Long drive screw job...

[518TitleistX]

So yesterday I was in a local 4 man scramble tournament at what has been my home club for the past few years. The 8th hole being the long drive hole. I hit an absolute bomb splitting the fairway and finishing at 289 yds (into the wind) /passive brag... Anyways it was 30 yards past the previous shot and I had figured I had it pretty well locked up with only a few seniors behind us finishing up their rounds... Ohhh this is where it gets good.

The senior tees are all of 100 yards closer than the tees I play and wouldn't you know that a "senior" (he was 62) hits his shot about 2' past my marker according to the on-course official. They give him the long drive prize, yet he hit his shot 180 vs my ~290. I made a complaint with the course that seniors should be in their own division, Especially if given a 100yd head start. Am I wrong to be upset with this? It's really trivial in the grand scheme of things since we won the tournament at -15 and won 2 of the 3 total skins at $193 each. Tournament cost $95 to enter.. 386$ total in skins split 4 ways = $96.50 each. So we basically played for free.

[billh17]

You know you out drove him........he knows you out drove him...we all know you outdrove him...

its been your home course for 4 years? I would have thought you would have been aware of the details.

Your group won the skins....played for free....let it go...lifes too short to let this kinda stuff bother you.

Sooner than you think..you'll be one of the seniors...and some youngster will be PO'd because you

outdrove him......

[tommie2]

Well one, he's a senior and earned his tee box. 2 ... You knew the rules going into the tourney. 3, 290 isn't that long for long drive, next time be safe , hit it 330.

[wobgon]

[quote name='518TitleistX' timestamp='1434902735' post='11800310']
So yesterday I was in a local 4 man scramble tournament at what has been my home club for the past few years. The 8th hole being the long drive hole. I hit an absolute bomb splitting the fairway and finishing at 289 yds (into the wind) /passive brag... Anyways it was 30 yards past the previous shot and I had figured I had it pretty well locked up with only a few seniors behind us finishing up their rounds... Ohhh this is where it gets good.
The senior tees are all of 100 yards closer than the tees I play and wouldn't you know that a "senior" (he was 62) hits his shot about 2' past my marker according to the on-course official. They give him the long drive prize, yet he hit his shot 180 vs my ~290. I made a complaint with the course that seniors should be in their own division, Especially if given a 100yd head start. Am I wrong to be upset with this? It's really trivial in the grand scheme of things since we won the tournament at -15 and won 2 of the 3 total skins at $193 each. Tournament cost $95 to enter.. 386$ total in skins split 4 ways = $96.50 each. So we basically played for free.
[/quote]
I would say you are wrong to be upset about anything that happens in a four man scramble.........

[doubleBZee]

What would have you won, a sleeve of balls? Should have hit it 290.

[thesamwise]

You said it yourself.

[quote name='518TitleistX' timestamp='1434902735' post='11800310']
It's really trivial in the grand scheme of things...
[/quote]

You should have bought him a beer and said congrats. The guy is 62.

You would have looked like a boss if you did that.

[Birddog2]

It is trivial but OP had the "longest" drive; the whole thing smells of generation Y..."Everyone gets a ribbon."
Tournament chairman fooked up in my humble opinion...lol.

[518TitleistX]

im not circling the barrel and crying myself to sleep at night about it... I just feel that there should be a separate division if you are playing off a different tee box. women had their own long drive, seniors should be separated as well if you get a 100+yard head start. and as far as prizes, it was a choice of a $50 gift certificate to the club proshop, or a dozen new pro v1's.

[wobgon]

[quote name='518TitleistX' timestamp='1434941385' post='11805784']
im not circling the barrel and crying myself to sleep at night about it... I just feel that there should be a separate division if you are playing off a different tee box. women had their own long drive, seniors should be separated as well if you get a 100+yard head start. and as far as prizes, it was a choice of a $50 gift certificate to the club proshop, or a dozen new pro v1's.
[/quote]
So you wanted to walk away with all the prizes..........I say we all pitch in and buy you a dozen balls.

[518TitleistX]

[quote name='wobgon' timestamp='1434941685' post='11805856']
[quote name='518TitleistX' timestamp='1434941385' post='11805784']
im not circling the barrel and crying myself to sleep at night about it... I just feel that there should be a separate division if you are playing off a different tee box. women had their own long drive, seniors should be separated as well if you get a 100+yard head start. and as far as prizes, it was a choice of a $50 gift certificate to the club proshop, or a dozen new pro v1's.
[/quote]
So you wanted to walk away with all the prizes..........I say we all pitch in and buy you a dozen balls.
[/quote]

no. I wanted the bragging rights. I could care less over the balls or gift certificate. I want the win. having someone tee off 100 yards ahead of you and "win" a long drive contest is just a croc of ....well.. you get it

[wobgon]

I'm not trying to put you down, but come on, bragging rights for a long drive at a 4 man scramble.....I've won quite a few of them and lost quite a few of them, and believe me, no one cares or remembers the next day who won or who didn't.

[518TitleistX]

as I said.. trivial... but whats right is right.

[SHIVAN]

Always hate the closest to the pin, aka "long drive" setup. Who hit the longest drive, not who ended up closest to the hole.

[deadsolid...shank]

Hey, I lost one last weekend the same way. Not quite a 100 yard advantage though, probably 50 or 60.

