No jargon, promise
How the Scoring Works
Never played Stableford? Never played a competitive round at all? Perfect — this page is for you. Two minutes and you'll know everything you need.
TL;DR (for the group-chat skimmers)
- 1You play your own ball the whole way round — your handicap turns your score on each hole into points. More points = better.
- 2A “normal hole for you” (a net par) is worth 2 points. Slightly worse, 1 point. Slightly better, 3.
- 3Each hole, only the best 2 of your team's 3 scores count. Someone always has your back.
- 4Having a nightmare on a hole? Pick the ball up and walk to the next tee. Totally normal, actively encouraged.
1 · Every hole earns points
Stableford flips golf around: instead of counting strokes and wanting fewer, you collect points and want more. Points depend on your net score — your strokes minus your handicap shots (explained just below).
Net albatross
3 better than your par — frame the scorecard
Net eagle
2 better than your par — drinks on you
Net birdie
1 better than your par — lovely stuff
Net par
your normal hole — the bread and butter
Net bogey
1 over your par — still helps the team
Net double bogey or worse
pick up, smile, next tee
2 · “Net” — your handicap does the heavy lifting
Your handicap gives you free extra shots, spread across the 18 holes using the card's “stroke index” (a 1–18 difficulty ranking printed on the scorecard — the app handles it for you).
The rule: divide your handicap by 18. You get that many shots on every hole, and the left-over shots go one each to the hardest holes first — stroke index 1, then 2, and so on down the list. So 45 = 2 × 18 + 9: two shots everywhere, plus a third on the nine hardest holes(stroke index 1–9). That's the whole point: everyone competes against their own normal, not against the low handicappers.
Try it — where do the shots land?
Handicap 45 = 2 shots on every hole (2 × 18 = 36), and the 9 left over go to the 9 hardest holes (stroke index 1–9).
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
shots everyone at this handicap gets the extra, on the hardest holes
Worked example
Uday (handicap 45) plays Hertsmere's 3rd
Par 4, 400 yards, stroke index 3 — the third-hardest hole on the course. That's inside Uday's “extra shot” range (SI 1–9), so it's 3 free shots here.
4 + 3 = 7 strokes. That's the score the course expects from Uday on this hole.
7 − 3 shots = net 4 = net par.
2 points for the team — exactly the same as a scratch golfer making a 4. A 7 is a genuinely good score here.
And a 6 instead? Net birdie, 3 points. An 8? Net bogey — still 1 point in the bank.
3 · Best 2 of 3 count on every hole
Each team has three players. On every hole, the team banks the two best point scoresand quietly drops the third. Here's Team EUR on three holes:
Hole 5 · Par 5
Neil
net birdie
Chirag
net bogey
Kamil
picked up
Two decent scores, one blob — team still banks 4.
Team banks 4 pts
Hole 11 · Par 3
Chirag
net birdie
Kamil
net par
Neil
net bogey
The beginner tops the card — the low handicapper gets dropped!
Team banks 5 pts
Hole 14 · Par 4
Kamil
net par
Neil
net par
Chirag
net par
Everyone scores — only the best two still count.
Team banks 4 pts
Notice hole 11: the dropped score isn't always the beginner's. Every hole is a fresh start, and every player will both carry and be carried at some point. That's the format.
The golden rule
You can always pick up
Once you can no longer score a point on a hole, your score literally cannot help or hurt the team. It's a zero either way. So pick the ball up, pop it in your pocket, and stroll to the next tee with your head high.
Picking up is normal and encouraged — the good golfers do it too, and it keeps the day moving for everyone.
With best-2-from-3, nobody is carrying the team and nobody can lose it for the team. One bad hole is genuinely, mathematically irrelevant. Next tee, clean slate, off we go.
Bad hole? Pick up. Laugh it off. Next tee. 🍺
That's genuinely all of it. On the day, just count your strokes on each hole — the leaderboard does the maths.