I'm about to play in my umpteenth charity/fundraiser scramble in a couple of weeks. I've always enjoyed them but assume cheating is rampant. I'm skeptical when I see 4 guys that all look like 15+ handicaps turn in a 54. Anyway, I've never been in a team that has even placed, much less won one of these things. I've even been in teams with all single digit handicaps and we weren't even close. I want to change my losing streak.

In a effort the play better as a team, does anyone who's done well in scrambles have any strategy other than cheating they followed successfully?

Pretty basic but..

Worst guy hits first...best guy hits last on every shot/putt

Hopefully ur best guy doesn't have to putt and hopefully u aren't playing with a bunch of cheaters

Only play in scramble where you always play with another team to eliminate some cheating. Then you get two teams who know each other and both teams cheat to win the money. Go figure, it's just a charity tournament so expect some level of cheating.

In all likelihood, you aren't winning unless you cheat your ass off. Wish that weren't the case, but likely is…even in local Aggie club tournaments.

Buy as many mulligans as possible for all. Also as many strings as you can.

Swing hard in case you hit it right!

I gave up playing charity scrambles for anything other than a day out of the office on someone else's dime many years ago. I refuse to pay to play them.

There's no strategy to winning other than bring your best 4 players, get a little lucky, and HOPE the cheating is at a minimum.

Find a woman that is a great player and have her play from the red tees

Or an old guy that can still crank it out there but gets to move up a couple of boxes.

My brother, dad, best friend and I played in a Plano charity (chamber of commerce) scramble and shot lights out. Just need to have fun and hope you have a good day.

We always have the "worst" player hit first and frankly that changes with every shot. My friend hits his drive first (short but accurate), my dad hits his approach shots first (rarely hits the green but has a good feel for general distance he hit the ball), and my brother can putt first (super good putter without pressure).

That winning day, we hit every par 5 in 2, drove 2 par 4s, hit every par 3 within 15 feet, and one putted every green other than one of the par 4s. We also turned in our score first (all the above makes for a fast round).

It can be done- just need to have one of those days. We could play a hundred other times and never do that again. But we giggled as people gave us crap because we have been on that "bullstuff" side of losing.

oldag00 said:

---

I gave up playing charity scrambles for anything other than a day out of the office on someone else's dime many years ago. I refuse to pay to play them.

There's no strategy to winning other than bring your best 4 players, get a little lucky, and HOPE the cheating is at a minimum.

---

My exact feeling on paying for scrambles. I'll play if I'm invited or if my business pays for a team. Honestly though, I've played enough charity scrambles in my life to not be bothered if I never play another one.

I do think the strategy of having the lesser players hit first is the way to go.

Played in several charity scrambles and its hard to strategize against the cheaters. We've gotten used to it so take an empty cooler fill it up with free beer and enjoy a good cigar is my suggestion.

Makes for a better time and hopefully you win a few raffle items while your at it.

As some have mentioned it beats a day in the office.

My home office has a view of the green and I see cheating of some form on tournament days from every single team that comes through. Everybody cheats a little. The most common thing I see is balls just on the fringe getting picked up, cleaned, and put back on the green.

I've always preferred to have one of the other decent players putt first, to hopefully get the line and or speed of the putt. Sometimes the ****ty player can benefit form seeing what the putt is doing and might get lucky.

As for cheating, I've never understood why theses tournaments can't get a volunteer to ride with each group to be the official scorer for said group.

BreNayPop said:

---

My brother, dad, best friend and I played in a Plano charity (chamber of commerce) scramble and shot lights out. Just need to have fun and hope you have a good day.

We always have the "worst" player hit first and frankly that changes with every shot. My friend hits his drive first (short but accurate), my dad hits his approach shots first (rarely hits the green but has a good feel for general distance he hit the ball), and my brother can putt first (super good putter without pressure).

That winning day, we hit every par 5 in 2, drove 2 par 4s, hit every par 3 within 15 feet, and one putted every green other than one of the par 4s. We also turned in our score first (all the above makes for a fast round).

It can be done- just need to have one of those days. We could play a hundred other times and never do that again. But we giggled as people gave us crap because we have been on that "bullstuff" side of losing.

---

And ladies and gentlemen....this is what all the winning teams say they did....

oldag00 said:

---

I gave up playing charity scrambles for anything other than a day out of the office on someone else's dime many years ago. I refuse to pay to play them.

---

That's the exact situation with the tournament I'm
playing in. I was invited and it's on someone else's dime. And it sure beats being in the office! I get that these are fundraisers, but they normally have pretty good prizes for the teams that place. And it's frustrating to get cheated out of any chance at the good prizes.

I recall playing in a scramble in high school. 3 of the 4 guys in our team including me were single digit handicaps. One of our players would play college golf at a Power 5 school and play on the Nationwide Tour. We shot 63 and knew that had no chance as we missed 4 or 5 putts we should've made. But when we got to the club house, we were shocked to see even if we'd made all those putts, we still wouldn't have even been close.

I haven't ever paid to play in a scramble, and I'm fairly selective about the ones I join for free because most of my enjoyment comes from the guys I'd be playing with. If it's necessary fir work or I'd be playing with good friends, I'm in. Otherwise, "no thanks, gosh darnit I'd love to but I have a conflict". The format itself beats me down. I'd rather just go play a regular round with friends.

You're going to laugh, but get a former female collegiate golfer on your team.

They always get to hit from the red tees and always tee off 50-100 further up than the blue tees.

