How does the Chicago golf format work?

Each player has a quota of 39 minus their Course Handicap™, earns points on every hole and compares the total with the quota. The biggest margin over quota wins.

Why is the Chicago base 39?

Tradition from the American scoring table the game began with, where birdies and eagles are worth more and a round runs higher. On the standard Stableford table the base only shifts every margin by the same amount.

What points does Parful use for Chicago?

The standard Stableford table: 1 for a bogey, 2 for a par, 3 for a birdie, 4 for an eagle, 5 for an albatross, 0 for worse. The classic 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 table is not scored.

Can we play Chicago off 36 instead of 39?

Yes. The base is a setting when the competition is created on Parful, and it is frozen into the round when scoring opens.

What allowance is used for Chicago?

100% of Course Handicap. The full handicap is subtracted from the base to set the target.

How is a tie decided in Chicago?

By countback over the back nine, the last six holes, the last three and the eighteenth of the final round, comparing gross strokes over each stretch. Still level and the position is shared.

Competition formats

Parful runs this

Chicago

Also called Chicago golf format, Chicago quota, Chicago points.

Chicago is a quota format: each player's target is 39 minus their handicap, points are earned on every hole, and the player who beats their target by the most wins. It is the same idea as Points Quota with a higher base, so a 10 handicap chases 29 rather than 26.

Played as: Own ball, own card
Target: 39 minus Course Handicap™
Points: Standard Stableford table on Parful: 1 bogey, 2 par, 3 birdie, 4 eagle, 5 albatross
Ranked by: Points minus target, highest margin wins
Ties: Countback: back 9, last 6, last 3, last hole of the final round
Runs on: Club competitions and events

How Chicago works

Chicago is Points Quota with a different starting number. Every player gets a quota of 39 minus their Course Handicap™: a 6 handicap has a quota of 33, an 18 a quota of 21, a 27 a quota of 12. Each hole earns points, the points are added and the total is compared with the quota. The player furthest over quota wins, and finishing under quota is a negative number.

The 39 comes from the American origins of the game, where the classic Chicago table scores 1 for a bogey, 2 for a par, 4 for a birdie, 6 for an eagle and 8 for a double eagle. On that table a good round runs higher than on the Stableford table, so the base was set higher. Clubs that play Chicago on the standard Stableford table keep the 39 by tradition.

What the base changes

With a single base for the whole field, raising it from 36 to 39 lowers every player's margin by exactly 3 and changes nothing about who wins: a player who is plus 5 on a 36 base is plus 2 on a 39 base, and so is everyone else, three lower. The base matters for how the numbers read, not for the order.

What the base does change is where playing to your handicap lands. On the Stableford table a player who plays exactly to handicap scores 36 points, which is a margin of zero on a 36 base and minus 3 on a 39 base. So on Parful's Chicago a field of players who all played to their handicap would all be shown at minus 3, and the winner is still the one who beat their own handicap by the most.

Settling a tie

Players on the same margin are separated by countback over the back nine, then the last six holes, the last three and the eighteenth, on the final round if the competition has more than one. Parful compares gross strokes over each stretch. Still level and the position is shared.

How Parful scores it

Chicago is a competition format on Parful and an individual format on events. It runs on the same quota engine as Points Quota with a base of 39: each player's target is 39 minus their Course Handicap per round, points are scored hole by hole on the standard Stableford table and the leaderboard ranks on points minus target. The margin is shown as plus or minus against quota with the points beside it.

The base is editable when the competition is created, so a club that plays Chicago off 36 or off 40 can set it, and the base is frozen into the round when scoring opens. The recommended allowance is 100% of Course Handicap, the same as Points Quota. A player without a handicap gets the raw base of 39 as a target until one is assigned.

Worked example

A worked example: three players on a 39 base

Ana plays off a Course Handicap™ of 6, Ben off 18 and Cal off 27. Points are on the standard Stableford table and each quota is 39 minus the handicap.

Player	Course Handicap	Quota (39 minus handicap)	Front 9 points	Back 9 points	Total points	Against quota
Ana	6	33	17	14	31	-2
Ben	18	21	13	11	24	+3
Cal	27	12	8	6	14	+2

Ben wins at plus 3: 24 points against a quota of 21. Cal is plus 2 from 14 points and Ana, with the most points, is 2 under her quota of 33.

On a 36 base the same rounds would read Ana +1, Ben +6 and Cal +5. Every margin moves by 3 and the order does not change.
Ben's 24 points came from 6 pars, 10 bogeys, 1 birdie and 1 blob: 12 plus 10 plus 3 plus 0, with a 0 on the par 4 fourth.

Common variants

Classic Chicago table: The original American scale: 1 for a bogey, 2 for a par, 4 for a birdie, 6 for an eagle and 8 for a double eagle, against the same 39-minus-handicap target. Parful scores Chicago on the standard Stableford table; the classic table is a variant Parful does not score.
Points Quota: The same format on a 36 base. Parful runs it as its own format and lets the admin set the base on either.
Chicago with a pot: Every player puts a stake in; anyone under quota pays per point short and anyone over collects per point over, or the pot goes to the biggest margin. Parful scores the margins and leaves the settlement to the group.