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Stableford

Also called Points

The most played format in Irish golf. You score points on each hole, so a disaster costs you a point or two, not your whole round.

Players
1+
Scoring
Points
Allowance
95% of course handicap
Winner
Most points

How it works

  1. 1Your handicap gives you extra shots on the hardest holes — the ones with the lowest stroke index.
  2. 2Take those shots off your score on each hole to get your net score.
  3. 3Net par earns 2 points. Better earns more, worse earns less.
  4. 4Once you can't score a point, pick up and move on.
  5. 5Add up the points. Playing to your handicap is 36.

Worked example

Hole 7, par 4, stroke index 5. Playing handicap 18 means one extra shot on every hole, so a 5 is a net 4 — net par — and earns 2 points.

Ties

Level at the top? Compare the back nine, then the last six, then the last three, then the 18th. In stroke play, half, a third, a sixth and an eighteenth of the handicap come off each in turn.

Good to know

Picking up when you can't score speeds the whole field up — a society of 40 will thank you.

Fourball better-ball Stableford uses 85% of handicap, not 95%.

The points
Net albatross
5
Net eagle
4
Net birdie
3
Net par
2
Net bogey
1
Net double bogey or worse
0

Close relations

Modified StablefordBonus for birdies, minus for big numbers.Fourball Better BallOwn ball each; the better score counts.Team StablefordBest two points of four count on each hole.

Play it on PinPals. Live scoring works out the handicaps and keeps the leaderboard on everyone’s phone.

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Allowances follow the World Handicap System recommendations used by Golf Ireland. Your club or society may set its own — the entry sheet wins.