Stableford scoring explained

One of the most enjoyable aspects of competitive golf is the variety of scoring methods players can use on any given day.

Be it stroke play, match play, Stableford or a scramble, there are plenty of ways in which players of different abilities can remain competitive with their playing partners.

One of the most popular methods of scoring, Stableford, assigns points to a score on a hole as opposed to simply counting the number of strokes.

What is Stableford?

Typically in golf, the aim is to record as low a score as possible; in Stableford, the opposite is true.

In Stableford scoring, a bogey is worth one point, a par is worth two points, a birdie is worth three points and an albatross is worth four points.

All the scores are calculated once handicaps have been applied to that hole. For example, if your handicap is 14 and you’re on the ninth-hardest hole on the course, you’ll receive a shot on the hole, but if you’re on the 15th-hardest hole (the fourth-hardest), you won’t receive any shots.

Stableford points system

Double bogey or worse	0 points
Bogey	1 point
Par	2 points
Birdie	3 points
Eagle	4 points
Albatross	5 points

Benefits of Stableford scoring

The main benefit of Stableford scoring is that it renders card-wrecking holes mostly irrelevant; there’s no difference between a double bogey and a quintuple bogey – both will earn you no points, whereas in stroke play, every shot counts, and your round could be ruined by one bad hole.

It also encourages faster play. If a player cannot score on a hole, they’re encouraged to pick their ball up and move on to the next hole.

Why is it called Stableford?

Stableford scoring is named after Dr Frank Stableford, who invented it in the 19th century with the intention of providing something of a safety net for golfers who’d had one or two bad holes, encouraging them not to give up on their rounds.

Do any PGA Tour events use Stableford scoring?

On the PGA Tour, only the Barracuda Championship uses Stableford scoring, and even that is a modified version.

How is Stableford scoring at the Barracuda Championship different?

For the Barracuda Championship, par is worth zero points, a bogey is worth minus-one point, a double bogey or worse is minus-three points, a birdie is worth two points, an eagle is worth five points and an albatross is worth eight points.

Where this differs from regular Stableford is that it encourages more aggressive play. In this modified version of Stableford, one player could make nine birdies and nine bogeys and another player could make 18 pars. Although both players have taken the same number of strokes, the first player has scored nine more points.