One Man Scramble

[rhinosparky]

One of my favorite events/tournaments to play in is a One Man Scramble.
The format is just that, a scramble. You play two off the tee and take the best one and abandon the other ball.
How many times have you missed a putt only to try it again and sink it?
It's fun and a little taxing (essentially 36 holes in 5 hours) but it makes for a good tournament and there isn't the rampant cheating as there is in a team scramble.
Anyone else play these?

[Mike_C]

Our club has one each year, fun event....

 

Edit:

 

I think sometimes they have played it as a one man "Mulligan."  The difference is if you take a second shot, you have to play it.   Much different and more strategy involved, especially putting. 

Edited April 25 by Mike_C

[BTE0816]

My club does a few of these a year, mostly during the winter when there are 3 holes cut on each green. Really fun. 

[Nickb333]

5 hours ago, Mike_C said:

Our club has one each year, fun event....

 

Edit:

 

I think sometimes they have played it as a one man "Mulligan."  The difference is if you take a second shot, you have to play it.   Much different and more strategy involved, especially putting. 

Bingo. 
 

It’s been a couple decades but my old club used that format. 
 

I was shocked by how little most scores improved vs just playing your own ball without any mulligans. 

[Hawkeye77]

It’s fun but my partner always sucks. 

[Mike_C]

12 hours ago, Nickb333 said:

Bingo. 
 

It’s been a couple decades but my old club used that format. 
 

I was shocked by how little most scores improved vs just playing your own ball without any mulligans. 

I remember playing with the Mulligan format a few years ago, I also think you only got one Mulligan per hole, not 100%.  Anyway, I think I was a shot back from the lead on #17, and had a 15-20 footer downhill for a birdie to tie the lead.  My first putt rolled up to about 6 inches, I felt like I had to make it so I took my Mulligan. I then blasted it 6-8 feet past, and missed the comeback putt.  If I just take the par from the first putt, I end up in the money at the end of the day. That bogey put me one shot out....that is the strategy angle of it...

[mikedejong33]

Our group of friends does a big Ryder Cup style event every year with 10 to 12 guys so the teams are even. One year we had an odd number of guys that could make it, so we did something like this. Every match was 2 vs 2 except for one, which was 2 vs 1. The single guy got to play two balls from every spot (so basically the one man scramble). One of the matches I played as the single, and I was very curious to see how much better I could shoot. I am a 3-4 handicap, that typically shoots in the mid to upper 70's, and with trying every shot twice, I think I shot 5 or 6 under. It just free's you up so much, there is basically no stress on any shots. You can play super aggressive, go at every flag, run putts by the hole. The only issue is if you blow your first ball off the planet.. then you have to bear down a bit. But otherwise, its just bombs away. That was a really fun day!

[GowerND11]

About 10 years ago I was playing in a 2 man Ryder Cup event. 6 scramble, 6 better ball, 6 alternate shot. One guy dropped last minute, so his partner went out alone. Alternate shot just became playing his own ball, but he did the 6 scramble with taking two shots at each spot, and played two balls for each of the 6 holes of better ball. 

 

Those 12 holes he was like -5, but struggled on just playing his own in the "alternate shot" 6. 

[suprfli6]

We’ve done the mulligan style of this too, where you must play your second shot if you choose to hit one. It does help speed things up and forces you to make some tough decisions. It’s a lot of fun but I think it tends to exaggerate the differences between the better players and the not-as-good ones so flighting it or coming up with additional ways to handicap it might be a good idea.

[Ri_Redneck]

I used to do this for practice, but take the worse shot instead (reverse scramble I guess). I felt it helped me concentrate on consistency.

 

BT

[skim4]

I love the one man scramble. Also love the different two man scramble format tournaments. I can't get my friends to play in best ball tournaments so these are the best options. Really fun. 

[596]

Used to play in a friendly game of "Mulligan".  You get one Mulligan on each 9 taken anywhere you wish. Even on the green.  The big catch was everyone got one "reverse Mulligan" on the day.  Opponents could, one time, force any player to retake any shot.  You had to play the reverse Mulligan ball.  Lots of situations came up on when to use that call.  Drain that 40 ft putt..... Yeah, I don't think that'll count. Replay it!!

Edited Monday at 10:28 PM by 596

[MonteScheinblum]

On 4/25/2024 at 12:25 PM, rhinosparky said:

One of my favorite events/tournaments to play in is a One Man Scramble.
The format is just that, a scramble. You play two off the tee and take the best one and abandon the other ball.
How many times have you missed a putt only to try it again and sink it?
It's fun and a little taxing (essentially 36 holes in 5 hours) but it makes for a good tournament and there isn't the rampant cheating as there is in a team scramble.
Anyone else play these?

I use to do this to make me see how shooting low wasn’t that hard.

 

The fun one (not fun at all) is worst ball.  A former tour player told me to do it to put massive pressure on myself.  Hit two and take the worst one into the hole.  Broke 80 once and it would have been 65 or less had I played 1 ball. 

[SNIPERBBB]

Favorite game of the vanity  caps 

[lopey986]

18 hours ago, MonteScheinblum said:

I use to do this to make me see how shooting low wasn’t that hard.

 

The fun one (not fun at all) is worst ball.  A former tour player told me to do it to put massive pressure on myself.  Hit two and take the worst one into the hole.  Broke 80 once and it would have been 65 or less had I played 1 ball. 

I have never been someone who enjoys the range. I lose focus very quickly and it simply turns into a smashing session with no real goal or direction. The range is best for me to hit about 8-10 shots before a round just to get loosened up.

 

So the worst ball scramble has become my go to practice session for 9 hole post work rounds. Just like Monte said, hit 2 balls and keep taking the worst one into the hole. Boy does it really suck when you hit an iron to 10 feet and have to take the ball that's off the side of the green or smash a drive in the middle of the fairway but end up taking one directly behind a tree lol. It really does put into perspective how easy it can be to score well and how easy it can be for a round to quickly become undone.