In a scramble tomorrow morning for a charity that is run by the bosses wife. I'm the only regular player in the foursome. Two guys play every once in a while and the forth guy said he thinks he played six months ago. They left strategery to me. We have to use at least one drive from everyone per nine. I'm thinking about having the non player go first then the other guys. If one of them puts it in play then I can go after it. If they all miss then I'll just put something in play. What do you think?
Scramble strategery
Sounds good to me.
When I play with non golfers, that is my strat...that and lots of alcohol cause we usually don't really give a fuck :-)
Worst ones are when you have to use 4 drives from each player. Have seen groups hitting thier second shots from the vicinity of the ladies tee becasue they needed a guys drive and he duffed it...
My limited experience in scrambles has taught me that success and failure rests solely at the tee. So I think you have a good strategy. If the non-player gets anything into play, I'd use the first one that happens so you can essentially bench him. Sporadic players can surprise you though. Played a scramble with a buddy of mine who plays maybe 5 times a year, and he won "closest to the pin". Blew my friggin mind.
Get the drive requirement out of the way as soon as you can. The longer you go with the requirement hanging over the head of your teammates, the more they'll tense up.
If you (and one or two others) can comfortably reach the green from the tee ball, use it. I've also used the strategy that Par 5's are good to get the drives out of the way - you can make up a lot of yardage on the 2nd shot especially if it takes 3 to get home. My 3rd 'trigger' is on Par 3's...unless you have a reasonable birdie putt, its ok to sacrifice a few feet and take par to get one of the required shots out of the way.
My first experience using the tee shot requirement was in the final stage of a national qualifying tournament. Our 'D' player wasn't a bad stick and he kept telling us he was fine and to go ahead and use the best drive over and over again. We knew (4 amateurs and our club professional were the team composition) historically this tournament required a 17 under to win and move on. We sat in the cart on our 18th hole as our "D" player went to the tee box and we are sitting at 16 under. He proceeded to push his drive in a lateral dry creek. You could have heard a pin drop.
On the other hand, charity events are supposed to be fun too. You've been dealt a bad hand. Just keep both hands on the steering wheel so you don't crash and enjoy the day.
Also let the poorer players putt first to give the better players the line. Also help the first putters read the putt.
Good thinking Azgreg, that's what I do.
If your worst player gets something close to the green on a par 3 and u can get it up and down easy...use it...unless birdie is a lock with someone else's ball
My strategy is to avoid scramble tournaments in general. The only scramble tournament I truly enjoy is our club's 8-inch cup tournament (bigger holes cut in diabolical locations on the greens) and even then sometimes I wish I was playing my own ball.
Because a lot of the time - I am. LOL
I assume you'll have no chance to win based on the team make up, so just go out and have a good time. To hell with the rules. No one will be the wiser.
My strategy in scrambles is just to have a good time and use balls that I don't care about so I don't spend much time looking for them.
There is always a team stacked with four good golfers and mine never is (after all, I'm on it) so I don't worry about it.
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Scrambles can be a LOT of fun if everybody plays a legit round of golf with no funny stuff going on....know what I mean?
THAT didn't happen at the last scramble we played in Mesquite,NV at The Palms.
The format for this scramble was we played a mixed set of tees,some short and some from the longer/back tees.
Our team consisted of a bunch of old farts with me being the youngest @ 65 but we managed to shoot a fairly respectable 12 under par with no bogeys and we still had a couple Mulligans left over (stupid move I know).
About an hour into the round the desert winds pick up and start blowing a steady 15-25mph. for the rest of the day.The wind made putting on the slow Bermuda greens a real challenge,and some of the uphill into the wind approach shots were kind of scary to say the least.
Any way we get done,have lunch and the tourny committee head reads off the NET scores for Callaway system they used which was something like -54.5.....we finished a couple shots out of the money. 
THEN at the very end he reads off the GROSS teams winning score,who by the way ALL had the same last name.
51....WTF!!!!!!
I'll NEVER play a scramble there again!! 
I recommend a lot of alcohol.
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I like Bryce recommend a lot of booze 
No strategy, just have fun. One big mistake I see is that often scrambles are played from shorter tee distances and groups take the ball closest to the green which can be an in between or part wedge shot of 50-80 yards, a shot that the majority of players have trouble with. Try and leave a common yardage that most folks play regularly 100-125 for the approach. Unless of course you can drive it within a few yards of the green . Also, I find that most high cappers like to play from the first cut of rough where the ball can be propped up vs a tight lie on a fw
Probably the biggest reason I don't enjoy scrambles (besides the obvious cheating that often goes on) is because golfers seem to struggle with the concept of picking the best shot that gives the highest percentage of success for every player involved. But for whatever reason - that 250-yard tee shot, dead-center of the fairway and in perfect position to get a ball reasonably close to the hole isn't considered over the 275-yard tee shot in the rough with an uneven lie. Why is it always about playing the longest tee shot, circumstances be damned?
Or how about this one... 325 yard par4, definitely a birdie hole with two good shots. The longest hitter takes a rip at it... hits it good, his usual 275 yards. Front pin, wind helping. Not much room between the front of the green and the pin, and the green slopes front-to-back.
That ball in the middle of the fairway about 50 yards further back is a full-swing for most people, usually a wedge, maybe a 9-iron for some players. Fairly simple shot, don't have to think about how hard you have to swing, don't have to think so much in terms of where you want the ball to land. It's a full swing, lots of loft, ball gets up in the air and lands softly on the green, somewhere within 10-15 feet of the hole ideally. Pretty simple shot really.
But it never fails - gotta play the shortest shot, even if two guys in the group suck at those 3/4 swings or long-range pitch shots. Even if the odds of nipping the ball perfectly and hitting it the exact distance needed still are very much dependent on the right bounce, the right amount of check on the ball, and the right amount of rollout.
Too many variables there.
My group played better than anticipated. We shot a 65.
Lost by just 25 shots.
25? As in they shot a 40? Or did you mean you lost by just 15? (Even that would be ridiculous)
Where did you play?
kchacker 25? As in they shot a 40? Or did you mean you lost by just 15? (Even that would be ridiculous)
Where did you play?
Silverado Golf Course in Scottsdale. Par 70. They claimed a 40.
The winning team had 2 members of the Arizona State men's golf team. The event was a big fund raiser for Teen Lifeline.
You could buy a mulligan for $15 or 2 for $20. You could also buy a package deal that included 2 mulligans, 2 ft of ribbon, and a pair of scissors. The ribbon was used to complete putts. If your putt came up 6" short you use 6" of ribbon to finish the putt and count that stroke. You then cut of the 6" from the ribbon and you have a ft and a half left.
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30 under par, is by far, the lowest score I have ever heard of in every scramble I have ever played in - and that is a lot of events over about 40 years. Un-fucking-believable. Let's see - that averages 2.22 strokes per hole. So I am guessing that this team eagled or double-eagled the par 5s, eagled most of the par 4s and at least birdied the par 3s. I'm guessing there was not a single par on the card.
WTF was second place? It's possible for very good players to birdie every hole and eagle all of the par 5s. At Silverado, that's a 48. If they absolutely stuffed four other shots to 6" and used the ribbon, that's a 44. Where in the hell could four other strokes have possibly come from?
It's certainly not a difficult course....but come on.