Golf games
Parful runs thisJoker Stableford
Also called Joker hole, Wildcard Stableford.
Joker Stableford is standard net Stableford with one twist: each player picks a secret joker hole before the round, and the Stableford points scored on that hole are doubled, or tripled or quadrupled if the group sets it that way, in the total. The highest total wins.
- Players
- 2 or more, anyone in the outing
- Scoring basis
- Net Stableford, standard table: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0
- The joker
- One hole per player, chosen before the start, locked when the game begins
- Multiplier
- Double by default; triple or four times can be set when the game is created
- Ties
- Shared position on total points
- Settlement
- One stake per point of margin over each opponent
How Joker Stableford works
Before the round each player chooses one hole, 1 to 18, as their joker. Once the game starts the choice is locked. The round is then played as ordinary Stableford: each hole's net score against par earns points from the standard table, 2 for a net par, 3 for a net birdie, 4 for a net eagle, 5 for anything better, 1 for a net bogey and 0 for worse.
On the joker hole the points are multiplied. With the default multiplier of 2, a net par on the joker is worth 4 points and a net birdie 6. A blob on the joker is doubled too, but twice nothing is nothing, so the downside of a bad joker is only the points you did not score. The total for the round is the base points plus the joker bonus.
The pick is where the game is played. Choose the hole where you receive a stroke and usually make a net par, or the short par 5 where a net eagle is on. Picking the hardest hole on the course because it carries two strokes is the classic trap; the strokes are already in the net score, and the hole is still hard.
Points and strokes
Joker Stableford is net only. Strokes fall by stroke index from each player's Playing Handicap™ exactly as they do in the club Stableford, and Parful reads the net score from the same scorecard, so nothing is worked out twice. The strokes received on a hole are simply the gross minus the net on the card.
A hole with no score yet, or a pickup, earns 0 points and adds 0 to the total, which is ordinary Stableford behavior. There is no waiting for the whole group: totals accrue live as each card is filled in.
Try it
Can we play Joker Stableford in our format?
Derived from the same compatibility rules the scorecard uses, so it cannot drift from the product.
Own ball, individual
Available
Four-ball, best ball, counted scores
Available
Shamble, bramble, cha cha cha
Available
Scramble, foursomes, greensomes, chapman
Needs a score per player; this format keeps one per side
Double, triple or four times
The game creator sets the joker to count double, triple or four times. The bonus is the joker hole's points multiplied by one less than the multiplier, added to the base total, so the standings show base points, joker bonus and total separately. A triple joker on a net birdie is 3 base points plus a bonus of 6, for 9 on the hole.
How Parful scores it
Start Joker Stableford from the group scorecard or as a club pool run by a manager. When the game is created a joker hole is entered for every player and the multiplier is chosen; both lock when the game begins. Anyone in the outing can play, in any group.
Points come from the same Stableford engine the club competition uses, never a separate table. Standings sort descending on total points and a tie shares the position. With a stake attached, each point of margin over each opponent is one unit: a player's units are their points multiplied by the number of players, minus the field's total points. Parful shows the ledger and never moves money.
It runs on own-ball rounds, four-ball style outings and shambles, and not on a scramble or an alternate-shot format.
Worked example
A worked example: two players, nine holes, double joker
Ana plays off 9 and picked hole 5 as her joker. Ben plays off 14 and picked hole 7. Net scores are shown, with the standard Stableford points for each.
| Hole | Par | Ana net | Ana points | Ben net | Ben points | Joker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | |
| 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |
| 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | |
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 3, doubled to 6 | 4 | 2 | Ana |
| 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 1, doubled to 2 | Ben |
| 8 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | |
| 9 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
- Without the jokers Ana leads 17 to 16. Her net birdie on her joker hole is what opens the gap; Ben's net bogey on his joker doubled 1 point to 2.
- With a triple joker the same cards give Ana 17 plus 6, which is 23, and Ben 16 plus 2, which is 18.
- Settlement at one unit a point with two players: Ana is 20 times 2 minus 37, plus 3; Ben is 17 times 2 minus 37, minus 3.
Common variants
- Joker declared on the tee
- The player announces the joker on the tee of the hole they want, at any point in the round, which lets them wait for a hot streak. Parful locks the pick when the game starts and does not score this variant.
- Two or three jokers
- Each player picks several joker holes, sometimes one per six holes. Parful scores one joker hole per player.
- Double, triple or four times
- The joker counts 2, 3 or 4 times its points. Parful scores all three; the creator chooses when the game is created and double is the default.
- Gross joker
- Stableford points against gross par, no strokes, with the joker doubled. Parful scores Joker Stableford net only.