When I play disc golf with my friends we have a very wide variety of abilites; from the serious daily players, to the once a month, to the hasn't-played-for-years, to the first-timers. We always go out just to have fun, but it's also fun to have a little competition in the game as well. I am looking for some alternative scoring ideas to even things out amongst the players, and make it truly competitive between skill levels.

Our current method is this:
Winner(s) gets a point.
Loser(s) lose a point.
Anyone in between stays the same.
Ties at the bottom get a zero instead of losing a point (4 players, one par, three bogeys, the par gets 1, the bogeys get 0).

The nice thing about this method is that if you blow it on a hole, and say.. triple bogey, you only lose a point. The drawback is that a better play is still going to pull ahead, and the middle players are going to be stuck in limbo.

So what are some other scoring methods? How do you set up a handicapping system when games are infrequent, the players are always different, there's always someone who's way better or way worse?

(Sorry, I just realized I posted this under the wrong topic :o)

have some play par 3's have other's play par 4's

If your playing with people that are alot worse then you. Maybe you should play that ENTIRE round throwing shots that your not good at or that you need to work on. IE all flick rollers or forehands or backhands or thumbers or whatever you suck at throwing then thats what you throw the entire round except for putts while they play thier normal game.

Thats what i try to do when i play with girls that have never played. So they can laugh at me when i suck at doing what im doing. That way they dont feel so embarrased or intimidated and they might actually have a chance at beating you.

Try Stableford scoring, which is used in Ball Golf. You play Rec/ course par for every hole, and then get points based on how you did vs. par. I played an X tier tournament like this.

Scoring was
12 points- Double Eagle
5 points- Eagle
3 points- Birdie
0- Par
-1 point- bogey
-3 points bogey or worse

Makes you feel good when you get points with what normally would just be taking a par(3)

I play biweekly with three colleagues, one of whom is a borderline Adv/Int player, one an Int, and the third a borderline Int/Novice. We came up with a handicapping system several years ago that works well for us, given our respective skill levels.

With the exception of water holes, everyone plays from the blue pads:

I play everything from the blue pads as a par 3, regardless of water or length;

the borderline Adv/Int plays from the blue pads (with the exception of water holes > 300', which he plays from the whites): holes under 380' are par 3, holes between 350-500' are par 4, and holes > 500 are par 5;

the Int plays everything under 310' as a par 3, 310-380' as a par 3.5(!), 381-450' as a par 4, with an additional stroke added to par for every 100' above 450'; water holes, regardless of length, are played from the whites;

the Int/Novice plays anything under 310' as a par 3, 310-380' as a par 4, with an additional stroke added to par for every 100' above 380'; again, water holes, regardless of length, are played from the whites.

(As I recall, the < 310', 310-380', 381-450', and 450'+ were taken from the earlier Course Design Guidelines document in the Information section of this website.)

Depending on which course we play, that works out to a 2-4 stroke handicap vs. the borderline Adv/Int, and 5-9 strokes handicap vs. the Int/Novice. Occasionally, the winner will be decided on the 17th hole, but most of the time it's not decided until the final putt drops (or not!) on 18.

Here is an interesting idea that I had regarding a different game for disc golf which involves creativity (safari* golf), no par, and a chance to work on all aspects of your game (long drives, short drives, medium drives, approach, putts, etc... Here goes:

OBJECTIVE:

To be the last player to attain 54 strokes! The first player to reach 54 strokes is out of the game, the last to reach 54 strokes is the winner.

Suggestions:

1. One player in the group (choose by long drive, best putt, flip of coin, however is agreed upon) chooses the first hole, it can be a regular hole on the course or a safari hole. Play the hole as usual and keep track of total number of throws. The winner of the hole chooses the next hole, again a hole on the course, or make up a safari hole. This will continue until a player reaches 54 strokes and the game will be over for that player. If there is more than two players, play will continue until there is one player left who has not reached 54!

Benefits:

1. By utilizing the safari golf method, it gives a new look to a course that you otherwise have memorized inside and out.
2. Usually safari courses end up playing very long, which in turn forces you to try and drive with more distance, improving your long drive game.
3.It's sometimes faster than a regular round.
4.Pyschologically, it keeps you from beating yourself up for not tearing the course par up!

* A safari hole is a hole made up on an existing golf course usually extremely longer in length.
Example #1: Instead of playing hole 1 from hole 1 teepad, play hole 3 from hole 1 teepad.
Example#2: Play your course backwards!

Let me know what you think of this way.

As I recall, the < 310', 310-380', 381-450', and 450'+ were taken from the earlier Course Design Guidelines document in the Information section of this website.



Aha, I think this is exactly what I've been looking for. We've tried giving some players 3 par, and others 4, but that resulted in the middle players cleaning up. It'll be fun to pay aroun with this technique. thanks.

[QUOTE]

As I recall, the < 310', 310-380', 381-450', and 450'+ were taken from the earlier Course Design Guidelines document in the Information section of this website.

As I recall, the <310', 310-380', and 381-450' were par 3, 4, 5, respectively, with and additional stroke being added to par for every 100' (or 150') over 450'.


We've tried giving some players 3 par, and others 4, but that resulted in the middle players cleaning up.

That's why we came up with the par 3.5 for the Int. on 310-380' holes.

The course we play most often has 6 holes in that range. He typically shoots 20-21 for those holes, so playing them as par 4s, he was typically shoot 3-4 under, but playing them as par 3s, he was typically playing them 2-3 over. Par 3.5 works out to a par of 21 for the 6 holes, which is right where it should be.