Stroke play is a scoring system for golf (compare to match play). Another term for stroke play is medal play. Stroke play is the scoring system for the vast majority of professional golf tournaments. (For notable exceptions, see The International and WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.)

In stroke play, players record the total number of strokes taken in the entire round of golf. The lowest total score wins. Players' scores are usually reported in relation to par for easier comparison with other golfers' scores. For example, a player whose score is three strokes over par after a given hole would appear as "+3" on the scoreboard.

If there is a tie after the regulation number of holes in a professional tournament, a playoff takes place between all tied players. Some playoffs employ a pre-determined number of holes, anywhere from three to a full eighteen. If at least two players remain tied after such a playoff, then play continues in sudden death format, with the first player to win a hole outright winning the tournament.

The PGA Tour currently uses the sudden-death format in all of its co-sponsored events (excluding the four majors - see below). A sudden-death playoff can last as little as one hole, but has been known to last at least eight holes before a player emerged as the outright winner.

Of the four major tournaments, The Masters has a sudden death playoff, the U.S. Open has an 18-hole playoff, The Open Championship has a 4-hole playoff, and the PGA Championship has a 3-hole playoff.

Match Play:

Match play is a scoring system for golf (as opposed to stroke play). In the world of men's professional golf, there are a small number of notable match play tournaments including the biennial Ryder Cup for teams representing the USA and Europe; the biennial Presidents Cup for teams representing the USA and International (non-European) players; the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship; and the older HSBC World Match Play Championship, an invitational event which is now part of the European Tour.

Women's professional golf had no event directly comparable to the Accenture Championship until the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship was introduced in 2005. It also has an event directly analogous to the Ryder Cup, the Solheim Cup. In addition, women's golf now has an event broadly analogous to the Presidents Cup in the Lexus Cup.^[1] The U.S. Amateur Championships for both men and women are conducted with two rounds of stroke play to cut the field to 64, and then proceed to a single-elimination match play tournament. All elimination matches are 18 holes except for the final, which is 36 holes. The PGA Championship, one of the majors, changed from a match play event to a stroke play event in 1958.

Unlike stroke play, in which the unit of scoring is the stroke, in match play the unit of scoring is the hole. On each hole, the most that can be gained is one point. Golfers play as normal. The golfer with the lowest score on a given hole receives one point. If the golfers tie, then the hole is halved.

Match play scores of a game in progress are kept with a running tally. At the start of a match, the score is "all square" or tied. The score is then recorded in terms of one player's lead over another player. For example, if Player A has won 3 holes, Player B has won 1 hole and they have halved 2 (or any number of) holes, Player A is said to be leading, "2-up" (3 holes won minus 1 hole lost).

A team that is leading by N holes with N holes remaining is said to be "dormie-N", or simply "dormie", meaning that they need one more halved hole to win the match (or alternately, that the other team must win all the remaining holes outright in order to halve the match).

The final score of a match play event is listed in one of three ways:

Golfers can employ a slightly different strategy during a match play event, since the scoring is different. The situation in the match and the outcome of each shot already played on a hole will both be taken into account. On the whole match play encourages more aggressive play, especially at the professional level, where a par is not usually good enough to win a hole. Since a very poor result for a hole is no worse than a slightly-below-average result when playing against an opponent with an average score, it often makes sense to accept the higher risk connected with aggressive tactics. However, in some circumstances players will be especially cautious in match play. For instance, one may choose to play more conservatively if the opponent has hit a poor tee shot or is otherwise under pressure to compensate a poor start on a particular hole, reasoning that there is a good chance to win the hole with an average result.

Skins:

In golf, a skins event has players compete for prize money on each individual hole.

[edit] LG Skins Game

There is an annual skins game for male professional golfers which takes place in November or December each year after the end of the official PGA Tour season. It is recognized by the PGA Tour but does not count towards the official money list. It is currently sponsored by LG and is officially known as the LG Skins Game, hosted at the Indian Wells Golf Resort in Indian Wells, California.

The Skins Game differs from most PGA Tour golf tournaments in several ways. Only four golfers are invited to the tournament and the golfers play to win individual holes or "skins" in a match play format. Each hole is assigned a different monetary value and the golfer who wins the hole with the best score outright wins the money for that hole. In the event that two or more golfers tie (which is called "halving") on a hole, the skins carry over to the next hole. In the event that two or more golfers halve the final hole, a playoff begins until one golfer wins a hole outright. (In a playoff that requires more than one playoff hole, if a player is not one of those that halve the playoff hole, he is eliminated—it is not "one tie, all tie".)

Fred Couples is given the nickname of "Mr. Skins" because of his dominance in the Skins Game. He has won $3,515,000 and 77 skins in 11 appearances. He has won five of the Skins Games overall.

Speed Golf:

Speed Golf (also known as Extreme Golf, Fitness Golf and Hit and Run Golf) is a sport started in California in 1979 by avid golfer and American elite runner Steve Scott and which involves completing a golf course in the lowest combination of strokes and time. The sport is played in North America, Europe and Japan, and major tournaments are telecast by channels such as ESPN and The Golf Channel.

Players run between shots and generally carry as few as one or as many as six clubs. A player's score is calculated by adding minutes plus strokes, so a round of 90 completed in 50 minutes and 30 seconds would compute to a score of 140:30.^[1] The lowest score in competition is believed to have been shot by professional Chris Smith at the Chicago Speedgolf Classic on October 16, 2005. Smith shot 65 in just 44:06 for a speed golf score of 109:06.^[1]

Rules and etiquette are generally the same for speed golf and regular golf with minor exceptions. Speed golfers are allowed to putt at the flagstick but are expected to rake bunkers, fix ball marks and conform to the dress code.

Fitness and time savings are obvious benefits of Speed Golf. However, many players also report improved golf, typically shooting nearly the same scores despite running and using only a few clubs. Crowded courses are not conducive to play so many Speed Golfers head out at the crack of dawn or during the cold days of winter when empty courses await and the temperature is suited for running.