Something does not seem right at all

[jpcgolf]

So last friday, there was a scramble event for my school alumni, and parents.  They had six spots open so they let some kids from the golf team play in the event.   It was pretty fun.  Our group hit the ball well, but we did not putt well, so we shot seven under.  We had only three people in our group, so one of us got to hit an extra shot on every shot we hit.  Anyway, at the end of the round when the scores where coming in, I noticed something that did not seem right.  We only got one stroke in the net because we had a 5 (for some reason my coach did not hear me right when I told him I was a 3), a six, and a 12.  Another team had a 6, an 8, and a nine, and they got zero strokes.  I think it was because they had two very good golfers playing from 4500 yards because they were female.  The team that won shot 14 under, and they also got more strokes than almost everybody else.  They had two scratch golfers on their team, a decent player, and a high handicapper.  They had a coach, and a kid who just graduated, and he is playing in college.  Since it is a scramble, the two scratch golfers probably took over 85 percent of the shots, and it does not seem fair that just because they have one high handicapper, and a mid handicapper, that they should get three strokes.  With the formula that the tournament directors were using, if you had a team with 3 scratch golfers, and one 40 handicapper, you could probably get over five strokes and blow everyone away.  They probably added the handicaps up, and then divided them by some number, but this seems the wrong way to do it because you could have some very good players, and one really high handicapper, and win every time.

 

Does anyone know a good way to handicap a scramble so that it is fair?

[JBones]

No scramble should EVER be handicap, it just invites cheaters.

[Blade]

No kidding. There's no fair way to apply handicaps over a group of people unless each group has similar caps for each individual within a few strokes, or you just take the lowest cap per group. Even then, that doesn't work. A scratch and a 20 paired together don't equal a 10. They have the potential to be lower than either one alone. Make that a foursome and the potential is even lower.

[RookieBlue7]

If you want to win a scramble... Take an eraser. That levels the field anyway. Lol, kidding

 

Handicaps should never be used.

 

My normal scramble foursome is made up of a scratch, a +2, myself at between 7 and 11, and a buddy that plays off a 14 but putts the eyes put of it. We generally shoot from -15 to -21 (lowest ever was a 47 when they had all kinds of hokey stuff like string, etc).

 

Biggest tip? Find a female or senior that bombs it. They play from the forward tees and it's a big advantage

[westy]

1/10th combined handicap, think that's what we play over here. Seems to work ok....

 

Often have a rule to say each player must contribute at least 4 drives. Often adds some jeopardy come the last few holes!

[revkev]

If you want to win a scramble... Take an eraser. That levels the field anyway. Lol, kidding

 

Handicaps should never be used.

 

My normal scramble foursome is made up of a scratch, a +2, myself at between 7 and 11, and a buddy that plays off a 14 but putts the eyes put of it. We generally shoot from -15 to -21 (lowest ever was a 47 when they had all kinds of hokey stuff like string, etc).

 

Biggest tip? Find a female or senior that bombs it. They play from the forward tees and it's a big advantage

 

Absolutely to this one - If I'm playing in a scramble with something at stake I'm bringing my gal Jillian along with - I almost never have to take driver out of the bag - she hits it little north of 200 off the tee, throw in that most of the time she's between 70 and 80 yards up...........

 

That and the eraser work every time.

 

Just don't take Scrambles that seriously, they are normally used as fundraisers and what happens, happens. 

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Have never seen a scramble use handicaps, but I have seen lots of scrambles where you gotta wonder how that particular team shot 19 under and were a full 6 shots clear of the rest of the pack. 

 

Eraser indeed...

[jpcgolf]

If you want to win a scramble... Take an eraser. That levels the field anyway. Lol, kidding

 

Handicaps should never be used.

 

My normal scramble foursome is made up of a scratch, a +2, myself at between 7 and 11, and a buddy that plays off a 14 but putts the eyes put of it. We generally shoot from -15 to -21 (lowest ever was a 47 when they had all kinds of hokey stuff like string, etc).

 

Biggest tip? Find a female or senior that bombs it. They play from the forward tees and it's a big advantage

Definitely,  in the group ahead of us was this girl my age on the golf team who hits it 240 yards, and she was playing from 4500 yards.  she won the long drive because number 16 was a 286 yard par five for the women, and she almost drove it.  It was not fair.

[Salmon]

1/10th combined handicap, think that's what we play over here. Seems to work ok....

 

Often have a rule to say each player must contribute at least 4 drives. Often adds some jeopardy come the last few holes!

 

Not 100% on the handicap calculations but whenever I have played in these each member has to have a minimum number of drives taken during the round which can make things very interesting when you have a 34 handicapper teeing off alone on the final hole because its the last drive he needs to get and shanks it into the trees lol

[sp0rtsfan86]

Yeah, that's not cool. Not a fan of those. I play to a 12 but have a buddy that's a one. I'm a good putter, and he's a long hitter. If we played in something like that it could be game over or someone with a big handicap and a scratch. 

 

There's something similar around here with minimum number of drives, which seems to make sense. 

[DaveP043]

In my mind, handicapped scrambles are only for fun, and shouldn't ever be for real competition.  Its just too hard to allocate strokes given all the variables.  That said, the USGA does have a suggestion for determining the handicap of a scramble team.  

http://www.usga.org/handicapfaq/handicap_answer.asp?FAQidx=20

Since a scramble isn't played in accordance with all the rules of golf, its not an official guideline, merely a suggestion.

[HighFade]

I'm going with Rev and Barbajo.

 

#1. If you want to win, cheat.

#2. Just enjoy the fundraiser for what it is.

#3. Unless you read #1, you're not gonna win.

[Jmikecpa]

Played a scramble Monday for business reasons that I was told to not win......and we posted -15 and won.  Sure as heck thought someone would have cheated and posted -18 or better since it was a fairly short course, but we did play with two at scratch, a 1.2 and a 7.3.  I have come to the realization that it is just a day of golf out with some of my buddies and winning it is secondary.

[Kenny B]

Played a scramble Monday for business reasons that I was told to not win......and we posted -15 and won.  Sure as heck thought someone would have cheated and posted -18 or better since it was a fairly short course, but we did play with two at scratch, a 1.2 and a 7.3.  I have come to the realization that it is just a day of golf out with some of my buddies and winning it is secondary.

 

And that is why I don't play in scrambles anymore unless I want to donate to the cause.