Competition formats
Parful runs thisStableford
Also called Stableford points, Stableford scoring.
Stableford is a points format: each hole earns points against your net par, with 2 for a net par, 3 for a net birdie and 0 for anything worse than a net bogey. The highest total wins, and a disaster hole costs you at most one hole's points.
- Played as
- Own ball, own card
- Ranked by
- Total points, highest wins
- Points
- 5 albatross, 4 eagle, 3 birdie, 2 par, 1 bogey, 0 worse, all against net par
- Ties
- Countback on points: back 9, last 6, last 3, last hole
- Recommended allowance
- 95% of Course Handicap™
- Runs on
- Club outings, club competitions, events
How Stableford works
Every hole is scored on its own. Take your gross score on the hole, subtract any handicap strokes you receive there, and compare the result with par. The difference sets your points: a net score two under par is 4 points, one under is 3, level is 2, one over is 1, and two or more over is 0. The round is the sum of the eighteen hole scores.
Because a hole can never score below zero, a triple bogey costs the same as a double. That is the format's whole point: one wrecked hole does not wreck the card, and a player who has no chance of scoring can pick up and walk to the next tee without delaying the group.
Where the strokes fall
Your Playing Handicap™ decides how many strokes you receive and the stroke index decides where they land. An 18 handicap receives one stroke on every hole, so net par is one over the card par everywhere. A 12 receives a stroke on the twelve hardest holes, stroke index 1 to 12, and plays the other six off scratch. A 24 receives one stroke everywhere and a second on stroke index 1 to 6.
The recommended allowance for Stableford is 95% of Course Handicap™, the same figure the World Handicap System™ recommends for individual stroke play. Parful applies that by default and lets a club set full handicap instead.
Try it
Points tables side by side
Pick a table and a result against net par. Net par already includes your strokes on the hole.
| Against net par | Points |
|---|---|
| Albatross (−3) | 5 |
| Eagle (−2) | 4 |
| Birdie (−1) | 3 |
| Par (0) | 2 |
| Bogey (+1) | 1 |
| Double or worse (+2) | 0 |
Par (0)
2 pts
The standard table. Two points is net par.
Settling a tie
Two players on 36 points are separated by countback on points: the back nine first, then the last six holes, the last three, and finally the eighteenth. The player with more points over the later stretch wins. Clubs that play nine holes, or whose committee prefers it, can count back on the front nine instead.
How Parful runs it
Choose Stableford when you set up an outing or a competition and the scorecard does the arithmetic: strokes are placed by stroke index from each player's tee, points appear hole by hole as scores go in, and the leaderboard ranks on points with countback applied automatically. A pickup records the hole at its cap so the card stays honest and the points stay at zero.
Stableford is also the engine behind several side games in the library: Joker Stableford doubles one chosen hole, Aggregate Stableford adds a pair's points together, and points quota formats set a target to beat.
Worked example
A worked example: an 18 handicap on the front nine
Maria plays off 18 with full allowance, so she receives one stroke on every hole and her net par is one over the card par everywhere.
| Hole | Par | Stroke index | Strokes | Gross | Net | Against net par | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 4 | Level | 2 |
| 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 6 | One over | 1 |
| 3 | 3 | 17 | 1 | 3 | 2 | One under | 3 |
| 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 7 | Three over | 0 |
| 5 | 4 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 4 | Level | 2 |
| 6 | 3 | 15 | 1 | 4 | 3 | Level | 2 |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 5 | Level | 2 |
| 8 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 3 | One under | 3 |
| 9 | 4 | 13 | 1 | 6 | 5 | One over | 1 |
- Maria could have picked up on hole 4 after her sixth shot; the points were already zero.
- Eighteen points a nine, 36 for the round, is playing to your handicap. Anything above it means you beat your handicap that day.
Common variants
- Modified Stableford
- A steeper table that rewards aggression and punishes bogeys: 8 for an albatross, 5 for an eagle, 2 for a birdie, 0 for par, minus 1 for a bogey and minus 3 for worse. Parful runs it as its own format.
- Points quota
- Every player starts with a target of 36 minus their Course Handicap™ and the winner is the player furthest above their target. Chicago is the same idea off a 39-point base. Both are formats in the library.
- Team Stableford
- Everyone plays their own ball and the team total is every member's points added together. Four-ball Stableford counts only the better score on each hole.