The day begins and you have your bag, your clubs, your tees and all the necessary items ready to play.
You’re meeting friends, you’re going to a tournament or you have a professional competition.
You arrive at the club, pick up your scorecard (if you’ve come to compete) and head to the tee.
So far, so normal.
But not everyone plays the same.
The game can be played in various ways.
The most common and probably the one you are going to play, it’s the one we are going to talk about today: Stroke Play.
It is the way in which most tournaments or championships are played.
How to play: rules and penalties.
If you know Stroke Play well, you will know that there are two ways to play it:
- Medal, counting all the strokes (the winner is the one who finishes the course with the smaller number of strokes).
- Stableford, counting points on each hole instead of strokes (1 for bogey, 2 for par, 3 for birdie and 4 for eagle).
At the end of the hole, you will count the strokes used to score, those executed and those that you have accumulated as penalties.
In handicap competitions, players must subtract their handicaps from their total score to obtain their total score. The player with the lowest net score wins.
In Stableford, should you exceed the maximum number of strokes that can be scored during play on a hole, you will have the option to pick up your ball.
The hole is considered completed when the player holes out or chooses not to do so because his score will be zero points.
However, this action of pocketing the ball is compulsory if you are playing Medal.
The winner of the game is the player who has completed all the rounds with a smaller number of strokes or scored the greatest number of points.
There is another way to play Stroke Play and it is called Maximum Score. The Committee will set a maximum score for each hole. If you are not sure how to proceed with the score, you can ask the referee for help. If there is none available, you can play two balls, but don’t forget to inform the Committee before handing in your card.
This form of play allows you to share caddie with another player or partner and ask for a measuring, as this information, nor the location of features of the course, are considered tips, but public information.
The penalties in Stroke Play, as in the rest of the modalities, are reflected in “The Rules of Golf”, the game procedure of this sport.
In addition, the different forms of play have penalties particular to the modality.
For example, in Stableford, you will be penalised if:
– You play with, share or substitute more than 14 clubs during a round (2 points if applicable to one hole or 4 points if applicable to two or more holes).
– You are late or start within the first 5 minutes of the tee time (2 points from the total for the round).
– You are unreasonably late (2 points).
In these cases, you must inform the Committee before handing in your card. Failure to do so will result in immediate disqualification.
There are also 4 situations in which you will get 0 points on that hole. These are:
– Failure to hit a hole before starting another hole or before handing in your scorecard.
– When starting a hole, not correcting the error of playing from outside the teeing area.
– Failure to correct the error if you have played the wrong ball.
– Failure to correct the error if you have played from the wrong place.
Another modality, which we have already mentioned above, is the Maximum Result, in which a player or side has a maximum number of strokes, set by the Committee, which is usually twice par, a fixed number or a net double bogey.
This means that even if the player exceeds that number, his score for that hole will be the maximum set.
You have the option of deciding not to hit a hole if you reach that maximum and the hole will be considered completed.
You will record the exact score on your scorecard if you hole and your score is less than the maximum. But if it is the same or higher, you may put the exact score, the maximum or nothing. This last one also applies if you decide not to pocket.
There are also 4 rules, which if you break them, you will be assigned the maximum score on the hole on which they occur. They are:
– Do not hole out before starting another hole or before handing in the scorecard.
– When starting a hole, not correcting the error of playing from outside the teeing area.
– Failure to correct the error if you have played the wrong ball.
– Failure to correct the error if you have played from the wrong place.
The round ends when you bury the last hole or pick up that ball.
The third variation of this form of golf we are going to talk about is Par/Bogey, which is similar to Match Play.
Holes are won or lost by comparing the number of strokes of the player (we will take into account the strokes made and the penalty strokes) with the fixed result established by the Committee (usually par or bogey, hence the name of the modality).
To find out who the winner is, the points for each hole won are added up and those lost are subtracted. Whoever achieves the highest score after this operation has won the game.
This means that the hole is won if the player’s score is lower than the fixed score, tied if it is the same and lost if the player has no score or if it is higher than the fixed score.
These 4 rules will mean you will lose the hole instantly if you break them. They are:
– Do not hole out before starting another hole or before handing in the scorecard.
– When starting a hole, do not correct the mistake of playing from outside the teeing area.
– Failure to correct the error if you have played the wrong ball.
– Failing to correct the error if you have played from the wrong place.
If you break any other rule that is punishable by disqualification, you must leave the competition.
In the general rules of golf, if there is a ball in motion towards the hole and you deliberately misdirect or stop it, even if it is obvious that it was not going in, you are disqualified.
However, in Par/Bogey this is an exception, because if that ball needs to be pocketed to tie the hole and there is no reasonable chance that it can be pocketed, if someone else misdirects or stops it, there is no penalty. The player will lose the hole, because he would have lost it anyway.
A favourite form of Stroke Play in pairs is Foursomes (Alternating Strokes), in which two partners form a team and play a single ball, alternating strokes. The rules are the same as for singles play but there is the added requirement to alternate strokes and serves.
At the end of a game of Stroke Play and a scorecard is handed out, if there is an incorrect score for any hole, if the score is higher than your actual score, it will stand. If the score is lower than your actual score, you will be disqualified.
Make sure you have entered your handicap correctly on your scorecard.
As with any sport, there are some basic rules that, whatever game you play, you should follow.
In golf there are several principles that everyone knows and respects:
Play the course as you find it and the ball as it lies.
Respect the rules and the spirit of the game.
Be responsible and take your own penalties when you break a rule.
And don’t forget the most important thing, enjoy golf and all the benefits of playing the game.
