A scramble is a golf tournament format where all players in the group hit from the same spot on every shot.
In other words, everyone on the team hits every shot from the same location.
How To Play A Golf Scramble
Here is how it works:
- All players tee off.
- As a group, they select the best drive.
- The best drive is marked with a tee or ball marker, and everyone else moves their ball to that location.
- All team members hit their second shot from within one club length of the selected shot, no closer to the hole.
- After everyone has hit their second shot, the team then decides which shot is best, and all players play their third shot from there.
- Rinse and repeat until the team holes out.
Golf Scramble Rules
The main rule to be aware of in a scramble is the one-club length rule.
Once the team decides which ball to play, all other players will pick up their ball and move it to the selected shot.
Then, all players must place their ball within one club length of the selected shot, not nearer to the hole.
Two things to note with this rule:
- All players are permitted to place their balls.
- They don’t have to drop as you would in a penalty.
- The ability to place the ball allows all players to play from their preferred lie.
- The person whose shot was selected can also place their ball.
- They are allowed to lift, clean, and place their ball within one club length of the original spot of their ball.
Hazard Rule
The one club length rule cannot be used to move a ball out of a hazard such as a sand trap. If the ball selected is in some type of hazard, all players must play the shot from said hazard.
Most tournaments will also specify that players cannot use the one-club rule to change playing surfaces.
This means that if the selected ball is barely in the rough, the one-club rule cannot be used to move all shots to the fairway.
Similarly, if the selected shot is on the fringe near the green, the one-club rule cannot be used to move the balls to the green.
Putting Rule
On putts, the one-club length rule does not apply.
Players must putt it from as close to the exact same spot as possible.
Benefits Of A Scramble
The scramble format is ubiquitous in charity golf tournaments for several reasons:
- It’s a less intimidating and more welcoming format for new golfers.
- It keeps the game moving (fewer penalties and time spent searching the woods for lost balls)
- Increases the pace of play.
- Makes it more fun for all players, particularly newer (bad) golfers.
- It can lead to very low team scores (upwards of 15 under sometimes!)
Scramble Scoring
Scoring is the same as basic stroke play.
The team score counts for each hole, and handicaps are rarely used.
Scramble Variations
Shamble
In this version, only the tee shot is a scramble.
Once the best drive is selected, all team members play their own ball from there until they hole out.
A shamble is essential a scramble off the tee and best ball after that.
Related: A Fun Twist On A Classic Format- How To Play A Shamble
Reverse Scramble
A reverse scramble is played exactly like a scramble, except instead of playing from the best shot each time, all players must play from the worst shot each time.
Minimum Drives
In this variation, teams must use a minimum number of drives from each player.
For example, the tournament may require that the team use at least two drives from each player throughout the tournament.
This adds more strategy and fairness to the tournament as it keeps one good player from carrying the team on every tee shot.
Mulligans
As most scramble tournaments are for charity, selling mulligans is a common way to raise more money while lowering tournament scores.
Scramble vs. Best Ball
Scramble tournaments are typically played in groups of four but are not to be confused with four-ball (best-ball) tournaments.
In a scramble, everyone plays from the best shot on every shot.
At the end of each hole, there is only one score.
In four-ball, all players play their own ball the entire time.
At the end of each hole, there are four scores, and the lowest is used as the team score.
Scrambles are occasionally played in teams of two, like in the PNC Championship.
Strategy
Tee shots
Have the most accurate player go first.
If they put a decent drive in the fairway, the rest of the team can grip it and rip it and try to put one out there as far as they can.
Putting
Other than that, strategy really only comes into play on putting.
The most common strategy is to have the second-best putter go first, and the best putter go last.
The idea is that the second-best putt will be able to hit a solid enough putt (hopefully) to give everyone else a good read.
Then, have the third and fourth-best putters go and hope they get lucky and make it.
This way, the best putter sees three putts before it’s their turn.
Related: What Are Skins In Golf?
