The Niggle: Medal vs Stableford
James Savage: Stableford is much more fun and sociable but for me it breeds bad habits.
I play too much Stableford golf which often results in an attitude of thinking a blob is acceptable rather than playing with a mindset that every shot counts.
I need to play much more Medal golf or at least try and adopt that attitude.
I would probably enjoy the Stableford format more if it was a change for me rather than the norm.
Tom Irwin: Medal is the only form of golf that means anything. It is the only way that the point of the game is measured accurately.
In all other formats the integrity of ‘getting the ball in the hole in the fewest strokes’ is compromised.
I can take 97 strokes on one hole and still win a Stableford event. It is like ten pin bowling with those sausages things.
Grinding out a medal card, that is what the game is all about.
Dan Murphy: I used to be a Stableford guy but now I’ve turned the corner.
If I post a decent Stableford score these days it doesn’t feel proper and is much less satisfying as I know I have to some degree leant on the crutch of one hole not being able to ruin my card.
If I post a decent medal score I feel, for a short while, like a competent human being. I can hold my head up high in public.
Mark Townsend: If I were level par after 12 holes I would finish +6 in a Medal and score 43 points in a Stableford.
Even if it’s a silly bogey it’s gone from the head in a moment in Stableford, in a Medal it can trigger a descent into misery.
I have played golf for 35 years and have only once played a Medal (a gross 70, yeah get me) of which I am really proud and, even then, the first shot I think about was a half-shanked 6-iron at the 16th. And this was over 20 years ago.
You can’t just bowl up and shoot four under in a Medal, you have to do it again and again before it starts coming off.
What would I rather play on Saturday? Stableford, every single time
Craig Middleton: I’m with Mark on this one but for all the wrong reasons. I once played in a weekend comp at my local club and after missing a putt for a point, i begrudgingly picked up my ball. This was to the shock of my playing partners who informed me we were playing a Medal and not Stableford. That’s what I like about Stableford, if you’re having a bad hole (which for me is often) you can just pick up, compose yourself on the next tee and inevitably slice your tee shot into the water…and pick up again.
James Broadhurst: As a higher handicapper I prefer Stableford. It gives me a good chance to get plenty of points rather than just try and fail to post a respectable Medal score.
DO YOU PREFER MEDAL OR STABLEFORD? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW..
