Golf News: - Posted 30th September 1998

Stableford celebrates 100 years

Reuters

Penarth, Wales -The Stableford scoring system, beloved by amateur golfers around the world, celebrated its 100th anniversary Wednesday.

This system, which deters golfers from tearing up their scorecards after one bad hole, was celebrated at the Glamorganshire club in Penarth, Wales, where it was introduced.

It was devised in 1898 by Frank Barney Gorton Stableford, a doctor in the Royal Army Medical Corps who felt many players, particularly in adverse weather conditions, "got very little fun since they tore up their cards after playing only a few holes."

Under the system, players' handicaps were applied on a hole-by-hole basis determined by degree of difficulty rather than being deducted at the end of a round. That meant one bad hole did not destroy a round. It was merely one bad hole.

The system, still widely used, was first tried at the south Wales club's autumn medal competition on 30th September 1898.

It was also celebrated at the Wallasey Club in England where Stableford later played.

On the PGA Tour, the Stableford system is used annually in Castle Rock, Colo. at The International.