Golf games
Parful runs thisRussian Stableford
Also called Multiplied Stableford, Product Stableford.
Russian Stableford is a pairs game in which each partner's standard Stableford points on a hole are multiplied together rather than added, so 2 points and 3 points make 6, and any zero wipes out the hole. The products are summed over the round and the highest team total wins.
- Players
- Teams of 2
- Scoring basis
- Net Stableford points, standard table
- Team hole score
- Partner A points multiplied by partner B points
- Round total
- Sum of the 18 products; highest wins
- Worst case
- One zero makes the hole zero for the pair
How Russian Stableford works
Each player plays their own ball and scores ordinary Stableford points on every hole from their net score: 1 for a net bogey, 2 for net par, 3 for net birdie, 4 for net eagle, and 0 for anything worse than net bogey. Nothing about the individual scoring is different.
The team score is where the game changes. On each hole the two partners' points are multiplied. Two pars make 2 times 2, which is 4. A par and a birdie make 6. A birdie and a birdie make 9. A par and a blob make 0, however good the par was.
The 18 hole products are added and the pair with the highest total wins. Because the products grow quickly, a pair that both score well on the same holes beats a pair whose good holes are spread out, even if the sum of their ordinary points is the same.
Why multiplying changes the game
In an aggregate Stableford, 4 points and 0 points is the same as 2 and 2. In Russian Stableford the first is 0 and the second is 4. The game rewards two steady scores far more than one brilliant one, and it punishes a single wipeout harder than any other pairs format.
That makes course management the whole strategy. A player whose partner is already in trouble on a hole should play for a certain net bogey, because a 1 keeps the partner's points alive while a 0 destroys them. A player whose partner has holed a birdie putt for 3 is playing for a par that turns the hole into 6.
Try it
Can we play Russian 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
The ratified rules
Parful ratified Russian Stableford in August 2026 with three fixed points: teams are exactly two, each player's points come from the standard Stableford engine and never from a special Russian table, and the team hole score is the product of the two. The round total is the sum of the products and the highest total wins. There is no cap on a hole, so 4 times 4 is 16.
How Parful scores it
Start Russian Stableford from the group scorecard and split the four players into two pairs. The points come from the same Stableford engine the competition uses, never a separate Russian table, so a player's points on a hole are the points they would have scored anyway.
Each hole the two partners' points are multiplied and the products are added over the round. A hole only scores once both partners have played it: one missing figure is pending, not a zero, because a multiplied zero is a wipeout and the game never invents one. A partner who genuinely blobs the hole genuinely wipes it, which is the whole character of the game and is left exactly as sharp as it should be.
Highest team total wins and a tie shares first. With a stake attached the settlement is the point margin, shown as a ledger that Parful never acts on. It runs on own-ball rounds, four-ball style outings and shambles where each player still holes out, and is unavailable on a scramble or an alternate-shot format.
Worked example
A worked example: six holes
Ana and Ben against Cal and Dee. Each cell shows the player's net Stableford points for the hole; the product columns show the team score.
| Hole | Ana | Ben | Ana x Ben | Cal | Dee | Cal x Dee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
- Hole 4 shows the harshest rule: Cal scored 4 points for a net eagle and the team scored 0 because Dee blobbed.
- Hole 6 shows the quiet version: two net bogeys multiply to 1, where an aggregate game would have paid 2.
Common variants
- Capped hole
- Some clubs cap a hole at 9 so that a rare 4 times 4 does not decide the day. Parful's ratified rules have no cap; a pair scoring two net eagles takes 16.
- Add then multiply
- A softer version adds the two points and multiplies the sum by the lower of the two, so a 0 still zeroes the hole but a 3 and 1 make 4 rather than 3. Parful does not score this variant.
- Four-player product
- Teams of four multiply all four points, which makes almost every hole zero. It is rarely played. Parful's ratified rules are for pairs only.