I LOVE "best ball" Outings

[warbirdlover]

This time of year I get sponsored to a bunch of golf "outings" by some of the companies we buy from and it's some of my favorite golf.

You get a bunch of your work buddies (hopefully fairly decent golfers ) together as a team and just hit from the best spot. You get to shoot under par (as a team) and there is no pressure to shoot a good individual score.

Very relaxing and then there's usually a big banquet afterwards with prizes.

My favorite way to spend a work day!!

 

[Rosmo]

Just to clarify thats actually called a scramble, best ball is where you take the lowest individual score on each hole...but hey glad you are having fun...Those are always my favorite tournaments I couldn't agree with you more.

 

[warbirdlover]

Duh! I knew that!! LOL. Scramble shramble. Love whatever the heck it's called.

 

[Davebud]

I am playing in one on Monday, now the sad part is I am actually the best player on our sorry team. It's for charity though and it's a heck of a lot better than working.

 

[gwlee7]

Be careful playing in these things. The tendency is to "go for it" off the tee and try to hit shots that you normally wouldn't from other places. While that adds to the excitement, I have found that my own scores can suffer for a few rounds afterwards. I have to make a concious effort to tone down my swing and force myself to play "smarter". But, you are right, scramble, superball, captain's choice games are a lot of fun.

 

[Eracer]

Yeah - great fun. Until the lying cheating bastards step up to collect their trophy. How many times have I said: "Twenty under? You hackers shot twenty under?" And heard in response: "Hey, we all had a good day, and got some lucky breaks."

Right.

I hate scrambles. It's a cheater's paradise.

 

[goatster]

i like to play in them but i always have to buy extra balls because im always last one to hit.im the ok we got some in play now launch it guy or see if you can cut that corner and get us in better shape.

so i get to lose more balls then the rest of them.even on the green its the next ones a gimme so give it good run.so it puts alot of pressure on the poor sole hitting last unless your playing with a bunch of good golfers then it may noy be as stressful.but usualy im the best in the group and im a bogey golfer.but atlest the beer and food is usualy free.

 

[Bravo]

I have played in about 20 charity scrambles over the years. The amount of cheating is legendary... and it always made me sick to watch some slimeballs walking away with lots of cash, new drivers, golf bags, shoes, beach trips etc.

So the last one I played in was six months ago. It was for some horrible fatal disease...something obscure I had never heard of.

Our team played great and I played some of my very best golf ever. Hit long drives, dropped several long putts.

So we go in and they are posting the scores....we are the early leaders as the scores come in. Each time a score goes up I think that we are going to lose....but NO - we end up with the low score. We win.

After all of these years, I am thinking, "Finally I am going to get some pro shop credit somewhere so I can stock up on balls, clubs, shoes....whatever".

So they have the presentation ceremony and give us a cheap $10 trophy with the name of the disease misspelled. That is all.

Now on another note....my cousin is an architect in Tuscaloosa, AL. He designs a lot of healthcare facilities..hospitals/clinics etc. They have a charity event there every year for their local hospital.

Get this.

Every year - they give away a new car. No this ain't no Hole in One to get the car contest. Somebody - every year - is going to get a new car. And its not some cheap Chevy...its a Toyota.

This scramble in many ways is like others. The lowest three teams get pro shop credit of several hundred dollars each. But they add the car giveaway as a post round event.

During the regular scramble round, they have a par 3 where they track the ten closest shots to the pin. After everyone has finished their round, and they have awarded the prizes for the three lowest teams, they take the ten players who were closest to the pin on that designated hole and have a playoff. Everyone who has played in the scramble the previous four hours gathers around drinking beer and watches. So you have hundreds of people watching.

At first they hit shots from 100 yards away. They take the five closest from this group and go to 50 yards away. Then they take the two closest from this group and move the ball to 10 yards off the green.

The player who chips closest to the pin gets the new Toyota. And it is usually a choice between a nice Camry or a Tundra pickup.

Also - every player who enters gets to go to the golf shop and pick out a new pair of shoes. Any pair in the shop. Just for playing in the tournament.

Needless to say, I am begging these guys to let me play with their firm. I think I will get a chance this year...my cousin came damn close to winning the car last year...

