4 ball scramble

diar1000

Hi, im organising a team to play in a 4 ball scramble next weekend.
Handicaps are taken into account. I'm don't have a mark, but one lad that is playing with me has a mark of 2.
Would I be better off getting 2 other lads that have low marks or high marks/no mark?
Thanks Sean

prawnsambo

diar1000 wrote: »

Hi, im organising a team to play in a 4 ball scramble next weekend.
Handicaps are taken into account. I'm don't have a mark, but one lad that is playing with me has a mark of 2.
Would I be better off getting 2 other lads that have low marks or high marks/no mark?
Thanks Sean

Marks?


Do you mean handicaps?

diar1000

yes sorry

prawnsambo

If it's handicaps you mean, it's 1/10th of the combined handicaps of the four players and in a three ball, it's usually 1/8th.

So if the four players have handicaps of, say: 6, 10, 14, 20 that would add up to a combined handicap of 50 and a team handicap of 5.

diar1000

prawnsambo, so you think i would be better getting decent golfers with a high handicap to increase my chance of winning

prawnsambo

diar1000 wrote: »

prawnsambo, so you think i would be better getting decent golfers with a high handicap to increase my chance of winning

Best to have a mixture. Often scrambles require that all players have at least three tee shots, so you have to balance it a bit. But a high handicapper may be a good putter or good around the green and may just be a bit short or wayward off the tee. So you can benefit from their handicap and at the same time they can contribute to the score.

diar1000

Thanks for all your info.

Seve OB

diar1000 wrote: »

prawnsambo, so you think i would be better getting decent golfers with a high handicap to increase my chance of winning

well logic dictates that will always give you a better chance of winning.

For a scramble though, in theory the best team would be someone off a really low handicap, who has the potential to go around in level par or better. then 3 guys with high handicaps who can hit the ball, and maybe make a few scoring shots.

remember though, you will also need 3 drives per player

HighLine

diar1000 wrote: »

prawnsambo, so you think i would be better getting decent golfers with a high handicap to increase my chance of winning

My advice for what it's worth... concentrate on having a good day and an enjoyable round of golf rather than trying to plan a win in advance.

charlieIRL

HighLine wrote: »

My advice for what it's worth... concentrate on having a good day and an enjoyable round of golf rather than trying to plan a win in advance.

That's the best advice you are going to get.

prawnsambo

HighLine wrote: »

My advice for what it's worth... concentrate on having a good day and an enjoyable round of golf rather than trying to plan a win in advance.

Yeah. You always get surprise showings in scrambles. People who are wobbly on the tee, suddenly find it a lot easier when they know almost for certain that they'll be playing their next shot from the fairway. They're great fun and a very enjoyable format. So enjoy.

GreeBo

Seve OB wrote: »

well logic dictates that will always give you a better chance of winning.

For a scramble though, in theory the best team would be someone off a really low handicap, who has the potential to go around in level par or better. then 3 guys with high handicaps who can hit the ball, and maybe make a few scoring shots.

remember though, you will also need 3 drives per player

I dont think this is true.
You are better off with 3 scratch guys and one high guy.
The high guy gives you 2-3 shots.
The scratch guys will bring in the scores.

With 3 scratch guys hitting every shot you will be looking at birdie on pretty much every hole.
With only 1 you are all reliant on him.

Seve OB

GreeBo wrote: »

I dont think this is true.
You are better off with 3 scratch guys and one high guy.
The high guy gives you 2-3 shots.
The scratch guys will bring in the scores.

With 3 scratch guys hitting every shot you will be looking at birdie on pretty much every hole.
With only 1 you are all reliant on him.

Can work different ways really. 3 high guys 18ish who can play golf and make the shots though.... That's the key. That will give you a handicap of 6 or 7. All subjective though, need to make the shots on the day.

Generally you are going to be looking at about -13 or so to win one of these

GreeBo

Seve OB wrote: »

Can work different ways really. 3 high guys 18ish who can play golf and make the shots though.... That's the key. That will give you a handicap of 6 or 7. All subjective though, need to make the shots on the day.

Generally you are going to be looking at about -13 or so to win one of these

Ah well if you have 3 bandits then obviously that skews things, but its very hard to play to 90% lower than your handicap...unless you are off scratch since you don't lose any shots.

Typically, ignoring the fact that you are a top quality golfer, 3 of your players having 100% of their handicaps puts you at a distinct advantage over the field.

Far more than the 6 shots you would get from the 3 18 handicappers, unless of course they are banditos.

Add in the pressure of having to take 3 drives from everyone and its very rare that it works out better than the scratch team.

mighty magpie

Our place had 2 ball scramble at the weekend. 1/4 of combined handicap.

-10 won it. two 16s shooting 3 birdies and 1 bogey.

Seve OB

Why is it that everyone who has a handicap of over about 14 but who is actually able to hit a decent ball is always called a bandit.
I'm not biting any more, am done here.

spacecoyote

I would have thought that generally a group of low handicap players should fair better overall.

4 people off 5 would give a handicap of 2

4 people off 18 would give a handicap of 7

I'd expect the 4 guys off 5, using best ball every time to outshoot the 18s by more than 5 shots

prawnsambo

Seve OB wrote: »

Why is it that everyone who has a handicap of over about 14 but who is actually able to hit a decent ball is always called a bandit.
I'm not biting any more, am done here.

It's an unfortunately prevalent opinion on this forum. I often walk away from threads because of it.

My usual retort is that handicaps are part of the game. If you don't like it, fcuk off and play bowls.

sydneygolfdude

Seve OB wrote: »

Why is it that everyone who has a handicap of over about 14 but who is actually able to hit a decent ball is always called a bandit.
I'm not biting any more, am done here.

its actually ridiculous when you think about it. say your playing off 15. you actually have to be able to hit a decent ball quite regularly to get around the course to that handicap. But if you take the opinion of a lot of people on this forum, anyone over the handicap of 14 that doesn't spend 4 hours hacking it around the course on a Sunday is a bandit...

Fann Linn

sydneygolfdude wrote: »

its actually ridiculous when you think about it. say your playing off 15. you actually have to be able to hit a decent ball quite regularly to get around the course to that handicap. But if you take the opinion of a lot of people on this forum, anyone over the handicap of 14 that doesn't spend 4 hours hacking it around the course on a Sunday is a bandit...

Bandit so! And proud of it.

GreeBo

Seve OB wrote: »

Why is it that everyone who has a handicap of over about 14 but who is actually able to hit a decent ball is always called a bandit.
I'm not biting any more, am done here.

I dont believe anyone said that tbf.
I have played with plenty of high handicappers and the vast majority of them are correctly handicapped.

However you did say "3 high guys 18ish who can play golf and make the shots though"

If you can "make the shots" then your handicap is too high.

GreeBo

spacecoyote wrote: »

I would have thought that generally a group of low handicap players should fair better overall.

4 people off 5 would give a handicap of 2

4 people off 18 would give a handicap of 7

I'd expect the 4 guys off 5, using best ball every time to outshoot the 18s by more than 5 shots

Exactly.
And its even better when you get scratch guys.
You are effectively giving a scratch golfer 3 chances at every shot. When you apply that to putting its going to be a very low round.

cordy1969

Having not played any scramble over here but playing loads in Australia, I have found what works best is to cater your team around how people play.

Find 2 guys who hit long drives but are wild and mid to high handicappers.
Find 1 guy who is a low handicap and chips like there's money on every shot.
And lastly a consistent low handicap with a great all round game.

Not sure if that works here but works a treat in Australia.