Stroke Play

Stroke play, also known as medal play, is a scoring system in the sport of golf. It involves counting the total number of strokes taken on each hole during a given round, or series of rounds. The winner is the player who has taken the fewest number of strokes over the course of the round, or rounds.

Although most professional tournaments are played using the stroke play scoring system, there are, or have been, some notable exceptions, for example the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and Volvo World Match Play Championship, which are both played in a match play format, and The International, a former PGA Tour event that used a modified stableford system. In addition, most team events, for example the Ryder Cup, are also contested using the match play format.