Yes, some of us play “strict rules” baseball as adults. And naturally we keep score.
More of us are playing softball, or even kickball. The fun factor is still there, but the tedium and test reduced. Reduced primarily because we are adults, definitionally busy and old. If we’re at play, it’s going to be more about the company than it is a test of peak athletic form. That ship, almost surely, has passed. So these alternate formats are easier on the body and mind.
Yet, we still keep score! Competition is still a big term in the equation of fun. And that’s yet another point of contrast between Stableford and it’s “strict rules” older brother, medal golf.
You rarely find a group of friends playing “SROG” and cosigning cards. They’re just out for shits and giggles. But since no one is willing to carry the weight and rules of stroke golf, no one keeps score, and no one really competes. A skeptical observer might class the day as a walk spoiled.
Stableford is the “softball” of golf: easier, perhaps, but we still keep score!