The game of modern golf, played on the traditional 18-hole grass course, can be played under several popular scoring systems. The basic and most common way of scoring, called Stroke Play, is to count each stroke taken and the player with the lowest total number of strokes after 18 holes is the winner (the number of holes played can vary, particularly for professional tournaments). In Match Play, two players (or two teams) play every hole as a separate contest against each other, the winner is the team to win the most number of holes. There are other ways of playing such as Stableford, Ambrose, Skins (for details and more examples, see our page on golf game variations).
golfer hitting off a teeIf time is an issue, then there is Speed Golf, a variation of golf in which the objective is to complete the course in the fewest possible number of strokes and the fastest time possible, the score is a combination of strokes and speed. The record is a 65 shot in just over 44 minutes, a good score usually requiring several hours of strolling around the course.