By Marcela Smith
A scramble is the most common format for charity tournaments, corporate outings and guest days because it’s a great way to play with people of all skill levels, and include brand new players who want to get in on the fun.
However, there are specific procedures and regulations unique to scrambles that are not sanctioned in other golf formats (since a scramble does not fall under the official Rules of Golf).
In a scramble, you and your partners each tee off with your own ball. Together, you collectively decide on the most advantageous location where a ball has landed to continue play from. Once a consensus is reached, the other players retrieve their balls and move to that chosen spot.
You and your partners will place each of your own golf balls within one club-length of where the “favorite ball” is lying, no closer to the hole, and you all proceed to hit your next shots from there. This continues until one ball is holed-out for your team score.
When the “favorite ball” is on the putting green, instead of being able to place the other balls within one club-length, partners can place their golf balls within one scorecard or one putter head length of the “favorite ball”, no closer to the hole.
During a scramble, players are allowed to stand behind their partners before and during a shot to line them up, or gather information for their own next shot. During any other format, the player could incur a penalty for doing that.
In a scramble, once you select the “favorite ball” you must either leave that ball in place or put a marker down next to it to mark the spot for your partners to play from. It’s important to note that leaving your ball marker or tee down when you hit your shot is not permitted in other formats, and can earn you a penalty under 14.1a.
Scramble formats require that you stay in the same cut of grass that the “favorite ball” is in when placing your ball within a club-length from it. This means if the “favorite ball” is in the rough, the other balls must play from the rough.
As with every other format of golf, there’s nothing more important than pace-of-play. Scrambles are designed to be a fast and easy format for all levels of golfers, but they often turn out to take even more time than regular individual stroke play. So don’t worry about the order of play. Yes, a good player will want to watch the other balls roll on the putting green to help them judge the pace and break, but if that player is ready and nobody is ready to go, that player should not wait. They should take their turn because it’s important to keep things moving.
Just as in all other forms of play, arriving early for your tee time, having all your equipment ready and playing ready-golf will go a long way to help you keep the day moving at an enjoyable pace.
So grab your clubs, gather your friends, and head out to the course for a memorable round of golf in the world’s most popular competition format!