Do you enjoy playing in a scramble?

They are fun but don't help my driver swing when I'm trying to pound it every time
 
They're fine. I would rather play a 2 man match in that format than the big 4 player charity deals. We used to have 6 player scrambles on the Money holidays at the club I grew up on. Those were bonkers.
 
Not really. If I have a ride home it's fun to be able to take some swings and enjoy a few cold ones. But if not, I don't really feel like my time on the course was productive. I only got to hit shots from good positions and I have no idea whether I played well or not. And most of all, I despise the slowness and the cheating. It's amazing a format designed to be fast can be so slow.
 
Curious how people feel about playing in a scramble or a format where you play someone else's shot. I have got mixed feelings about them and definitely do not hit the ball as well, but curious about the forum's thoughts.
No. I avoid them if I gracefully can! I can never get 'in synch...'.
 
I do. The group of guys that I play with in Scrambles is usually the same crew, we always have a lot of laughs and enjoy the time.
 
I’ll go in on a charity/high school group/ scholarship scrambles. Anything else I’ll pass on. They are fun if you put together a fun team to be on.
 
I enjoy scrambles, especially with all of the GIR's and birdie puts that come from it with a 4 some. It is enjoyable, less pressure and fun.
 
Used to love them, now days not so much. I still play in a few to support charities I like but otherwise its too slow, too expensive and too many drunks on the course.
 
I enjoy them but look at them as a day with friends but don't consider them real golf. I don't like going a hole or 2 without putting and in a scramble that is def possible.
 
I played in one Sunday and it was more about having fun for me and meeting other veterans and current serving Military members. Its sponsored by the Byron every year and a great event. Too much drinking for my liking and you never know who you will get paired with but always playing with a North Texas Pro in the goroup so there is some help. Especially if your other two team mated play once a year.............
 
I suppose I should clarify my comments. I probably sound like a curmudgeon.

I don't mind playing a scramble in a small group. I'd rather play my own ball, or play alt shot or something, but scrambles can be fun in small groups.

The big 6+ hour charity deals with tequila shots on every other tee box, drunks wandering around and the team with the best eraser always winning, followed by the awkward moments where any prize winners have to decide whether to donate back all the winnings... and then the dinner and the super long silent auction or raffle drawing... just not my thing.

I'm sure lots of people enjoy that, which is fine. My preference, if it's a cause with which I resonate, would be to make a donation and skip the 10 hour day.

We have an annual tourney at work to benefit the children of a coworker who passed away. It is routinely a 7 hour sh!tshow of drunkenness that doesn't honor her memory at all. Several of us have turned to taking the day off, making a donation and playing golf somewhere else.
 
No.
But I do play (used to before COVID) in one or two scramble tournaments for charity.

I prefer stroke or a match play. Never liked playing scramble and never will.
 
All depends on circumstances. Some charity tournaments with 100+ players are way too long, waiting on every hole, etc. I think the additional purchases like the strings add a dimension of fun and could help a team move along a bit faster. I am more of a fan of best/better ball in these type tournaments. A little less stressful on everyone and it moves the tournament along a bit. I play in a tournament with colleagues at the end of our academic year each year and we add in certain wrinkles such as one hole you must putt with your driver or on one hole you can only use one club, etc.

For more competitive tournaments like a member-guest or a couples tournament, I do not mind alternate shot (especially since my wife and I have somewhat opposite strengths!)
 
I think they're fine, to mix things up. My 8 year old and I went out for 9 holes last night and played a scramble, and it was a good way to get him involved in helping read putts and stuff like that. We used a few of his shots as well :)
 
Play in a couple a year for a good cause. Play in them with my son my cousin and a buddy of my son. We always have a good time. No stress. I once played a scramble that a couple friends needed a 4th. Had I known what I was getting into I would have said hell no. Get to the course hole assignments have 3 4 man teams per hole. That was last time I attended that function. Round took well over 8 hours.
 
I'm with @Smiter, too much cheating and far too long rounds. I do play a monthly Senior 2-man which is fairly quick, and we have an annual 4-man Toys 4 Kids in December that I'll play in to support the children. Otherwise, my bride and I will sponsor a hole or 2 to support other charity tournaments, but I rarely play in them any more.

I don't mind a scamble format on occasion (best drive then best ball), but I prefer best ball formats the best.
 
I don’t mind playing in scrambles a couple times a year. As long as it’s good group to play with, I’m fine with the format.
 
I have only done it once but I loved it. Besides it being a round with my best friends from college I really enjoyed the format. Took a lot of pressure off me knowing we had 4 shots at each ball and O actually played way better than normal.
 
I agree that I usually don't strike the ball near as well but I chalk that up to usually I am there to play more for fun and I do not concentrate near as much. If I am picked up for a scramble, I am usually there to hit driver as far as I can. So that throws off the rest of my game because my adrenaline is pumping from the tee box.
 
I know a lot of people hate them, but I think they're fun.
 
Scramble format is ideal for charity events so that a full field of players may be entered , including beginners and, or, high handicap players who will not suffer the pressure of having to count their individual shots.
So for a charity tournament it's great, but other than that scramble format does not seem to offer much value and, or, good sense.
 
Not really. If I have a ride home it's fun to be able to take some swings and enjoy a few cold ones. But if not, I don't really feel like my time on the course was productive. I only got to hit shots from good positions and I have no idea whether I played well or not. And most of all, I despise the slowness and the cheating. It's amazing a format designed to be fast can be so slow.
There's a league at my home course that plays 2-man scramble, and it's unbelievable how slow they are. It should be a fast format, but if you get stuck behind these old clowns you're in for a five-hour round and you'd have to skip 5 or 6 holes to get around them all, so you're stuck.

I expect a slow round if I play in a charity scramble, with all the drinking and silly shenanigans going on - it's a given that it's going to be a 5 or 6 hour round. But on a 'regular' golf day it's no fun sitting around waiting for these idiots all day.
 
The slowness of it is brutal. I don't drink so that angle is no good. I'm not a bomber or all that accurate so my game is at this point mostly build around the quality of my misses and getting out of trouble which are pretty useless in a scramble. So constantly being in the fairway and putting for birdie is disorienting. I have a whole anxiety issue with crowds and that since I rarely do this I usually know maybe one person in the group. There is always that social dynamic with the one guy that cares a bit too much which leads to he and others apologizing for bad shots which just wears me out. Plus that toxic masculinity thing where everyone seems like they have to comment on the women driving the booze cart and/or guys giving unsolicited political opinions because they haven't developed the social awareness that people being unwilling to engage them on the spot is not the same as agreement.

Also there is the cheating thing but I think the worries about it are more annoying than is the idea of cheating. If some group is so wrapped up in the idea of winning that they cheat to do it, well, that's so pathetic and sad so why not let them have it. Plus they probably aren't seeing the winning team probably is going to have an extraordinary score. So in the end you have people disappointed they don't win and winners that know that they are being accused of cheating behind their backs.

Other than that they are awesome.
 
I'm not a bomber or all that accurate so my game is at this point mostly build around the quality of my misses and getting out of trouble which are pretty useless in a scramble.

Totally agree here. I get a kick out of playing the ball as it lies and the course as I find it, which a scramble more or less eliminates.

Also I think we agree on the harassment and abuse that gets piled onto the beverage cart women. It’s sad.
 
Yeah I've always had fun with them... sometimes playing with the boss or clients or the occasional "celebrity". My wife works for a hospital and gets in a couple every year. I'm usually on standby for the late cancellation by a doctor or other exec that forgets about the event at the last minute... which means they haven't played all year and don't want to show up and embarrass themselves...
 
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