Golf Scramble Scores Are Getting Outlandish, Here’s a Way to Fix That

[Wheelieb]

@GolfSpy_APH you can move this to the proper area of the forum if it is in the wrong spot. 
 

I just finished a scramble today and we had enough teams that they broke us up into two separate flights. Not sure how they determined the flights, but my team won ours at -5 under. The second place team came in at -3 under which was respectable with the wet conditions. But the other flight, the first score posted was 64. Eight under which was very good. All guys in their 40’s who have been playing since college when talking with them as our teams were some of the first few to finish. Then we had a score of -12, then -16, and the last score that won was a -19. To my knowledge there has never been anyone to hit 19 under as a single or on any tour. This team is telling us they shot a 53 with only 8 mulligans, no birdie rope, no other form of give me help in this scramble. No one could really dispute this as we all know you play with your team. We all know keeping people on a honor system in a scramble is hard to do when you aren’t policing the course. And how could you? You would need to have an extra person for every group. 
 

So let’s make this a point to keeping people honest. Here’s my idea of how this should go. You have your team of 4. But instead of you going out with your foursome, you get split into a twosome against another team. Your team and another team plays two on two but still a scramble. Just a twosome. Your other teammates play the other two from the other team. And instead of you keeping your score, the other team keeps your score. After your group and your teammates Group finish the round, you all sit down and go over the scorecards to achieve the lowest score. But you have 1 person from each watching to make sure no one cheats at this. That person will have both score cards and the three will have a blank one. Those three will hear both scores and choose the lower score for each hole. That score card will be turned in to the tournament official. Since the singular person has both scorecards, that person will be able to write the scores that team decides on in case there’s a dispute. You keep people from throwing out those 49’s and 53’s. Cause no way that’s possible unless you’re spending 500-600 for rope and mulligans. By all means, let me know your thoughts on this. 

[revkev]

I’m sorry but I’ve been on a team that was - legitimate 19 under with no mulligans or string. We had four single digit handicappers on our team. I was the youngest guy, in my 30’s, two guys in their 40’s and 1 in his 50’s. We made two eagles and 15 birdies. 
 

Doesn't matter though - was the scramble you played in a money game or a charity scramble? I always figure it takes something in the mid 50’s to win a charity scramble with mulligans and other silly stuff. 
 

I did used to play in an annual money scramble. That had very strict rules for overall team handicap, how many single digit players you could have - pros were allowed to play - first place was around $800. 
 

There was a marker on every hole who wrote your score on the card and initialed it. It was two days so your team could play twice though only the best secure counted. As I remember it paid 5 places. 
 

Normally you needed 17 under to win and 14 to place. I do remember a 19 winning once and this course was legitimate about 6,600 from the back tees - the key was often to get a woman as one of your players - they hit to play two sets of tees up - it made a big difference on a number of holes. 

[GolfSpy_BNG]

I’ve been in a few teams that have managed 14 under with no mulligans or other gimmicks. With 8 mulligans I could see those teams reaching 19 or 20 under. 

[Rob Person]

I like your idea,  and as long as both teams are scoring opposing teams honestly and fairly, there should be no issues.  

We saw this in the last charity event I played too. Scores were submitted through an app though. When one team had already been xx # under before the 9th hole the director was onto them.

They ended up being DQ'd.

[Wheelieb]

This one I was in wasn’t a big money scramble. Yeah, the winning team in the flight above us got 320 which was basically their money back since we all paid 100 to play. I did do a charity scramble last November and the winning team came in at 21 under. That team was the team my group was behind and we did shoot 10 under. We watched them 3 putt at least 4 of the holes. So you’ll have to forgive me when I don’t believe any scramble team wins with a 19 or more under par on a legitimate score. And there ain’t no way you’re telling me your team shot a sub 50 either. And I get that people would be opposed to the idea of splitting the team up. Give both twosomes 4 mulligans and say 15 feet of birdie string in the price they paid to get into the scramble. I would bet it would be scores closer to like 10 under than the 19 or more under. 

[LinksgolfFever]

I have stopped playing scrambles with the idea my team would have a shot at winning.  I really avoid them unless it’s for a good cause and in that case it’s all for charity and I get to have a good time with friends and a few libations. The last one I played in was for a local high school, raising money for the sports programs.  The top five teams were low 50’s, winning score was a 49 (21 under).  The only part of it that seemed straight up was the closest to the pin contests as they had a proctor viewing the tee shots in the event a hole-in-one prize was to be awarded.  I really like the idea of running a scramble with twosomes paired with another teams two.  
 

[russtopherb]

I view scrambles as a way to help a charity raise money, and go have fun with my buddies. Maybe win a raffle prize. That's it. There's no shot at winning for the most part. We were in a scramble a few years back and I turned in our card with us at -5, with a single digit cap carrying us and liberal mulligans we kept buying throughout the day. The pro looked at the card and said "oh, an actual real score". It was hilarious. 

