Competition structures
Parful runs thisEclectic
Also called Eclectic competition, Gross eclectic, Best-ball-of-the-season, Season eclectic.
An eclectic is a season-long competition in which each player's best gross score on every hole, taken from any counting round, is combined into one composite scorecard. The composite total is the player's eclectic score and the lowest total wins.
- Basis
- Best gross score on each hole across all counting rounds
- Direction
- Lowest composite total wins
- Needs
- Hole-by-hole scores on every counting card
- Partial cards
- A nine-hole round improves nine holes and leaves the rest
- Counting rounds
- Every round contributes; there is no best-N cap
- Net version
- See Ringer
How an eclectic works
Every player starts the season with a blank card. After each counting round, each hole on the composite card is compared with the hole score just posted; if the new score is lower, it replaces the old one. A 3 on the par-4 first in April stays on the card until someone posts a 2, which is unlikely, so the first hole is probably settled early. The par-5 ninth where a player has taken 6, 7 and 8 keeps improving all summer.
At the end of the season the eighteen best scores are added together. A player with a season of erratic golf can post a composite in the low sixties without ever breaking 80 on a single day, which is the charm of the format and the reason clubs run it: it rewards the good holes and forgives the bad ones.
The competition is gross. Handicap does not enter into it, so the eclectic is usually won by the lowest handicappers unless the club runs it in divisions. The handicap version, where each round is played to net before the best hole is chosen, is the ringer.
Holes covered and partial cards
A composite card is only complete when every hole has a score. A player who has only played nine-hole outings has nine holes covered and nine blanks. Parful reports holes covered on every row, and a card with blanks is not comparable with a full one: its total is lower simply because fewer holes are summed.
A card entered as a gross total only carries no real hole scores, so it cannot improve any hole and is skipped entirely. Rounds that count toward an eclectic must be scored hole by hole.
Where a club plays both nines from the same tees, a nine-hole round improves holes 1 to 9 or 10 to 18 depending on which nine was played. Rounds on a different course are best kept out of the eclectic, since a 4 on another club's seventh has nothing to do with your own.
How Parful runs it
An eclectic on Parful is a standings table with the best-per-hole gross method. Every counting outing with hole-by-hole cards feeds it automatically; total-only entries are skipped. Each player's row shows the composite total, holes covered and rounds played, and opens into the composite card itself, hole by hole, with a per-round breakdown showing the total of the holes that round actually scored.
Rows are ranked by composite total, lowest first, then by any tiebreakers the club has listed, and equal totals share the position. The counting rounds setting does not apply: the composite already takes the best of every round, and there is nothing sensible to drop. The admin should read the holes covered column alongside the total when some players have partial cards.
Worked example
A worked example: one player, three rounds, nine holes shown
Lena plays three counting rounds. The composite card keeps the lowest score on each hole. Only the front nine is shown; the back nine works the same way.
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Front 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Par | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 36 |
| Round 1 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 42 |
| Round 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 40 |
| Round 3 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 41 |
| Eclectic | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 36 |
- Round 2's 6 on the fourth does not hurt: the card already held a 4 from round 1, and only a lower score replaces it.
- Holes covered is 9 here because only the front nine has been played; a full-card total would be compared only with other full cards.
Common variants
- Ringer (net eclectic)
- The same idea with each round's holes adjusted to net before the best is chosen. Available on Parful as the best-per-hole net method.
- Two-round eclectic
- A weekend competition where the best of two cards on each hole counts, common in club opens. Parful scores any number of rounds; a two-round eclectic is simply a standings with two counting outings.
- Team eclectic
- Partners combine their best holes into one card. Parful does not score a team eclectic; each composite belongs to one player.
- Eclectic with a handicap deduction
- Some clubs take the full gross eclectic and subtract a fraction of the handicap at the end. Parful does not apply an end-of-season deduction; run a ringer instead.