Texas Scramble Tips & Pointers

[ainley87simon]

I am playing in my first ever texas scramble tomorrow morning, I get the idea behind everyone drives off - you pick your best drive and every plays from there, then you you play the same approach and/or putt and the first put to drop counts as the score.

Are there any tips that can help with tactics or order of play, my fourball is made up of handicaps of 23, 23, 28 & 10 every must have 3 of there drivers used as a minimum.

Do you have decide whose drive you will use before you drive of can you decide after seeing where they finish? (FORE RIGHT for me).

And tips or tactics that have worked for people in the past would be good to hear, I really am clueless about this format.


_

a87s

 

[guest100718]

Scrambles are good fun, try and get drives from each player used up as you go along so you can have a choice of drives at the last hole or so, otherwise you end having to use 1 persons drives and if they have been playing poorly you're in trouble...

 

[pbrown7582]

you choose the drive after you've all played, having to use 3 drives each you may need to be a little tactical at some point you don't want to get to the stage where someone has all 3 drives to use with just a few holes to play.

Remember not to tap any putt in until you've all had a go!

 

[FairwayDodger]

If you putt up close DO NOT tap it in - mark it and allow your partners the chance with their putts.

If one player has played a good/safe shot that allows the other to take on more aggressive/risky shots.

Don't automatically take the best drive on the early holes. Consider if you have any poor drivers on your team and take what is a good drive by their standards even if someone else hit a better one. The last thing you want is for your worst driver of the ball to be standing on the 18th tee knowing that no matter what happens the team need to take his/her shot.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

Texas Scrambles!!!

Avoid like the plague, nothing but a slow round and, due to the handicap system used by most clubs of 10% of aggregate, a guaranteed win for the low handicapper.


Like mulligans and buggies these should have remained in USA.

 

[Maninblack4612]

Texas Scrambles!!!

Avoid like the plague, nothing but a slow round and, due to the handicap system used by most clubs of 10% of aggregate, a guaranteed win for the low handicapper.


Like mulligans and buggies these should have remained in USA.

Agreed 100% Played in one, never again, waste of time!

 

[cookelad]

Don't use expensive balls, as you'll be taking a lot more risks than normal

I always like to get a banker in early, so if you've got someone who hits a lot of fairways get them to tee off first.

Normally I'm the lowest in the team so I go last knowing that if needs be I can put an iron in the fairway or really give the driver some wellie!

 

[Break90]

I'd say get the lowest hcp to play last where possible, so if one of the others plays a decent shot you've got your best player with a chance to maybe take a risk and go straight at the pin. Also means that if the low hcp doesn't play a good shot you're not left with a higher hcp needing to pull something out of the bag.

When putting, make sure you look at your partners putts, by the time the last person putts they should have a pretty good idea of what pace and line is required.

 

[USER1999]

Texas Scrambles!!!

Avoid like the plague, nothing but a slow round and, due to the handicap system used by most clubs of 10% of aggregate, a guaranteed win for the low handicapper.


Like mulligans and buggies these should have remained in USA.

Low handicapper? Winning a scramble?

Unheard of at my place. Last one I played in we had two 5s an 8 and a 9, so low enough, but we would have needed to shoot about 15 under, gross, to get in the top 5.

 

[Foxholer]

Good fun format, but don't expect it to be quick! It's not real golf either, so don't take it too seriously!

Make sure you keep on top of the '3 Drives per player' to avoid 'foul trouble' on the last couple of holes.

Don't tap in! Unless you are the last to have your first putt.

Enjoy!

 

[Spuddy]

In ours the maximum handicap (team) is 6 so if you've 4 guys playing off say, 4,6,8 and 10 they will get 10% of (4+6+8+10)= 2.8 strokes.

if you've got 4x20 handicappers then they should get 10% of (20+20+20+20) =8 strokes which is rounded down to 6.

The first guys should be hitting every green in regulation with at least one ball whereas the other guys might struggle on a few holes yet the handicap difference is only 3.2.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

At my previous club it was always mid-handicappers who won the TSs. They used 50% of lowest hcp + 10% of remaining 3 players.
I once played in a group of 1,5,5,5 hcps, we got 2 shots, 4 players of 15 would get 12 shots. Suffice to say we didn't win that one.

Best advice I have is; have the best player go last off the tee so he can decide whether to attack or play safe based on what's gone before,
if a poor driver has a decent one in play use it, even if some others have hit really good shots,
in terms of putting have the first person lag putt to guarantee the 2 putt and then everyone else attack,
if one drive is a long way further than everyone else, have someone go check it before everyone else picks their balls up, I know of a team where they thought they knew where the ball was but once they got up to it it wasn't their teams ball.

It's a fun comp' so enjoy it, and take a few shots on you maybe wouldn't normally.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Texas Scramble is a fun enjoyable fun game in this enjoyable fun hobby of ours

It's a good laugh with lots of fun to be had without taking it serious

My tip would be to enjoy it and have fun

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Texas Scrambles!!!

Avoid like the plague, nothing but a slow round and, due to the handicap system used by most clubs of 10% of aggregate, a guaranteed win for the low handicapper.


Like mulligans and buggies these should have remained in USA.

Agreed 100% Played in one, never again, waste of time!

Absolute rubbish! Scrambles are purely a fun format, not serious golf. And that is exactly what they are......fun!

To the OP... If the rules allow, I always think it is good practise to have your better putter(s) go last so they have 2 or 3 looks at how a putt breaks. But that is just my preference.
And as for using peoples drives, another good tip is to try to get the weaker players drives used on short par 4's where even a bad one will allow others to still make the green or long par 5's where you can't get on it 2.

Enjoy....a fun format but can be a great laugh :thup:

 

[stevek1969]

How can you not enjoy Texas Scrambles ? great fun and can't see where slow play comes in, we won an SGU qualifier one a few weeks back where we now goto a final qualifier at Pitlochry with a chance to get to a Challenge Tour event Pro Am.

We scored 60.8 with handicaps of 4+6+12 so 2.2 ,to be honest it was blowing a gale as normal up here. The secert is to keep bogies of your card.

Some of mates play in them all the time in Opens and won a shed load of vouchers last season and there handicaps are 3,5,5 and 7, but they a couple of bombers which helps.

Just enjoy it and play well

 

[Region3]

If you're a longer hitter than the rest of your group and you want to use someone else's drive, tee off with an iron. It saves having to walk further on to fetch your ball

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Foxy's tip of NOT tapping in a tap in is VERY important. It is a natural thing to do but you must resist.
I have seen first time scramble players do this to howls from their partners.

 

[ArnoldArmChewer]

Just enjoy it, its good fun.

 

[the smiling assassin]

It's quite good fun to pretend you're about to tap it in - especially if the others have still got 3 go's from a few feet.

Texas scrambles are good fun. They tend to mix up handicap abilities quite well at my club, but this means you can occasionally end up with a really crap team if none can actually play to their handicap. Teams made up of four erratic bombers and flair players from cat's 1 and 2 tend to be dangerous.

 

[upsidedown]

Best one I played in had man, lady, senior and junior in the team and 4 drives to count