But I didin't expect to hold up anyway and the prizes weren't much so it really didin't matter. At least though I got to put my name on the sign in the middle of the fairway.

[SHIVAN]

The tournament only wants to pay one LD prize, and so they need to have a sign for each set of tees . Then laser the sign from that tee box and see who went the farthest.

[golfdad907]

At least didn't get beat by a woman as I did in a similar scenario. Get over it

[Hellstorm]

A 289 yd drive is nothing to be passively bragging about on these forums. There are guys here that can hit that with a 5 iron. You'll get no sympathy from people here on this, especially if you won all the other prizes. Besides, it's a charity scramble....some teams have their scorecard filled out on the first hole.

[alittleoverpar]

Swing harder!!!

[03SMURF]

I feel for the OP. Sometimes in league I am the only person not playing from the Gold tees. I hit the ball far and they know it, but they will say "he hits it almost as far as Clarence" without any notion to the fact that I'm teeing off well behind him. Petty, sure. But it doesn't help the ego (which we all know is at the center of anything distance related). Also, I gave up trying to win long drive in scrambles, especially when my father in law is usually playing from the golds on a different team and can still hit it 250+yds.

My thoughts are either exclude forward tee players from winning long drive or make everyone hit from the same set of tees on that hole (just as they do for hole in one holes for cars).

[Pure745]

I've learned to have very low or no expectations when it comes to any scramble or net format other than gross stroke play events. Too many variables. Just be glad you were out golfing and having a great time

[golfdad907]

Are we still on this topic? 290 isn't very long anyway, so hit it further or play up some tees.

[Hateto3Putt]

[quote name='wobgon' timestamp='1434942515' post='11806076']
I'm not trying to put you down, but come on, bragging rights for a long drive at a 4 man scramble.....I've won quite a few of them and lost quite a few of them, and believe me, no one cares or remembers the next day who won or who didn't.
[/quote]

I do remember one.....

Last year in an event, the long drive was hit by the PGA pro who owned the driving range. It was over 400 yards.

We didn't even know it was the long drive hole until we saw the sign while we were on our way to our second shot.

Our first league outing is being held this weekend. All prizes are equal except we have two long drive prizes, regular and senior (65+).

[Shawn Paul]

Ha! Last year I played a scramble. A guy in my group who is the long hitter had the long drive all but locked up on the 2nd hole. Almost the exact same scenario, we had two groups behind us to go and his drive was at least 30 yards in front of the next longest.

Prize time comes and they announce the longest drive winner and a guy who cant stand up straight walks up to claim his prize (I don't even remember what it was). We all sat there with our mouths open. This guy was into his 70's and moved like a tortoise. We didn't see anyone playing from anything but the whites that day (Blues are back on this course). This dude obviously hit from the SR tees, even then we were suspect. But we all had a good larf about it. My buddy the long hitter ended up winning a really nice 1 of 250 prints from the Timberwolves, framed and everything. So Karma worked out in the end!

[seajohn]

If you are going to pay the entry fee and spend most of your day playing in the tournament, it should have the appearance of being a fair contest. It shouldn't be a big deal to have prizes for each tee. For you jokesters who say hit it 290, what are you going to say if the winning senior drive was 99 yards further? I guess OP should have hit it 389.

[Greenie]

If that is how the scramble was set up at least you lost fair and square. I'm not saying I agree with a senior hitting up and winning the long drive but if he played within the rules I would have congratulated him. You should let your actions speak for themselves. No one there really cares if you won the long drive but maybe the other players in your group and they already know who actually had the longest drive without your bragging rights.
At least you didn't get cheated out of it. I remember one time I had the longest drive (years ago lol). I mean I was sure no one was going to top that long cart path aided long drive. When we finished up we rode by the long drive hole to see the long drive sign 50 yds behind where mine was.
Take these scrambles for what they are worth. A day away from work with friends, having a good time goofing off on the course.
I bet 75% of the time people that win the scramble, win closest to the pin , or win the longest drive cheated anyway.

[wobgon]

[quote name='seajohn' timestamp='1435400184' post='11843604']
If you are going to pay the entry fee and spend most of your day playing in the tournament, it should have the appearance of being a fair contest. It shouldn't be a big deal to have prizes for each tee. For you jokesters who say hit it 290, what are you going to say if the winning senior drive was 99 yards further? I guess OP should have hit it 389.
[/quote]
This weeks word of the week.......jokesters.......By the way, the minuet they call it a four man scramble, it loses all appearancesof being a fair contest.

[FlaBoy239]

Kind of lIke in the weekly game I play we have closest to the pin on all the par 3's. Problem is there are a few women who are pretty decent players who get to hit into all these par 3's at a whopping 80 yards. They clean up every week on the closest to the pins. It gets aggrivating to hit my 7 or 8 iron to 10 feet only to see the name Terri or Cathy on the plaque at 3 or 4 feet. Is what it is I guess....

[ijohnson]

Why not make it drive distance relative to hole distance? So a 300 yd drive on a 500 yd hole gets a score of 300/500 or .6, meaning a senior would have to hit 240/400 to get the same effect I think.

[AzSuperHack76]

289? Into the wind? Pfft, you are the one that should tee it forward, either that or lie about your age and play in some Jr. events.

[CEPick]

Just challenge the old man to a fight.