On Sept. 16, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) Board of Directors unanimously voted 17-0 in support of making several rule changes for golf starting in 2027. Among the changes, stroke play will be used statewide, teams and individuals will receive rankings, and a reduced number of teams and players will qualify for the postseason.
While plenty of leagues already use it, stroke play will become the sole scoring system to determine matches. Rather than match play where golfers gain points by winning a hole, every stroke a golfer takes will count to their overall score. Stableford and modified Stableford formats will also be eliminated.
To adjust for the fact that courses range in their difficulty, the MIAA will factor in USGA course ratings and slope factor along with scores into an algorithm to create a ranking system for teams and individuals.
It will also become much more competitive for teams to qualify for the postseason. The MIAA is doing away with sectional tournaments and instead the top 14 teams, based on the ranking system, will compete for their respective division title. After that, the division winners plus the next eight-highest ranked teams will compete for an All-State championship.
In the current system, the three divisions host four sectionals across the state where the top 2-4 teams, depending on the number of participating teams, qualify for the division tournament. The number of divisions increase to five under the new format.
On the individual side, the top 12 golfers whose teams did not qualify for the postseason are eligible for their division match. For the All-State championship, it would be the top 10 individuals who did not have their team qualify.
Right now schools can send individuals who scored 4 over par or better in a minimum of 50% of their matches to sectionals. Then to reach the state tournament, golfers have to finish in the top 10%, plus any ties, to qualify.
The Boston Globe reported the number of individuals competing in the postseason would be reduced significantly. For sectionals, the more than 900 golfers would drop down to around 480, while the 240 golfers at division championships will fall to 93 for the All-State match.
In terms of play on the course, in order to keep the pace of play moving, golfers can get a max score of double par plus one on each hole.
