I'm the one that everyone's moaning about...

[RichA]

The ones I have played it's normally 4 tee shots from each person. That keeps it a bit more level because even on the last few holes there's still jeopardy of needing to use someone's tee shot. Often with only two holes left there is one player who still needs to get a good tee shot in. Then you get some funny moments where you send that person up first, and if they hit a decent enough shot you just take it and nobody else bothers hitting.

I was in a scramble last year where we still needed to use 3 of my tee shots on the last 6 holes I think, but we ended up using 4 as I hit a good one on the last as well.

At my old club it was always 3-player teams. 6 tee shots each with everyone having to provide a drive on a par 3 and a par 5.
Kept it interesting, meant nobody could be a passenger and meant it was tactical from start to finish; often not using the best drive.

 

[sjw]

At my old club it was always 3-player teams. 6 tee shots each with everyone having to provide a drive on a par 3 and a par 5.
Kept it interesting, meant nobody could be a passenger and meant it was tactical from start to finish; often not using the best drive.

That sounds class

 

[DeanoMK]

That sounds class

Yup, that sounds good to me too, would certainly make it more interesting.

I do agree though, 3 tee shots each in a 4 man isn't enough. We had one a few years ago where we needed one person still on the last, he somehow managed to put it in a bush to the left of us, no more than 5 yards away so we had to take 3 off the tee

 

[Swango1980]

Will you start another thread about the other issue you had?

 

[KenL]

I have to be honest, I’d be talking about you.

 

[KenL]

There was a requirement use at least three tee shots from each player. The position of the score tells me which tee shot was used so I can keep track of how many each player has had.

I usually write the initials at the side.

 

[AussieKB]

Played a scramble at Royal Perth where we shot 18 under, had to take 2 drives each, we started on the 2nd hole and came to our last the 1st and still had one to take.

You could hear a pin drop, as 3 of us stood and prayed he did not hit it into the car park......

Anyway he managed a short drive from where I hit a wood to just in front of the green and my mate stiffed the chip for par, played the back nine 7 birdies and 2 eagles, not a 4 on the card, standard par 72 course.

 

[KenL]

Played a scramble at Royal Perth where we shot 18 under, had to take 2 drives each, we started on the 2nd hole and came to our last the 1st and still had one to take.

You could hear a pin drop, as 3 of us stood and prayed he did not hit it into the car park......

Anyway he managed a short drive from where I hit a wood to just in front of the green and my mate stiffed the chip for par, played the back nine 7 birdies and 2 eagles, not a 4 on the card, standard par 72 course.

Wow, what a beautiful dream.

 

[hors limite]

We have a prize for the best net AND the best scratch.

 

[Jigger]

Played a Texas Scramble on Saturday. Team of four with indexes ranging from 15.1 to 20.1. The club was using the recommended 25/20/15/10 split to calculate the team handicap and it came out at 15.0.
We scored 63 gross and 48 net! Reports of this kind of score always prompt accusations of cheating and/or banditry - but we didn't cheat and we're not bandits (well one of us has slight bandit tendencies but we're trying to beat it out of him!). Scores like this can and do just happen from time to time.

View attachment 57888

You’d have been about sixth in one of the English masters comps. Amazing how many people have a very good days in those.

 

[Wilson]

We used a system for scrambles off scratch years ago.

It was a drawn comp

One cat1
One cat 2
One cat 3
One cat4.

Worked well but it relied on the cat 1 s wanting to play,.

If teams only had three players a ghost score was put in for the one missing by drawing a card from the comp.
It died a death because players wanted to play with their mates.

That's how it was done at my last club, it was a fun comp as part of a wider fun day.

 

[clubchamp98]

That's how it was done at my last club, it was a fun comp as part of a wider fun day.

Yes I think the silly scores are putting some of.
But it’s just a good laugh.

Prizes are to big imo it turns mild mannered men into very competitive animals

 

[C7usk]

We've got a scramble in the morning... 4 man team with best mates... Cannot wait... I know they are marmite but luv it for the craic..
We are off 9, two at 16 and a 24 hcp... Night out planned for afterwards, so weather's looking good.. What's not to like....
A nice wee hangover for the old firm game and watch the grand prix... Sounds like a perfect weekend sports wise..

 

[sunshine]

I'm with the previous person that mentioned it, play scrambles off scratch. I guarantee the scores would still be very good if you had a team made up of 24 handicappers.

