# Texas Scramble Handicap help



## J5MBF (Dec 5, 2012)

All,

I'm currently organising our last society game of the year & to mix it about a bit, we are going to play Texas Scramble. I'm currently unsure of how to work out the teams handicaps however. Somebody mentioned working out the average for the team & using 3/4 of that. Another idea someone said to me was, total the handicaps & divide by 10? 

What would you guys suggest??

Cheers


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## chrisd (Dec 5, 2012)

Ours club always does the combined playing handicap devided by 10. If you end up with, say 4.4 then that is taken off the gross stroke play score at the end, and it is the decimal points that will often seperate the teams so a group could win with a nett score of say 61.2


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## louise_a (Dec 5, 2012)

We had a team of 3 texas scramble at our club and used one sixth of combined handicaps.


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## cookelad (Dec 5, 2012)

Always used 10% of total at the old place but did hear someone suggest that it should 1/7 for teams of four and 1/5 for teams of three maybe that was only when there's mixed team numbers.

10% is easy maths so I'd stick with that!


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## pbrown7582 (Dec 5, 2012)

i've played with handicap being 10% of total but also played where teams are drawn Ie. 1 player from each grouping 0-10, 11-18, and 18-28 players and no handicap allowance just luck of the draw.


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## duncan mackie (Dec 5, 2012)

chrisd said:



			Ours club always does the combined playing handicap devided by 10. If you end up with, say 4.4 then that is taken off the gross stroke play score at the end, and it is the decimal points that will often seperate the teams so a group could win with a nett score of say 61.2
		
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:thup:

would just add that this also requires every player's drive to be used at least 4 times to be equitable, even better if the player whose drive is used doesn't play a 2nd shot on that hole (but starts to take the fun out of what is basicaly a fun tournament format)


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## J5MBF (Dec 6, 2012)

Thanks for the pointers guys. If I were to make it stableford format also rather than strokeplay, would that work?

E.G - Team total handicap = 90/10 = 9. So for the round, that team gets a shot on the hardest 9 holes & stableford points are worked out accordingly??


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## chrisd (Dec 6, 2012)

J5MBF said:



			Thanks for the pointers guys. If I were to make it stableford format also rather than strokeplay, would that work?

E.G - Team total handicap = 90/10 = 9. So for the round, that team gets a shot on the hardest 9 holes & stableford points are worked out accordingly??
		
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If you have a number of teams you could end up with 2 or 3 tieing on points with no easy way to seperate them. The stroke play system where you have say a 9.1 handicap splits the difference at the end. Stableford doesn't really help as you would expect roughly 9 birdies to be close to winning


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## duncan mackie (Dec 6, 2012)

J5MBF said:



			If I were to make it stableford format also rather than strokeplay, would that work?
		
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nightmare - and pointless.  

you don't get teams 'picking up' in a Texas scramble so going through the additional process of turning it into points simply results in a rounding that takes away the true differentiation between teams ie a team of a scratch, 10, 15 and 20  will have the same handicap as a team of 9, 10, 15, 20 doing it your way, with any tie being decided on the effectively random nature of countback.


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## J5MBF (Dec 6, 2012)

Again, thanks all for the answers. 

So, in summary, total team handicap, devide by 10. 

Minus that total from the Team Gross score to make there overall score?


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## cookelad (Dec 6, 2012)

Exactly! (See what I did there?)


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## rosecott (Dec 6, 2012)

J5MBF said:



			Again, thanks all for the answers. 

So, in summary, total team handicap, devide by 10. 

Minus that total from the Team Gross score to make there overall score?
		
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And don't forget - a minimum of 4 drives selected for each player (5 each to be selected for a 3-man team with one fifth of combined handicaps, although that might be a bit generous - one sixth?).


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## chrisd (Dec 6, 2012)

Only place on grass cut to fairway height, otherwise all drop with a stipulated distance (6")


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## williamalex1 (Dec 6, 2012)

we play combined scores dived by 10 .but with  a maximum of 6 strokes per team , seems to suit the lower h/c


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## duncan mackie (Dec 6, 2012)

williamalex1 said:



			we play combined scores dived by 10 .but with  a maximum of 6 strokes per team , seems to suit the lower h/c
		
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organisers that impose such arbritary limits should be shot (just an opinion - not a recomendation)


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## williamalex1 (Dec 6, 2012)

duncan mackie said:



			organisers that impose such arbritary limits should be shot (just an opinion - not a recomendation)
		
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 i agree but most of the clubs in my area do applya max total h/c . and it is always low h/cs that win  ,sad but true


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## tarmac (Dec 6, 2012)

the argument at our club when you do 10% of combined is that if you get a team of..for example 4 5hcprs that =20.(10% of that is 2 )so hcp for them 2.
you then get a team of four 15 hcprs that = 60,so 10%of that is 6.

so the theory is the format suits the team of 5 hcprs as there is more than 4 shots of  ability diference between teams.(doesnt realy bother me as i just want a game and like the format).

anyway if possible the way to help round the prob is to mix up handicap levels in the teams or stipulate that you have mabe 2 above 10 hcp and 2 below 10 per team

we also find it makes it interesting if you have 4 par 3's you make 1 of the required drives at one of them.stops you relaxing to much if you dont hit the green on the first couple


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## chrisd (Dec 6, 2012)

williamalex1 said:



			. and it is always low h/cs that win  ,sad but true
		
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th

We have a "super team" of low handicappers who play in ours but they rarely win. It's often the 12 13 14 handicappers who shoot the best scores and have a better h/c to come off the total


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## duncan mackie (Dec 6, 2012)

chrisd said:



			th

We have a "super team" of low handicappers who play in ours but they rarely win. It's often the 12 13 14 handicappers who shoot the best scores and have a better h/c to come off the total
		
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the nature of the course is important in this discussion

go up and over 7000 yds and the low players will gain a huge advantage - get down at 6200 and below and the extra 4 shots of the 15 handicap team will be hard to overcome by a team of 5's 'cos the higher team will have a ball in play on the green each time (ignoring possible last hole panics!).

I repeat my view than anyone who tried to treat this format as fair competitive competition has the wrong idea about it!


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