Okay, so I wanted to share something we tried out on the course the other weekend. Heard about this ‘shamble’ format and figured, why not give it a go with the fellas? It was a nice change of pace from the usual stroke play or the standard scramble we sometimes do.
Getting Started with the Shamble
We got to the course, usual Saturday morning chaos, grabbed some coffee, and talked about how this shamble thing actually works. The idea seemed pretty straightforward, kind of a mix between a scramble and regular play.
Here’s how we decided to run it for our foursome:
- Everyone tees off on every hole. Just like normal.
- Then, we all ride or walk up and look at where all the drives landed.
- We pick the best drive out of the four. Usually, this meant the one furthest down the fairway, but sometimes positioning was key if someone was way off to the side but long.
- This is where it differs from a scramble: From the spot of that best drive, everyone plays their own ball for the rest of the hole.
- So, if we picked Steve’s drive, myself, John, and Bob would pick up our balls from wherever they landed (usually the rough for me!) and drop within a club length of Steve’s ball. Then we all hit our second shots from there.
- We played out the hole individually from that point on.
How It Played Out
Honestly, it was pretty fun. On the first tee, everyone just let loose. I hit a decent one, but Dave absolutely crushed his, straight down the middle. So, obviously, we all picked up our balls and went to play from Dave’s spot. Felt good starting the hole from 250 yards out in the fairway!
The interesting part was playing your own ball after the drive. You still had to execute your own shots. If you picked a great drive that left you 150 yards out, you still had to hit that 150-yard shot yourself. No relying on someone else’s approach like in a scramble. It really showed who could follow up a good drive.
There were definitely holes where my drive was awful, totally unusable. But if one of the other guys hit a good one, it took the pressure off my tee shot. I could relax a bit knowing we’d likely have a decent spot to play from. But then, the pressure was back on for the second shot!
We decided to score it by taking the single best individual score from our foursome on each hole. So if I made a 4, Steve made a 5, John a 4, and Bob a 6, our team score for that hole was a 4. It kept things moving and made for some friendly competition within the group too.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I really enjoyed the shamble format. It’s a great middle ground. You get the benefit of the best drive, which speeds up play and makes it less frustrating if you’re having a bad day off the tee. But, you still have to play your own game for most of the hole, which feels more like ‘real’ golf than a pure scramble.
It kept everyone involved because even if your drive wasn’t picked, you were right back in it playing your own ball from a good position. We finished a bit quicker than usual too, which is always a bonus. Definitely something I’d recommend trying if you want to mix things up with your regular group. We’ll for sure be playing it again.
