What Is A Texas Scramble?
Texas Scramble is one of golf's most popular formats. Find out more about it here
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Texas Scramble is a form of team competition in golf. In its purest, simplest form, all members of the team, which is normally made up of 3 or 4 players, tee off.
After all have teed off, the team decides which drive is the best. From there, all members of the team place their golf balls where the chosen drive ended up, with all members playing a second shot from this spot.
From these second shots, one is chosen and all play a third shot from there - and so on until the ball is holed. Each team returns one score for each hole and the team with the lowest score for the round wins.
Groupings are primarily made up of three or fourballs
Originally, Texas Scramble was known as Captain’s Choice. However, in the 1950s, the format became extremely popular in Texas, hence why it then became known as a Texas Scramble.
One of the main attractions of the format is that golfers with less ability can join in with little fear of embarrassment or of being a burden to other players. If a golfer’s drive whimpers off deep into a nearby undergrowth, then there is no issue - just choose one of the other two or three drives.
However, although this would usually be the case, there are many variations on the rules of Texas Scramble. For example, some formats require that a certain number of drives must be taken by each player in the team, typically three drives in a four-man team, or four in a three-man team.
The advantage of a Texas Scramble is that you have multiple opportunities to get it in play
Another variation is that the person whose shot you decide to take cannot play the next shot. Thus, if Al, Bill, Clive and Dave are playing together and Al‘s drive is selected only Bill, Clive and Dave can play the second shots. Then, if it is Dave’s second shot the team to decide to take, only Al, Bill and Clive can play third shots.
The aim of these modifications is to keep all players involved. In pure Texas Scramble, in theory, one player could play every shot that counts. For some, the attraction of Texas Scramble is precisely that one or two players can carry a team.
For this reason, Texas Scramble is often used for charity events and when several of the golfers may be rookies or very out of practice.
Jeremy Ellwood has worked in the golf industry since 1993 and for Golf Monthly since 2002 when he started out as equipment editor. He is now a freelance journalist writing mainly for Golf Monthly across the whole spectrum from courses and Rules to equipment and instruction. He also edits The Golf Club Secretary Newsletter, a highly regarded trade publication for golf club secretaries and managers, and has authored or co-authored three books and written for a number of national papers including The Telegraph and The Independent. He is a senior panelist for Golf Monthly's Top 100 UK & Ireland Course Rankings and has played all of the Top 100 plus 91 of the Next 100, making him well-qualified when it comes to assessing and comparing our premier golf courses. He has now played well over 950 golf courses worldwide in 35 countries, right across the spectrum from the humblest of nine-holers in the Scottish Highlands to the very grandest of international golf resorts, but put him on a links course anywhere and he will be blissfully content.
Jezz can be contacted via Twitter - @JezzEllwoodGolf
Jeremy is currently playing...
Driver: Ping G425 LST 10.5˚ (draw setting), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 55 S shaft
3 wood: Ping G425 Max 15˚ (set to flat +1), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 65 S shaft
Hybrid: Ping G425 17˚, Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Orange 80 S shaft
Irons 3-PW: Ping i525, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts
Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 50˚ and 54˚, 12˚ bounce, True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 R300 shafts
Putter: Ping Fetch 2021 model, 33in shaft (set flat 2)
Ball: Varies but mostly now TaylorMade Tour Response
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