Types of competition
Official or non-official…
Get the low-down on the various forms of play, be they the ‘official’ ones set out in the Rules of Golf or the non-official ones, which are often used by way of entertainment during our amateur rounds…
The various forms of play
The various forms of play are set out in the Rules of Golf. A “side” comprises one player, two players, or more, who are partners.
Definition of a Conventional Round : the conventional round consists of playing the holes that make up a golf course in their exact numerical order, unless the Committee has a different take. The number of holes on a Conventional Round is 18, unless a lower number is authorised by the Committee.
Match Play (Rule of Golf n°2)
The game is played per hole. A hole is won by the side that holes its ball with the least number of strokes. In a net score competition, the lowest net score wins the hole. The round is won by the side which is leading by a greater number of holes than the number of holes left to play.
Stroke Play (Rule of Golf n°3)
The competition is won by the side which plays the conventional round(s) in the least number of strokes. In a net score competition, the winner is the side whose net score minus its playing handicap is the lowest.
Competition against Par and Stableford (Rule of Golf n°32)
Competitions Against Par and Stableford are a form of Stroke Play where the event is played against a set score for each hole, this score being the Par for the hole.
COMPETITION AGAINST PAR. The counting method is that used in match play
- a hole is won if the side scores under Par
- a hole is shared if the side secures a score equal to Par
- a hole is lost if the side scores higher than Par
In a stroke index competition, it’s the net score which is compared to Par.
Stableford
Points are awarded to a player for each hole by comparing the player’s score to the fixed score for the hole, which is Par for the hole :
Points score for the hole | Points |
More than one stroke over the fixed target score | 0 |
One over fixed target score | 1 |
Equal or fixed target score | 2 |
One under fixed target score | 3 |
Two under fixed target score | 4 |
Three under fixed target score | 5 |
Four under fixed target score | 6 |
The winner is the side with the highest points total. In stroke index competition, the score attained at each hole is minus the stroke index on this hole prior to being compared to the fixed target score.
The various side types
The various play forms are played by ‘sides’ made up as follows:
It is important to note that in the Rules of Golf, the term ‘side’ refers as much to a single player as two or more associated players..
These different types of sides can obviously play different forms of game, for example :
- Stroke play can be played in Individual competitions, Foursomes, Four-balls, etc.
- Match play can be played in individual competitions, Foursomes, Four-balls, etc.
INDIVIDUAL
The “side” comprises a single player
DOUBLES
The “side” is made up of 2 players according to the following designations :
- If each side must be made up of 2 female players, the competition is named “Ladies” If each side must be made up of 2 male players, the competition is named “Men’s”.
- If each side must be made up of one male player and one female player, the competition is named “Mixed”.
- If each side can be made up freely (2 male players, 2 female players, or one male player and one female player), the competition is named “Mixed-up”.
The official forms of play
INDIVIDUAL
FOURSOME (Rule 29)
THREESOME (Rule 29)
THREE-BALL match play (Rule 30)
FOUR-BALL match play (Rule 30)
BEST BALL match play (Rule 30)
FOUR-BALL STROKE play (Rule 31)
The official and non-official forms of play
GREENSOME
CHAPMAN
PATSOME
FLAG TOURNAMENT
STRING
ECLECTIC
RINGER SCORE
SCRAMBLE
PRO-AM/AM-AM
Recommendations by the Rules Committee for the organisation of a Scramble
Intended to be sociable, Scramble is sometimes contentious as its rules vary according to the club or the player. In fact, it is not an official play format set out in the Rules of Golf. The FFGolf’s Rules Committee has undertaken to come up with a ‘standardised’ format taking into account the following comments :
- all of a team’s players must play from as close and similar a position as possible to where the selected ball lies
- dropping it may lead to the ball having a very different lie to that of the selected ball
- players from the same team shall be able to choose their order of play
- Scramble is a very slow format and must be speeded up as much as possible
- to motivate all a team’s players, it’s best if it is not systematically the best player’s ball, which is selected
- to better coordinate a team, one of the players shall be named ‘Captain’ (most often the best player)
- given the peculiarities of play, the stroke play format is best suited to this.
Type of play
Team of 2 players
Penalties: these only relate to the selected ball. In addition, if the latter is not marked, the team shall incur a 1-stroke penalty.
A team of 3 players or more
At the start of each hole, all the golfers play their first stroke. The ‘Captain’ selects what he or she considers to be the best (not necessarily the longest). The location is marked on the side. Order of play is unrestricted, however the player whose ball is selected will skip that particular stroke. Therefore, the same player cannot have their ball selected twice in a row. He or she will be able to play again on the next stroke. Though the order of play is unrestricted, the first player must place their ball in the exact same location as where the selected ball was lying. The other players place their ball less than a score card from the reference location, without getting closer to the hole, and in as similar a lie as possible (stay in the rough or on the fairway if this was the case). Once all the golfers have played their second stroke, the ‘captain’ again selects the best ball and continues in this vein until the ball is holed.
The winning team is the one which has completed the 18 holes with the least number of strokes. Strokes played from the same selected zone only count for one stroke in the final count.
The team’s playing handicap
The team’s playing handicap is calculated by taking a percentage from each player according to the following formats :