 

[Davebud]

Well there is no handicapping in this event, and there will be 2 teams on each hole to keep it square. The oddball thing that they are doing is that each team has to bring dice. We will all get a # 1-4 and hit off the persons tee shot that corresponds with the roll of the die after teeing off. 5 and 6 are wild and we get to pick the tee shot we want to work from. There are 3 closest to the pin holes and one longest drive hole, the event benifits Boys and Girls club here in my county. Have no real chance of winning but it should be fun.

 

[Bravo]

Well there is no handicapping in this event, and there will be 2 teams on each hole to keep it square. The oddball thing that they are doing is that each team has to bring dice. We will all get a # 1-4 and hit off the persons tee shot that corresponds with the roll of the die after teeing off. 5 and 6 are wild and we get to pick the tee shot we want to work from. There are 3 closest to the pin holes and one longest drive hole, the event benifits Boys and Girls club here in my county. Have no real chance of winning but it should be fun.

I like the dice angle. Never heard of that one.

 

[Rockford35]

I like the dice angle. Never heard of that one.

We have a tourney like that here. The cheating isn't safe there either.

We played in a best ball scramble two years ago for our association tournament. We shot 19 under. The second place team shot -5. We were labelled cheaters right off the hop. I challenged any team to play ours head to head for all our prizes. We carried a combined handicap of about 4 for our whole team, what did they expect?

The worst part was that the prizes are randomly drawn for that tournament anyways, so there is ZERO incentive to cheat. We played outstanding golf, made some eagle putts and played tee to green like golf is meant to be played. Easily our best showing. Still, labelled because of the history of cheating at best ball tournaments.....

R35

 

[DouginGA]

Every year - they give away a new car.

Gotta be a stiff entry fee for a charity to give away a car??

Last one I played in was a scramble for battered women (that didnt come out quite right LOL).
mulligans were $5 each bought in advance and first prize $500, second $250. At the awards dinner the first place winners were class all the way and donated the winnings to the shelter. The second place team would have looked like real bums not to follow suit so did the same, but you could tell that their hearts were not really in it. . Found out later they had dropped another $50 on mulligans. :biglol:

 

[Eracer]

Gotta be a stiff entry fee for a charity to give away a car??

Last one I played in was a scramble for battered women (that didnt come out quite right LOL).
mulligans were $5 each bought in advance and first prize $500, second $250. At the awards dinner the first place winners were class all the way and donated the winnings to the shelter. The second place team would have looked like real bums not to follow suit so did the same, but you could tell that their hearts were not really in it. . Found out later they had dropped another $50 on mulligans. :biglol:

Why aren't women like eggs? You can't batter an egg...

Shame on me. Shame, I tell you...

 

[Eracer]

We have a tourney like that here. The cheating isn't safe there either.

We played in a best ball scramble two years ago for our association tournament. We shot 19 under. The second place team shot -5. We were labelled cheaters right off the hop. I challenged any team to play ours head to head for all our prizes. We carried a combined handicap of about 4 for our whole team, what did they expect?

The worst part was that the prizes are randomly drawn for that tournament anyways, so there is ZERO incentive to cheat. We played outstanding golf, made some eagle putts and played tee to green like golf is meant to be played. Easily our best showing. Still, labelled because of the history of cheating at best ball tournaments.....

R35

I played in a scramble in which they had some obscure method of handicapping the teams.

My team had a 10, 18, 20, and 30-something on it.
The winning team had a 4, 8, 11, 20.

They came in 5 strokes ahead of us (we played like a scramble should be played, everybody made great shots when needed, and we had a little luck). Anyway, we got a whole 4 strokes team differential. WTF!

You didn't say what the other team's handicap was. I bet they were pissed because they didn't get the differential they though they deserved.

What a bunch of losers.

 

[Rockford35]

I'm sure the other teams weren't nearly as well off handicap wise as we were. But that didn't really bother us because, as I mentioned, prizes are awarded at random anyways, so it doesn't mean squat.

We played in a reall best ball based on handicap the same year and we had to have one lady on our team. We shot -6 in the wind and rain. The team that won had two guys that had never played golf in their lives and a lady carrying a 30+ hdcp. Trouble was, their "playa" was the Minister of our department....cheating bastards.

He had a heart attack and died a few months ago. Karma.

R35