13 September 2022
From your local city tournaments to the PGA Tour, there are many different types of golf tournaments that you can participate in. All of these formats come with their own unique challenges and benefits, so knowing the ins and outs of each one will make your experience much more enjoyable and productive.
This guide will discuss the four most common formats that you can encounter as well as how to prepare yourself to succeed in each one of them. The following are a variety of formats for golf tournaments.
Table of Contents
1. Stroke Play
In stroke play, it is very simple in format. In this format, all players play 18 holes as a single round and the player with the lowest score wins. This type of golf tournament is great if you are just looking to have fun and play with buddies.
There is also an option where a player can choose to play the entire tournament without any one advantage over another. The player will still receive points for each hole they finish but there won’t be any prizes or bonuses offered for finishing ahead of other players.
2. Match Play
In this format, all players play 18 holes as a single round but their scorecard is compiled in a way that pairs them up against an opposing player. These pairings can be random or they can be strategic, but the main idea behind matching up players this way is to ensure that those who are at the top of the leaderboard will have a difficult time maintaining their position.
Once you’re paired up with your opponent for the round, you will receive points based on how you finish against that person throughout the tournament. As you accumulate points, your ranking within the tournament will move up and down.
3. Stableford Points
In this format, an additional scoring method is added to stroke play to make the game more competitive. This additional scoring method is known as Stableford points and it was created to give golfers a sense of strategy and pressure to perform at their best in play. The game is played in 18-hole segments known as “holes.”
The player who scores the lowest number of points on each hole receives 1 point and the player who scores the highest number of points receives 1 point as well. This continues until all 18 holes are played. In this format, you will still receive your score for each hole you finish but you won’t be able to earn any bonus prizes when your score is below par.
4. Team Play
Team play is just like match play but it is set up in a way that allows multiple players to compete against one another. When playing a match or team play, the number of players on each team can vary. In general, there are two types of formats that come into play.
The first and most common format is when teams feature two players competing against one another in a match-up format and the second is when teams feature more than two players competing against other teams with the same number of members. In most cases, there will be a predetermined number of points or holes before teams can swap out players.
5. Scramble
This is a format where the golfers are grouped together in pairs and are randomly assigned a course to play. This format is great for out-of-town tournaments where you won’t have to take time off from work or from your regular daily routine, but it does require some preparation.
Being able to properly select a course for the tournament will be crucial for successfully navigating all 18 holes. A quick search online can help you discover 11 great courses that will be perfect for a scramble tournament.
The great thing about a scramble format is that it is easily the most flexible of all the formats. You can have as many players as you’d like, and you don’t need to worry about pairing them up against other golfers. Simply make sure that everyone is equipped with the same caliber of clubs so that no one feels left out or at a disadvantage because they don’t have the proper equipment to compete.
Knowing what type of tournament you’re participating in will make a big difference when it comes to your level of enjoyment and performance. It can be fun to mix things up on the course every once in a while. It is also a fantastic way to get new blood involved or to see just how good you are at strategizing your approach shots and putting on the green.
