Competition formats
Parful runs thisStroke play
Also called Medal play, Net stroke play, Gross stroke play.
Stroke play is the format where every stroke counts: each player holes out on every hole, the eighteen hole scores are added, and the lowest total wins. Net stroke play subtracts the player's handicap strokes from that total; gross stroke play ranks the raw score.
- Played as
- Own ball, own card, hole out everywhere
- Ranked by
- Total strokes, lowest wins; gross or net
- Net score
- Gross total minus Playing Handicap™
- Ties
- Countback on gross strokes: back 9, last 6, last 3, last hole of the final round
- Recommended allowance
- 95% of Course Handicap™ for a competition; outings use full handicap
- Runs on
- Club outings, club competitions, events
How stroke play works
Every player records a gross score on every hole and must hole out on each one: there is no picking up and no cap on a bad hole for the purposes of the competition. The eighteen scores are added into a gross total. In a gross competition that total is the result. In a net competition the player's Playing Handicap™ is subtracted from the gross total and the lowest net total wins.
Because a single hole can cost four or five strokes, stroke play punishes a disaster more than any other format. That is also why it is the format of every championship: it rewards the player who avoids mistakes for the whole round, not the player who has the best twelve holes.
Gross, net and where the strokes fall
The net total is simply gross minus Playing Handicap. For the leaderboard the strokes are also placed on individual holes by stroke index, which is what makes the hole-by-hole net column, the net countback and the net double bogey cap for handicap posting possible. A Playing Handicap of 11 puts one stroke on each of the holes with stroke index 1 to 11.
A Course Handicap™ is the strokes the tee gives you before any allowance. The World Handicap System™ recommends 95% of Course Handicap for individual stroke play and the Parful format registry carries 95% as the recommended allowance. On a club outing the default is full handicap, because outings are casual days. A competition can be set to 95% when it is created, and the choice is frozen into the round once scoring opens.
Settling a tie
Two players on the same total are separated by countback: the back nine first, then the last six holes, then the last three, then the eighteenth. Parful compares gross strokes over each stretch, whether the competition is gross or net, which is the convention most committees use rather than trying to apportion a handicap across nine, six and three holes. In a competition played over several rounds only the final round is counted back. If nothing separates the players after the eighteenth, the position is shared.
Players on different tees
When the field plays from more than one tee, a Course Handicap already includes each tee's Course Rating™ minus its par, so the rating difference is handled. What it does not handle is a difference in par: a player on a par 72 tee is expected to take two strokes more than a player on a par 70 tee. Rule 6.2b of the Rules of Handicapping adds that par difference to the higher-par player's handicap.
Parful applies the adjustment automatically. It takes a reference tee, declared for the day or the one most of the field is playing, adds the par difference to each player's allocation and shows it as its own column. A single-tee field always gets zero.
How Parful runs it
Stroke play is the default format on a club outing and the Stroke Play template in club competitions. Scores go in hole by hole from the group scorecard, the leaderboard shows gross and net side by side, and countback is applied as the cards land. A competition can be gross only, net only, or both; the Club Championship template turns on both divisions and flights by default. On events it is the individual format alongside the team formats, with the same allowance and countback.
Worked example
A worked example: a net tie decided on the back nine
Ana has a Course Handicap™ of 12 and Ben a Course Handicap of 6. At 95% Ana plays off 11 (11.4 rounds down) and Ben off 6 (5.7 rounds up). Ana went out in 40 and Ben in 38. The back nine is shown in full.
| Hole | Par | Stroke index | Ana gross | Ana strokes | Ben gross | Ben strokes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| 12 | 3 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 13 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| 14 | 4 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 15 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| 16 | 3 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 17 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 18 | 4 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Back 9 | 36 | 42 | 5 | 39 | 3 | |
| Round | 72 | 82 | 11 | 77 | 6 |
- The countback compares gross strokes over the stretch. Counting back on net would give Ana 37 and Ben 36 over the back nine, so Ben wins either way here, but the two methods can disagree and Parful uses gross.
- Ana receives her eleven strokes on stroke index 1 to 11: six on the front nine and five on the back. Ben's six strokes fall on stroke index 1 to 6, three on each nine.
Common variants
- Gross stroke play
- No strokes at all; the lowest gross total wins. This is the championship division in most clubs. Parful runs it by setting the competition scope to gross, or to both for a gross and a net winner.
- Medal play
- The British name for the same format, from the medal awarded to the winner. There is no difference in the rules. A monthly medal is a stroke play competition played once a month, usually net.
- Maximum score
- Rule 21.2 stroke play with a cap on each hole, often double par or net double bogey, so that a player can pick up. Parful applies the net double bogey cap for handicap posting but the competition result is the full stroke play total; a club that wants a capped result should run Stableford.