The Pine Dunes thread has me planning our trip for next year already. Going to have 15 guys + 1 girl that range in handicaps from probably a 7 to a 28. I've already settled on our format:
Friday: Practice Round (optional)
Saturday AM: 2 man shamble match play
Saturday PM: 2 man scramble match play
Sunday AM: singles match play

What I'm struggling with is how to make the parings for each session. I'm working on making the teams to try and make them as even as possible and I have a few guys whose handicaps are either a little suspect or probably don't even have an approximate of what it would be/only get to play a couple rounds a year. Me and my buddy that only knows a couple people on the trip are definitely the 2 best players and we're pretty comparable on skill, so as much as I want him on my team, I think I have to put him on the other team. My first attempt at session pairings have us playing each other all 3 sessions, and I think I'd like to avoid that.

Anyone planned something similar that has thoughts/ideas/experience making matchups and parings over several rounds that are as even as possible with mixing up the parings/groups?

You pair you and your buddy with the higher handicaps then pair the mid handicaps together. If you really want to be partnered with him, y'all could combine another two man team and do a 2v4 type of match.

You can also assign players into tiers A,b,c,d
Pair A players with D players and B and C players together and assign teams at random and then also pairings at random.

Have everyone keep their score during the practice round and turn in scorecards. You can make your final call on those that are suspect with those cards. Each golfer has their strengths and weaknesses depending on the course. I can shoot low on a course that is more links style and open compared to a super tight tree-lined course. I play courses that have more left to right bending holes compared to right to left. Have some incentives during the practice round to encourage people not to sandbag. No matter what, everyone is there to relax and fellowship and have a good time. At the end of the day, do you want everyone to be focused on winning or spending quality time together. Make it fun and exciting so you can make it a tradition like no other

handicap you say....

Squabbit is a free app. Plug in all the players with handicaps, pick the format, and it has an auto team pick feature. We have annual trip with wide range of handicaps. You might have to do some finagling of the teams after the auto pick. We play some 4 man games and I try to make sure everyone sees each other.

You can also use it for live scoring. Helps with tracking which holes a player gets strokes on too.

We do 2 trips every year to the same course. Our format is always the same. Thursday round is just for fun, play your own ball. Friday morning you play your own ball and everyone keeps score. (No mulligans, but the max score for any hole is an 8.) At lunch, we form up into 4 person scramble teams using the morning round scores, and everyone throws $5 in the pot. Winning team splits up the money. Saturday repeats, so you may be on a different team that afternoon. Sunday morning round is just for fun.

"I'll tell you what to do with Judge Smells..."

For our trip this year, we did a draft at dinner the first night for teams. Then on match play days, we rotated which team got to pick the group for the first tee time and then the other team would pick their group for that match. We did singles the last day of the trip, so at dinner the night before we did a snake for teams selecting their players for matches.

How wide a range of handicaps? I love this idea, but this will be the first time some of us have played together so drafting blind might be a little challenging.

I think our low handicap was a 4 and the high was an 18

What about two flights with competition within flight and across flights?

I think one thing to keep in mind is just how serious the trip is.

I can tell you my experience on our annual trip which is on year 10 now.

there are 8 of us. Very wide range of abilities. Basically three that play (lower single digit); two that have mid teens; one that is in the 20's and two guys that basically play once or twice a year and we give them a both 36

our trip consists of two tournaments: first one is a individual tournament. we basically have two flights (the three of us and the other 5 in one flight). the two winners get to pick a shirt out of the pro shop and the other 6 pay for them.

the second half of the tournament is a ryder cup and most everyone really enjoys this. in most years we always had us paired up pretty evenly but that seemed to always have the same people playing each other. the teams would be different each year but most matches were pretty similar.

However, this last year we just said screw it and paired up randomly. it actually turned out to be a lot of fun and with strokes it worked out.

we don't play scramble or shamble. we do an individual match day on the final day and the first day two nine hole 4 ball matches.

we play for a belt from that course that the winning team gets and the losing team pays for. over they years it has been a lot of fun and of course we all wear our winning belts from year to year.

no one takes it serious but at the same time it is "serious" with a lot of laughs.

anyway, it works for us

Thank you for this. This was the exact perspective I was looking for.

We seem to have about that range of handicaps, too. I think people are going to want to win, but it is more about the good time, hence the shamble and scramble. I've had a lot of success with a couple of these guys with the scramble and shamble to keep the lesser players engaged and having a chance. The shamble is a compromise between multiple rounds of scramble and then the scramble is acknowledging we're not young and 36 in one day will be a lot for some of us to handle so we're playing that the second round of the day.


I'll admit I'm really ambitious with this trip. It is my first big trip (I've done a trip for 4 before). Who knows, the competition might be a total flop, but I'm going to shoot my shot and adjust after year 1. I don't know that a lot of these guys have played a lot of match play and I think it adds a lot interest to each hole instead of someone making a double par on 2 holes and being like eff it I can't win anything.

no problem. One other thing we do, which may partially address some other comments on here. During our rider cup, we let each group decide what they think is fair. For example, some people may play different tees depending on their ability. In my opinion (as the de facto rule committee) so long as the pairing feels it is fair, then it is fair to me. They just tell me who won the match.

So, regarding the shamble/scramble issue, we let that group decide.

I usually am paired against my old high school teammate. we both want to play these courses basically in (more or less) tournament conditions. However, the two guys that are hdcp 30+; they often will play a shamble with their partner. We all could care less and are just there to have fun. We decide on the first tee those sort of things and just play. It's always a lot of fun.

I remember one time we had Caddies at Bandon, and he was like "your man there probably shot a 30 on that hole how many times he grounded his club in the bunkers". This was in response to him telling us he shot a 6/5 to tie the hole. I remember just laughing with him and taking the 6/5 and half-ing the hole. No way I'm counting each time he touched the sand as a stroke for one of my friends that has a such a high hdcp. he thought he played well and tied the hole and that was good enough for me

You and I think a lot alike. I hadn't considered letting the teams choose shamble or best ball or scramble on Saturday but I totally agree that as long as the people in each match agree, then I really don't care.

Like I said, thanks for your insight. This is exactly the kind of constructive insight I was looking for.

This is a great attitude and very aware of you. I may try this approach at some of my matches.

4 teams of 4, divide the teams best you can with a-d player.

Round 1: everyone plays their own ball (or take best drive). 1 point for bogey, 2 point for par, 3 point for birdie…most points after 18 wins the day

Round 2: everyone plays their own ball (or take best drive). Low ball for each hole, but must take at least 3 holes from each player on the team.

Stableford that's HDCP adjusted.

Then 2man scramble, paired by HDCPs.