Okay, so we decided to mix things up on the course last Saturday. Got tired of the usual stroke play, even scrambles felt a bit same-old same-old. Someone, I think it was Dave, mentioned this “shambles” format. Sounded kinda chaotic, which honestly, appealed to us.
Getting Started with Shambles
First off, we had to figure out exactly how this thing worked. Looked it up real quick. Seemed simple enough, kinda like a scramble but with a twist.
- Everyone tees off like normal.
- We all walk (or ride) up and pick the best drive out of the four of us.
- Here’s the twist: from that one best drive spot, everyone hits their own second shot.
- Then, you just play your own ball into the hole from there. Normal golf rules apply after the second shot.
- For scoring, we decided to just take the one lowest score from our foursome on each hole. Kept it simple.
So, yeah, got the rules down. Felt pretty straightforward. We figured it’d be faster than regular play ’cause you’re usually starting your second shot from a decent spot, thanks to pooling our drives.
Hitting the Course
We got to the club, grabbed our carts, and headed to the first tee. Everyone was kinda hyped to try something different. The plan was simple: let the big hitter (usually Mike) try to bomb one, and the rest of us just needed to get one in the fairway, just in case.
First hole, Mike crushes one, dead center. Perfect. We all picked up our balls, rode up to his spot in the middle of the fairway. Dropped our balls within a club length, and boom, everyone’s hitting their second shot from maybe 150 yards out. Felt good starting from such a prime location, gotta say. Normally, at least two of us would be punching out from the trees.
This pattern basically repeated. Tee off, find the best drive (sometimes it wasn’t Mike’s, surprisingly!), everyone plays their own ball from that spot. What was interesting was seeing how differently we all played the hole even starting from the same position on the second shot. Like on the 5th hole, a par 4, we used Pete’s drive. I ended up in the bunker, Dave skulled one over the green, Pete himself actually made par, and Mike somehow managed a birdie. We took Mike’s birdie for the team score, obviously.
Playing Your Own Ball Matters
What I liked, compared to a scramble, was that you still got to play your own ball for most of the hole. You hit your own irons, your own chips, your own putts. It felt more like real golf after the tee shot. In a scramble, you can kinda get lazy or feel like your shots don’t matter as much if someone else is hitting great ones. Here, your score could be the one that counts, so you gotta stay focused.
We definitely had some laughs. On the 12th, none of us hit a good drive. We ended up using a ball that was barely off the tee box, just because it was technically in the fairway. That second shot felt ridiculously long. Then there was the par 3, 16th. We all teed off, and Dave’s ball ended up like 5 feet from the pin! Easiest team birdie ever. We didn’t even bother hitting our second shots from his spot, just went straight to putting (though technically we should have all played it out from his tee shot spot, but hey, we adapted).
Wrapping Up
Finished the round, added up the best scores for each hole. The final team score was pretty low, definitely lower than any of us would have shot individually. It felt competitive but also relaxed. Because you always started the real “individual” part of the hole from a good drive, it took a lot of the pressure off the tee. You could swing away a bit more freely.
Overall, I really dug the shambles format. It’s a nice middle ground. You get the team fun and benefit of the best drive, but you still have the challenge and satisfaction of playing your own ball into the hole. Kept things moving pretty well too. We’ll definitely be doing this again. Good way to change things up without going full scramble chaos.