I've won or placed in the top 3 at several scramble tournaments because of this strategy.

_lefraud_ said:

---

I've always preferred to have one of the other decent players putt first, to hopefully get the line and or speed of the putt. Sometimes the ****ty player can benefit form seeing what the putt is doing and might get lucky.

As for cheating, I've never understood why theses tournaments can't get a volunteer to ride with each group to be the official scorer for said group.

---

Was going to say the same thing with putting. If you've got at least two good putters have one go first. The ****ty golfers will learn a bit and hopefully hit it well enough the last putter has a dead read on the putt.

Make sure your pencil has a good eraser.

If I'm playing in a charity scramble my first and only instruction to the group before we tee off is to not care about winning and enjoy the 5 hour round with numerous beverages

bcanales05 said:

---

You're going to laugh, but get a former female collegiate golfer on your team.

They always get to hit from the red tees and always tee off 50-100 further up than the blue tees.

I've won or placed in the top 3 at several scramble tournaments because of this strategy.

---

Best advice on this thread.

Goal should definitely be to have more fun than anyone there. Winning doesn't matter in this format. I played in a 4-man earlier this year at Tempest where the winning score was a 46. GTFOH.

Hahahahaha at tempest? Were y'all playing from the women's tees?

I'll also add that the best putter in the group should never watch the ****ter putter's attempt

_lefraud_ said:

---

#1
I've always preferred to have one of the other decent players putt first, to hopefully get the line and or speed of the putt. Sometimes the ****ty player can benefit form seeing what the putt is doing and might get lucky.

#2
As for cheating, I've never understood why theses tournaments can't get a volunteer to ride with each group to be the official scorer for said group.

---

so--

#1 Best advice in this thread "have the best putter put first". For several reasons, helps the hacks see the line, and also, high handicappers often slice their putts affecting the line, speed and outcome.

#2 What has started happening recently (last year or so), is, they take the placing teams (top 4 or so) and pair them up and have them play it out in sudden death. If you are accustomed to lying your way to a trophy be prepared to have to play against another group/s to prove your prowess! It's pretty effective in slowing down 50's shot by dudes who couldn't break 50 on a 9 if their lives depended on it

bcanales05 said:

---

You're going to laugh, but get a former female collegiate golfer on your team.

They always get to hit from the red tees and always tee off 50-100 further up than the blue tees.

I've won or placed in the top 3 at several scramble tournaments because of this strategy.

---

I have one she played at Tulsa.
When she was just starting out in the business, she asked if she could play and I said sure.
She didn't tell any of us her background and after she smoked a couple tee shots about 240 with this little buttery draw she let us in on the secret.

This strategy works and I'm in the oil business so yeah, pencil whipped cards are the norm.
She's my A player now.

Here's is a cheating strategy that is easy to execute. If you have multiple shots on the green, everyone hit their shot from where it landed towards the hole. If it goes in you were gonna use that shot anyway. If it doesn't head to your best ball and take your four putts.

Hope that helps.

t - cam said:

---

Here's is a cheating strategy that is easy to execute. If you have multiple shots on the green, everyone hit their shot from where it landed towards the hole. If it goes in you were gonna use that shot anyway. If it doesn't head to your best ball and take your four putts.

Hope that helps.

---

This is scramble 101 for even the teams that dont cheat.

Test your Scramble strategy this weekend at the C.C. Creations Open and take the challenge up a notch with the Chapman format Sunday.

There are no mulligans, string, throws, kicks, or Tiger drives. It's two-man teams playing their best against their flight in a foursome with another team to limit the cheating.

C.C. Creations Open Registration

Cheaters make scrambles pretty terrible to play.


If you really want to go low:

Go low:
Adjust driver setting and swing like long drive champs
Stop going at the pin. Deloft and hit it short...hoping to roll one in.
Hit every putt directly at the hole with 10% too much speed.



You will never win a scramble. Ive seen folks as low as -32 before on 18 holes. Some people are totally out of reality and instead of getting banned they are laughed at and appreciated. Sucks!

Yep, I've seen groups eagle every par 5 and birdie every other hole. At least that's what their scorecard said.

I've also seen the group in front or behind me hack it all day and then come in at 16 under or something similar.

If you can buy mulligans then you better shoot/cheat to a
54 or better.

I was on a charity board and helped run a scramble. First thing we did was cut out a cash prize for first place. First place gets a trophy. That's it. This cuts out the cheaters big time. Sure you will still have them just for bragging rights but put money on the line and it gets crazy.

Second thing we did was eliminate the long drive contest. Instead we implemented more fun ways to win like using a sling shot, closest to the middle on the fairway, longest drive with a marshmallow etc.

Third thing we did was include lots of beer and pretty girls. 90% of the people there don't give a **** about winning. They want a day away from work and to give money to a charity. I think our turnout doubled year over year because of it.

And how to win a charity scramble? Cheat and sometimes that doesn't work. So best to just have fun and call the winners a bunch of d bags.

We ran a tournament and had the hole in one spotters track scores on the par 3s. Threw out any score cards that didn't match what happen. A ton of them lied on multiple par 3s.

This is genius

I can't remember the exact details, but it seems I've read that some tournaments are randomly selecting winning team places after all scores are in. So they draw numbers or something and it might be the 3rd, 8th and 14th place teams that win.

This would certainly negate the value of cheating to get a low score. Might affect participation from teams that are only looking to cheat. Might make more teams interested in playing if the cheating aspect is eliminated.