The last scramble I played in we had a 24 handicap with us, we only had a requirement to use 3 tee shots each, I think we used 6 of his in total as he was hitting 300 yard bombs.

That is fairly unusual. A team of higher handicappers is unlikely to have the firepower to reach par fives in 2 shots, even if they all have a go. Scratch is not equitable.

Being cynical, the way to win is to have 3 low handicap good golfers and 1 high handicap. If you have a 36 handicap for example, the team gets 9 shots just from him, that’s plenty if the rest of the team are off 2 or 3

 

[C7usk]

That is fairly unusual. A team of higher handicappers is unlikely to have the firepower to reach par fives in 2 shots, even if they all have a go. Scratch is not equitable.

Being cynical, the way to win is to have 3 low handicap good golfers and 1 high handicap. If you have a 36 handicap for example, the team gets 9 shots just from him, that’s plenty if the rest of the team are off 2 or 3

Is it not 10% of the highest hcp?

 

[sunshine]

Is it not 10% of the highest hcp?

I don’t know, but the same principle works, just dialled down a bit.

 

[peld]

A team handicap of 15 in a scramble ffs.

 

[Swango1980]

A team handicap of 15 in a scramble ffs.

I agree.

In my experiences, it is rare for a team of 4 golfers to shoot more than par, gross (unless they have a bad day). Certainly 4 golfers with indices from 15-21. Even a score of par would probably be very very average, whereas a team of 4 scratch golfers, I think a gross score of -15 would be considered excellent golf from them? But, WHS has presented us a situation where a team of scratch golfers would need to shoot a gross score of -23 to have a chance of competing on countback in this particular comp (and it isn't a one off)

I'd say it is impossible. For this specific example, I know the golfers and their handicaps are fair, so it is not a case of 4 golfers with cheat handicaps unfairly winning a comp. The issue for me is the allowances WHS gives in Texas Scrambles. I've no doubt these will change sooner or later, as they make a mockery out of Texas Scrambles. If you want to compete to win, it is no longer about trying to get 4 golfers together and just trying to play good golf relative to everyone's ability. Instead, it is about trying to assemble a team that has one or 2 decent players to do the scoring on the course, and 2 or 3 high handicappers, simply for the reduction they give to your nett score at the end, and just hope they are at least able to squeeze in at least 3 drives, if that is a requirement, along with maybe hitting the odd good shot / sink the odd putt, etc. which most golfers are capable of.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

A team handicap of 15 in a scramble ffs.

And it’s why I know for our next scramble most of the low HC teams just won’t be bothering anymore - it’s just not worth it when there is little to no chance of being competitive

 

[The Squirrel]

I agree.

In my experiences, it is rare for a team of 4 golfers to shoot more than par, gross (unless they have a bad day). Certainly 4 golfers with indices from 15-21. Even a score of par would probably be very very average, whereas a team of 4 scratch golfers, I think a gross score of -15 would be considered excellent golf from them? But, WHS has presented us a situation where a team of scratch golfers would need to shoot a gross score of -23 to have a chance of competing on countback in this particular comp (and it isn't a one off)

I'd say it is impossible. For this specific example, I know the golfers and their handicaps are fair, so it is not a case of 4 golfers with cheat handicaps unfairly winning a comp. The issue for me is the allowances WHS gives in Texas Scrambles. I've no doubt these will change sooner or later, as they make a mockery out of Texas Scrambles. If you want to compete to win, it is no longer about trying to get 4 golfers together and just trying to play good golf relative to everyone's ability. Instead, it is about trying to assemble a team that has one or 2 decent players to do the scoring on the course, and 2 or 3 high handicappers, simply for the reduction they give to your nett score at the end, and just hope they are at least able to squeeze in at least 3 drives, if that is a requirement, along with maybe hitting the odd good shot / sink the odd putt, etc. which most golfers are capable of.

And that’s why it’s a silly fun format just for a laugh. This is NOT a WHS handicap problem, just a format problem. Good shots from 2cap and 15cap golfers are basically identical while the format of multiple attempts removes the 15cappers great disadvantage (much worse consistency with far greater propensity to chuck in hooks/slices/shanks/duffs).

Doesn’t matter what handicap system you use - one that is based on single ball stroke play simply cannnot directly transfer cleanly to this hugely different format.