NCG’s Golf Glossary: What is a stableford?
Here at NCG we pride ourselves on being the publication for the everyday player, so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to delve into the wonderful world of the golfing lexicon.
Sometimes the most obvious terms have the most interesting story, so you might find yourself an interesting conversation starter…
What is a stableford?
A stabelford in golf is a format that is used mainly in club golf that uses a points system instead of the traditional strokeplay method in a medal.
How would I use it in a sentence?
“He scored 38 points in a stableford competition”
What are the origins?
Dr Frank Barney Gorton Stableford created the stableford scoring system while playing at Wallasey Golf Club. He had become bored with the bogey golf system knowing that, playing off plus one, his round would be ruined with one bad score.
So when he was playing one day he thought of the idea and it became the system we know today. The point system works in club golf that a nett bogey is 1 point, nett par is 2 points, nett birdie is 3 points and so on.
Any other business?
The stableford format has been used on the PGA Tour just in a different format. It was first used at The International at Castle Pines.
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Matthew Beedle
Matthew has been playing golf since he was around 13 and took up the game at a local nine-hole municipal course with his friends before joining Pontefract & District Golf Club just over the hedge.
Still a member of Pontefract with a handicap of 3, he currently sits on the board of directors to help with digital and marketing initiatives in order to improve membership and visitor income.
Matthew graduated university with a First Class in Sports Journalism from Leeds Trinity University and has been working in the golf industry since graduating.
NCG’s social media & marketing manager, Matthew’s main job role is to increase website traffic to the National Club Golfer website via our email and social media channels as well as driving entries to grow our NCG Top 100s Tour events amongst other tasks.
Not one to change his equipment too often, Matthew currently plays the TaylorMade M2 driver which has lasted the test of time in his bag. Elsewhere, you’ll find him using the TaylorMade Stealth 2 three-wood with a Ping G425 Crossover 2-iron to aid his long game.
Through his 4-iron to Gap Wedge, Matthew uses the Ping i500 irons accompanied by Ping’s Glide 3.0 56-degree and 60-degree wedges.
Another club that has stood the test of time in his bag is a Nike Method Core MC-3i putter which has had to have the SuperStroke grip changed at least three times. Ball of choice is the Titleist ProV1.
