Pro winning Texas Scramble comp, is it allowed?

[Lazkir]

As per title. The Pro at our course played in the four man Texas scramble and won it.
Should the Pro be allowed to enter the comp, if so is it morally right? He is taking prizes away from his own customers after all.

 

[chrisd]

Depends if he gives himself an accurate handicap I reckon. One if our members has just got his amateur status back after a season on the ET , I believe he plays off +4 now

 

[rosecott]

As per title. The Pro at our course played in the four man Texas scramble and won it.
Should the Pro be allowed to enter the comp, if so is it morally right? He is taking prizes away from his own customers after all.

Surely that is entirely up to the club setting the competition rules. The Pros at ours have been known to play in such non-qualifying fun competitions, usually playing off agreed + handicaps.

 

[duncan mackie]

Surely that is entirely up to the club setting the competition rules. The Pros at ours have been known to play in such non-qualifying fun competitions, usually playing off agreed + handicaps.

In fairness he did ask 'should...'

As you say, it's entirely up to the organising committee of any competition to define entry criteria and, outside Q competitions, to deal with any other issues that arise (such as what handicap a pro should compete off, or even a non handicapped player...)

 

[rosecott]

Depends if he gives himself an accurate handicap I reckon. One if our members has just got his amateur status back after a season on the ET , I believe he plays off +4 now

Has this changed under the 2019 rules. I always thought a waiting period was imposed before re-instatement.

 

[jim8flog]

As others have said it should have been in the competition Rules.

Texas Scramble is not recognised by either the R&A or the USGA

 

[Jacko_G]

Scrambles are fun and usually won by 4 cheating bandits so good for the pro.

 

[TreeSeeker]

Our scrambles tend to be won by a team of low handicaps, last one we played they were gross 11 under or something, screw handicaps at that point!

Either way, fun comp so yeah i think the Pro should be allowed, provided that some sort of handicap was put in there then i'd not be complaining

 

[User20204]

Scrambles are fun and usually won by 4 cheating bandits .

Really ? I won't name any names but I know a group of guys who played in 8 texas scrambles last year and won 7 of them, this year they have already won 2, there accumulative handicap is 6 and that includes 2 x 4 handicappers.

 

[Jacko_G]

Really ? I won't name any names but I know a group of guys who played in 8 texas scrambles last year and won 7 of them, this year they have already won 2, there accumulative handicap is 6 and that includes 2 x 4 handicappers.

Downfield 4?

 

[chrisd]

Has this changed under the 2019 rules. I always thought a waiting period was imposed before re-instatement.

He did wait, not sure how long

 

[chrisd]

Our scrambles tend to be won by a team of low handicaps, last one we played they were gross 11 under or something, screw handicaps at that point!

Either way, fun comp so yeah i think the Pro should be allowed, provided that some sort of handicap was put in there then i'd not be complaining

I doubt 11 under would get into the prizes at ours

 

[HankMarvin]

Downfield 4?

Them boys ain't cheats that's for sure bloody good golfers and a great bunch of guys

 

[patricks148]

was one of them Cabby

 

[User20204]

Downfield 4?

One of them has just been crowned Scottish Seniors Champion and as said below, these guys are no cheats nor bandits, as it happens, they won at Kingussie the other week by 3 shots I heard, and their Number 1 player wasn't even playing.

Anyway, the point is, scambles is a low mans game.

 

[Lazkir]

Thanks for the replies. Fair enuff, there were a few of us that questioned it. But as has been stated it is a 'fun' comp so I guess it is what it is.

Their winning score was 55.7 nett btw

 

[TreeSeeker]

I doubt 11 under would get into the prizes at ours

11 under is normally winning, I just checked for last years and the winning score was Gross 54, net 50, which is 12/16 under accordingly. Very hard to birdie quite a few of our holes, if I remember correctly as well their gross score would still have won, let alone the net.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

The scrambles that we have require a minimum handicap total for the 4 players. That normally means 3 low and 1 high so the minimum hcp amount is attained.

 

[Crazyface]

Scrambles are fun and usually won by 4 cheating bandits so good for the pro.

So you've never won one then.......that's what I used to say...until I won one. LOL

 

[Capella]

Why wouldn't it be allowed? Most pro-ams work that way, as some kind of scramble. Also, just because he is a teaching pro, does not neccessarily mean that he would be off scratch or better if he still had a handicap. It just means that he did pass a playing ability test at some point (which in Germany is equivalent of about a -6 hancidap). In most cases, he will be playing on the level of a low single figure amateur but not get any shots. It is not as if one team suddenly has a Dustin Johnson or Tiger Woods on the team.

Furthermore, he did not win the competition. His fourball did. He was just one of four players playing well.