot, partners share one ball and alternate strokes, with one player teeing off on odd holes and the other on even. It is fast, tense, and the format most American amateurs have never tried.

A foursomes round takes about three hours, because there are half as many shots and nobody waits for four players to hit. It also teaches more about course management than a month of medal play, because every decision is made with somebody else’s next shot in mind: you stop trying to reach greens and start trying to leave your partner a full wedge.

Skins, points games and the ones for a threeball

Skins gives the hole to whoever wins it outright, and carries the value forward when it is halved, which means the fourteenth hole can be worth six skins and everybody is still in the game.

Nine-point games work for a threeball, with nine points distributed on each hole, usually five, three and one. Wolf, in which one player each hole chooses a partner or plays alone for double, is the other reliable threeball or fourball game.

All of them exist for the same reason: to keep every player in the round on the fifteenth tee. That is the single test worth applying to any format.

Which format for which day

• Playing alone or with one other, wanting a real test of your golf: medal stroke play.
• Club competition, or any round you want to finish in good humor: Stableford.
• A friend of similar ability and something riding on it: match play.
• Mixed abilities, a charity day, or a group of eight: scramble.
• Two hours to spare and a partner: foursomes.
• A threeball with a wide spread of ability: nine-point or Wolf.

Handicaps and which rounds count

Under the World Handicap System, scores from most of these formats can be posted, but not all of them and not always in the way people assume.

Stableford and match play scores are posted using the most likely score on holes you did not complete. Scramble scores are not acceptable at all, because you did not play your own ball. Foursomes is not acceptable for the same reason.

If handicap counting matters to you, ask which events are posted before you enter, and remember that a competition round you played under the rules should be posted whether or not you enjoyed it.

Where to find these formats in the U.S.

Most American clubs and public courses run weekly Stableford or points events, member-guest days in fourball formats, and knockout match play through the season. The pro shop keeps the calendar and entry is usually a few dollars.

Public golfers have more access to this than they think. Men’s and women’s clubs at municipal facilities run the same competition calendar as private clubs, are open to anybody who pays the annual dues, and include a GHIN handicap in most cases. State and regional golf associations run four-ball, net and team championships, and city amateur bodies organize league play across public courses.

Foursomes is the one format you will probably have to organize yourself, since it appears rarely on American calendars outside interclub matches. Two pairs, one ball each, three hours on a quiet evening: it is worth doing once a season purely as a lesson.

Panxis Golf has no commercial relationship with any club or association mentioned here.

Ask what your club runs

The competition calendar is the fastest route into the part of golf that keeps people playing, and it is usually pinned to a board that members walk past for years without reading. Ask the professional which event a first-timer should enter, and enter that one.