Stableford System Mentality

Minimize the Consequences of Each Shot in Your Mind

I recently observed a player with whom I was working as she played a tournament round under the Stableford scoring system. Under that system, players receive points for each hole based on how she scores on that hole. There are modifications to the scoring in this system, and in this tournament, the players scored one point for a par, three for a birdie, six for an eagle, and no points for a bogie or worse.

What was interesting to me was watching how each of the three young ladies in the group I was watching was approaching each hole and each shot. With the “pressure” off of having a big number ruin the round (essentially a bogie was no worse than a double or triple!), the players were taking very committed swings and being very assertive in their approach angles and with their putting speed. This scoring system- from a mental perspective- seemed to encourage them to “go for what they wanted” rather than playing cautious or fearful golf. What was the result of this mental approach? Two of the three ladies scored their lowest competitive round in their life, if scored as traditional stroke play. The third player not only shot her lowest round ever by five strokes, but broke the course record for women as she shot -8 on the back nine and 62 overall!

In speaking with my player after the round, she felt as though she was being very aggressive and confident with her game- not playing “dumb” shots- but was making shot selections and swings and putts with a mind- set of anticipating a great outcome. Here’s the challenge…approaching each shot, hole, or round of golf as if a bad shot or number doesn’t matter much appears to be helpful. How do you get to this internal place in a regular stroke play situation? I think the answer lies in making sure that you are emphasizing a good picture in your mind pre-shot about what you desire on this shot (rather than what you are trying to avoid) as well as making sure that you are making an assertive/committed swing. That’s when people play their best golf…when the consequences of each shot are minimized in their minds and the opportunity for something “good” to happen is emphasized. See if you can employ this approach in your next rounds of golf and see if you are the next one to break a course record!

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