Last year I was MCing our annual scholarship fundraiser scramble, and I announced the winning team at -16. When they walked up I literally started laughing on the mic. I had seen them during the round and there was NO WAY they legit shot a -16. It was just too much for me.

Edited May 18 by russtopherb
typo

[revkev]

I guess you guys will just need to be on a team that does it. I think low scores get shot legitimately in scrambles more than you suspect. I think cheating really starts to creep in when the goofy stuff - mulligans, string, tosses, whatever is allowed. No way to keep track of that. 

 

At the OP there’s no way I would ever play in a for money scramble that didn’t have a marker on every hole.  At this stage of life I wouldn’t play in a for money scramble period because there is no skill that I posses that would be of benefit to a scramble team. I do play in a couple of charity ones every year - I enjoy those - my group has a running bet with a local club pro as to what we will shoot we are me (8), a 10, a 14 and a 23.  We have shot 12 under as a group and our worst is 6 under - out of 8 tries. The low score happened because we hoked done long putts - ironically the only time any of us won anything in terms of prizes was a closest to the pin from the 23 when we were 6 under. The pro follows us when we play, to drink and make sure there’s no cheating. 
 

My experience in scrambles is that teams do shoot low scores and everyone else thinks they cheated 

[Hacker60521]

I think scrambles can be an entertaining way to play a round of golf when you have players of mixed abilities, and you can’t take it too seriously. I’ve only played in charity scrambles, and that’s been a lot of fun.  I can’t see trying to field a competitive scramble team for $$$. This just seems like an invitation for bad sportsmanship over what might be a few hundred dollars.

[Josh Parker]

You can typically tell when a team has pencil whipped the scorecard.  I have seen the club pro purposely hold back a low score and watch other teams come in to look at scores prior to turning in their card and show back up with the "low" score...... until the pro drops the low one on the board.  

I have hit 18 under on scrambles legitimately but only a few times and with the right team/conditions. 

Most of these are for charity and I don't expect to win but I do agree that having 2 teams play each hole would keep things a little more honest.   

[GaryF]

Scrambles are usually fun but require being managed.  My assoc had a Beat the Pros scramble a week ago.  4 of our pros played earlier in the week and posted a score that wasn’t announced until the end of the event.  Our teams were ABCD format and we each hit from the tees we signed up for at the beginning of the season.  My team was given a hdcp of 4.51.  No mulligans allowed.

We scored a gross 63 and net 58.  We finished 2nd in beating the Pros by 1 stroke and 1 stroke out of first.  We had 3 flights and finished 1st in our flight and we won 5 skins.  In the format we played it comes down to GIRs and birdie putts.

What I meant by the management aspect is how the handicaps are handled.  In our ABCD format, they take 20% of the A player, 15% of the B, 10% of the C and 5% of the D.  In many scrambles, people can form their own teams and I’ve seen in some cases, handicaps are “estimated”.  And then in many, players can buy mulligans, birdie string and throws.  But if there are no mulligans, but a bigger percentage of hdcp s are used, net scores can be extremely low. 

If there was a -19 in the event listed by the @Wheelieb was that gross or net? If gross, that would be 17 birdies and 1 eagle.  But with 8 milligans, it’s possible once someone hit a 2nd shot safe shot on a par 5 everyone else can go for the green.  If that was a net scorer then it just comes down to how hdcp is handled.  I think for anyone cheating in a scramble, they are just desperate people. 

Edited May 18 by GaryF

[hckymeyer]

Me and two buddies started a for money (Calcutta) scramble a few years back.  Nothing huge but we usually get up to the 6-10k range in the pot and pay out 3 places.  ABCD format and then split that in to high A Low A etc.  High A gets Low B, high C, low D and vice versa.  Everyone tee's off but the same player can't hit a shot twice in a row.  If you take A's drive then BCD hit the next one.  Everyone putts except on Par 3's each have a designated putter.  We try to make it as fair as possible.

The biggest thing though is we play as 8-some's so there is two groups watching each other on every hole.  It's the easiest way to curb cheating.

[aguybadatgolf]

I would say the for charity ones are definitely seeing a lot of fudged scores due to an insane amount of mulligans, teams giving them selves gimmes, and straight up cheating. 
 

The city I live in holds a fairly serious scramble tournament each year over 3 days at one of the local city courses. I’m playing in it this year and from what I’ve heard it’s very competitive and monkey business is met with scrutiny and you can get permanently banned if caught cheating. So I think it just depends on the event. 

[GaryF]

Reminds me a number of years ago I put together a team and we came in second.  This was in conjunction with the next 3 days being a planning meeting associated with the Defense industry.  

The next year, same event, same team. We just couldn’t score…at…all.  Our worst fears came to fruition and we came in last and won the dreaded Caboose Award, and received all of the mockery that comes with it.  Endless for all 3 days of the meeting.  Then several days later, we found out there was a team that scored worse, but they were DQ’d because they didn’t sign their score card (probably on purpose). Cheating with a different purpose.