Overview
Each player gets a quota: 36 minus their course handicap (18 minus it over nine holes). A 12 handicap needs 24 points.
Points
- Chicago (the usual): gross scores earn bogey 1, par 2, birdie 4, eagle 8. Double bogey or worse earns nothing.
- Stableford: bogey 1, par 2, birdie 3, eagle 4, albatross 5. Gentler on a hot round.
Winning
The player who finishes furthest above their quota (or least below it) wins. By default that takes the pot; or pay per point of difference between every pair.
Short round
Stop early and each quota shrinks to the holes played: a quota of 30 is 15 after nine holes.
No handicaps?
Turn handicaps off and everyone’s quota is 36, a straight points race.
House rules
- Double bogey costs a point: double bogey or worse is −1 instead of 0, so a blow-up hole hurts.
- Front, back and total: played for a pot over 18 holes, the front nine, the back nine and the 18 are a pot each, each at the amount you set. Each nine is measured against half your quota, so a quota of 24 needs 12 on the front and 12 on the back, and the 18 against all of it. A nine still being played pays on the holes so far.
- Everyone over quota shares: in a pot, everyone who beats their quota shares it by how far over they are. At +4 and +2, a $15 pot is $10 and $5. Nobody over, and the best finish takes it as usual.
- Team quota: in a pot with four or more players, partners add up their points and their quotas. The team furthest over takes the pot and splits it; tied teams share it. Ann +2 and Bo level beat Cy +2 and Di −1. Pick the teams when you set up the round.
- Rolling quota (quota moves after the round): the way leagues keep quotas honest, and a crew that plays often keeps one going. 1 point: beat your quota and it goes up 1 next time, miss it and it comes down 1. Half: it moves half of what you beat it or missed it by, so +6 makes it 3 higher, and never more than the most a round can move it (3 unless your group picks 2 or no limit). The next Quota round with the rule on starts each of you from there, setup says where (“Your quota is 31, up 2 from last time”), and the results show everyone’s number for next time.