How to Handicap 2 man Scramble Teams w/o Est. Handicaps

[dcbrad]

Playing in an annual get together this weekend and we are trying to figure out a way to handicap a two man scramble teams. We have some relatively good golfers and some absolutely terrible ones. Two guys who are relatively good are paired up together because they only see each other once a year, so we can't put "best with worst" etc etc.

There are six teams, we play 9 hole scramble matches (switch a turn) on two different courses over the weekend. Obv you won't play one team, it's just the nature of the beast.

Guess my question is, without established handicaps, and without putting the best-worst pairings together, what would be a good way to handicap the event to make it everyone have a chance to feel like they are "in it?"

 

[Erky]

Could you use the first 9 holes as a sort of quota?

 

[dcbrad]

Could you use the first 9 holes as a sort of quota?

Guys are pretty honest, but how can we prevent sandbagging on those first 9?

 

[dcbrad]

My thought would be, play the whole tournament, then handicap your team based on the whole body of work, then go back and see who the winner is. That way you can prevent sandbagging, hopefully.

 

[Erky]

Guys are pretty honest, but how can we prevent sandbagging on those first 9?

We do a thing every year, and I am not sure exactly how the scoring is compiled, but you tell them "about" what you think your handicap is if you don't have one. The first round of the weekend is still for money, but you are establishing or verifying a pretty loose quota. But if you go too low you make it impossible to make money on the rest of the rounds. If you go too high, you miss out on some cash on that round. If you exceed your quota on subsequent rounds by more than 4 shots, it goes up for the next round. If you go 4 shots below it, your quota goes down.

 

[dcbrad]

My thought would be, play the whole tournament, then handicap your team based on the whole body of work, then go back and see who the winner is. That way you can prevent sandbagging, hopefully.

Or, since it's two courses, handicap yourself at each course.

We do a thing every year, and I am not sure exactly how the scoring is compiled, but you tell them "about" what you think your handicap is if you don't have one. The first round of the weekend is still for money, but you are establishing or verifying a pretty loose quota. But if you go too low you make it impossible to make money on the rest of the rounds. If you go too high, you miss out on some cash on that round. If you exceed your quota on subsequent rounds by more than 4 shots, it goes up for the next round. If you go 4 shots below it, your quota goes down.

That is a good idea too. Some of these guys don't even know what the word "handicap" means in golf, so that might be tough. Haha

 

[Smallville]

Instead of putting two guys together, put four guys together. Have them play a six hole scramble and team up with each of the other guys. Then you can have individual scores.

 

[Spivey]

After the round, pick three holes, and base the teams handicap on their scores on those holes.
Example: if the three holes score for one team is +2 (par, bogey, bogey) then they are -6 for the team for the 9, or -12 for 18 holes. It is random, but it works.

 

[Smallville]

After the round, pick three holes, and base the teams handicap on their scores on those holes.
Example: if the three holes score for one team is +2 (par, bogey, bogey) then they are -6 for the team for the 9, or -12 for 18 holes. It is random, but it works.

We are actually doing something similar to this for a tournament tomorrow. It's called the Peoria System: http://golf.about.com/cs/golfterms/g/bldef_peoriasys.htm

We are not going to do it with handicaps, I am simply picking six holes (a par 3, 4 and 5 on each nine) to count the score for their total. The other 12 holes mean nothing. The thing is, they are not going to know which holes are being used. This group is also going to have three flights, first and second in each flight. The winners will pick from six sealed envelopes for their prize. So they won't have any idea which money amount they are getting.

Another thing a tournament we had last week did: It was a small event, only 10 teams. But the tournament chairman decided ahead of time that whichever team finished fourth, got first place prize, first got third place prize and sixth got second place prize. But again, no one but him and me knew this. They knew it was going to happen, but they didn't know how it would work.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

We are actually doing something similar to this for a tournament tomorrow. It's called the Peoria System: http://golf.about.com/cs/golfterms/g/bldef_peoriasys.htm

We are not going to do it with handicaps, I am simply picking six holes (a par 3, 4 and 5 on each nine) to count the score for their total. The other 12 holes mean nothing. The thing is, they are not going to know which holes are being used. This group is also going to have three flights, first and second in each flight. The winners will pick from six sealed envelopes for their prize. So they won't have any idea which money amount they are getting.

Another thing a tournament we had last week did: It was a small event, only 10 teams. But the tournament chairman decided ahead of time that whichever team finished fourth, got first place prize, first got third place prize and sixth got second place prize. But again, no one but him and me knew this. They knew it was going to happen, but they didn't know how it would work.

Some great idea's!