One of golf’s many unanswerable questions – Should we play more strokeplay or more stableford competitions?
Golfers, at least the ones I spend most time with, revel in black and white arguments. It seems we have to have a definitive conclusion – it was either a birdie or a par, you don’t get a 3.5 for hitting a good putt.
Golfers like the same definitive outcome in their debates. Is Tiger better than Jack? Do you need a major to be a great player? The list goes on.
For so many it seems there cannot be a grey area – you have to make your decision and you will be held to it. Ultimately, the fruitless hour of passionate assertions and cross-examination will end no further forward than when it began.
One such debate, played out every fortnight or so depending on the distribution of fixtures, is whether strokeplay or stableford is the best way to differentiate between 100-150 club golfers on a given day.
The camps, both as passionate as one another, tend to be divided based on handicaps. The low handicapper will assert their need to be measured over the full 18 holes in the same way as the professionals/players in the past, while the high handicapper argues to not be bogged down by individual moments of bad luck. There are many more points I’ve heard on this, but those two sum them up best.
Based on the early competitions at my home club, while the winning score relative to par fluctuates between strokeplay and stableford, the average handicap of the winning player doesn’t.
Perhaps this is driven by the higher proportion of players with double-digit handicaps or the average-based handicap system being unable to guess when a player will play beyond their recognised and measured ability? Or, are the formats both able to assess ability on a given day while offering enough variety to keep both sides content throughout a full season?
There is a reason why professionals and elite amateurs don’t use stableford scoring, as it removes the measure of consistency which is required to differentiate between players at an elite level. That measure is often held onto by those who detest stableford – to hell with the high price of individual mistakes, pace of play, and any need for variety.
The need for variety is why I’m happy in the grey area here – able to see the merits of both formats. Sure, as a six-handicapper I know stableford doesn’t give me the greatest chance of winning against a large field with lots of players receiving more shots. But, if you’re only turning up to win, you’re really playing the wrong sport here.
Variety is all I would ask for in club golf. A mixture of formats ensures no one group is favoured over the other. No matter how loudly one side complains, be safe in the knowledge that the other side will complain just as loudly next week.
I’m sure many of you will continue to seek out an answer in the coming weekends – best of luck to you.
