Agreed, to each his own unless you're playing competitively. My father and his CNY golf buddies had the asterisk, which was used if:
a) you have a match-play bet and are only keeping track of strokes for posterity.
b) you completely blow up a hole and are taking the max triple bogey. Thus, for a par 5 it would be 8*.
I learned about the asterisk because across four summers from age 14 to 17 I caddied most weekends, each round carrying two bags. That was in addition to my side job at Agway and going to school! Was happy because I made decent money but wow, schlepping up and down those hills at Drumlins with two heavy bags was no joke.