Tales From The Ridge, Or Learning To Love The Stableford

As frequent travelers to the U.K. and Ireland, Theresa and I have long been aware that the game is played differently there.  For instance, I receive frequent e-mails from my Portrush buddy Lowell telling me he went around Portstewart in x points or when we play with Elsie and John the one quid match is decided by the highest point total.  These points are calculated under the Stableford scoring system, a perfectly reasonable system that is the format for the vast majority of competitions in the old world but simultaneously unknown here in the New World.

A tribute to the Dr. out on the golf course.

This is a timely subject this week for Willow Ridge members, as our Golf Committee has dramatically changed the format for our major competitions.  These two events, our Presidents (individual) and Governors Cups (2-man teams), have suffered from poor participation rates in recent years, attributed by some to the fact that they require commitment to two consecutive weekends, difficult for those with families and lives outside of golf (your humble blogger obviously excluded).

The new format now limits the firm commitment to one weekend, which will include Saturday qualifying under Stableford scoring, from which the top four will qualify and play semi-final matches on Sunday.  The two finalists will play their final matches at their mutual convenience, with a drop-dead date a few weeks out.  Willow Ridge being what it is, we'll see how that latter feature works out.

So, I hear you asking, what is a damn Stableford?  I'll get to that in a sec, but first a short history lesson.  The

The portrait of Dr. Frank hanging in the Wallasey clubhouse.

Stableford is the brainchild of Dr. Frank Stableford, the Captain at Wallasey Golf Club in Liverpool.  It was first used there in competition in 1932, and has become the de facto standard for competitions and friendlies alike.

Wallasey is a delightful links, forever in the shadow of nearby Royal Liverpool (Hoylake), site of this year's Open Championship.  Aside from the handiwork of Dr. Frank, it's best know as the club where Bobby Jones qualified for the 1930 Open Championship, part of his epic Grand Slam.  A portrait of Jones is also on display in the Wallasey clubhouse, notable for being the only portrait of himself that Jones actually liked.

A typical UK scorecard (Brora) with a column for points.

Our conversion to Stableford qualifying has generated quite a bit of conversation at the club.  One member actually confided to me that he was considering dropping out of the event due to concern that the format would put him at a disadvantage.  I don't really see that, but at our age we're not so awfully good at dealing with change.  And my explanations of the format did not seem to help matters any, from which the reader can draw his or her own conclusions.

I'll also refer the reader to this post from my Ballyliffin blog, in which the bride and I played a tourney under the Stableford.  It's a cute post if you can see past the typos, and it'll give a sense of anticipated point totals.  I played at Ballyliffin under my home handicap, which I could never have maintained playing full-time on a links.

So, what is this radical, life-altering format called Stableford?  It's a rather simple format that assigns points for each hole based upon the player's score in relation to par, as follows:

2 or more over par-0 points
1 over par-1 points
Par-2 points
1 under par-3 points
2 under par-4 points
3 under par-5 points and so on..

Now lest you think that four under par on a hole is unlikely, a reminder that this format is typically applied to the player's net score (or nett as they quaintly say over there), and therefore must accommodate the freakish scores of our Sandbagger-Americans.  OK, four under is still absurd, but the concept is pretty simple.  

The big advantage to the player is that it takes big numbers off the table, as once you can't make a net bogey the ball should be placed securely in pocket.  The advantage to the group playing behind is also clear, as we no longer need to see players plumb-bobbing those four-footers for fourteen.

We'' see how it goes with the lads when and if we utilize the format on Saturday.  I say if because the altered format does not, when last I checked, seem to have had the desired effect on turnout.  It seems unlikely we'll have more than eight players in the championship flight, and if that doesn't change there's no reason we can't go straight into match play.