Competition formats
Parful runs thisTexas scramble
Also called Texas scramble golf, Scramble with minimum drives.
A Texas scramble is a scramble with one extra rule: a minimum number of each player's drives must be used over the round, commonly 3 or 4 each in a team of four. Everything else is a standard scramble, one ball per team, one card, and a team handicap built from each player's Course Handicap™.
- Played as
- One ball per team, one card per team
- The extra rule
- A minimum number of drives per player, commonly 3 or 4 each in a four
- Team handicap
- As scramble: two players 35% low plus 15% high, larger teams tiered
- Enforced by
- The team, on honor; the app records the score only
- Ties
- Countback on the team card
- Runs on
- Club competitions, events
How a Texas scramble works
Play is exactly as in a scramble. Everyone tees off, the team chooses the best ball, everyone plays from that spot, and the team keeps one score per hole. The difference is a rule about whose drives get used. Before the round the committee sets a minimum, and each player's tee shot must be the chosen ball on at least that many holes. In a team of four over eighteen holes the common figure is 3 or 4 drives each; in a team of two it is often 6 or 7 each.
The rule exists because a plain scramble can be won from the tee by one long hitter whose drive is chosen on every hole. Forcing the team to use everyone's drive puts the weaker players' tee shots in play and turns the format into a team game again.
Managing the drives
Teams count drives as they go, and the count shapes the round. A team that takes the long hitter's drive on the first nine holes may reach the sixteenth needing three drives from its weakest player with three holes to play, and must use whatever that player hits. Good teams bank the shorter drives early, on par threes and on holes where the tee shot matters least, and keep the strong driver for the closing holes.
A drive that must be used is used whatever the result. If the ball is out of bounds the team plays from the tee under penalty, using that player's next tee shot, or takes its relief and plays on. Committees should say in the conditions how an unplayable drive counts.
Team handicap and ties
The team handicap is the scramble handicap. For a team of two it is 35% of the lower Course Handicap plus 15% of the higher, rounded to a whole number; larger teams use a tiered split of each player's Course Handicap, decided by the club. Strokes fall by stroke index and the team net is the team gross minus those strokes. Ties are settled by countback on the team card, back nine first.
How Parful runs it
Choose Texas scramble when you set up a club competition or an event round and enter the minimum drives per player in the conditions, where it is shown on the round's rules. Parful builds the team handicap, designates the tee with the lowest Course Rating™ among the team's tees, places the strokes and gives the team one card. The scorer enters one number per hole and the leaderboard ranks gross and net with countback.
The minimum-drives rule is an honor rule. Parful does not record whose drive was used on each hole and does not enforce the count; the team keeps the tally and signs for it, as it does on paper. Side games that read a player's own ball are unavailable on a Texas scramble; a Custom bet is the one side game the team can carry. No score from a Texas scramble is posted to a handicap record.
Worked example
A worked example: a two-player Texas scramble, front nine
Cal plays off a Course Handicap of 12 and Dee off 24, with a minimum of 6 drives each over the round. Team handicap: 35% of 12 is 4.2, 15% of 24 is 3.6, total 7.8, rounded to 8. The team receives a stroke on stroke index 1 to 8, which on this front nine is holes 1, 2, 4 and 7.
| Hole | Par | Stroke index | Team stroke | Drive used | Drives so far (Cal / Dee) | Team gross | Team net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 7 | 1 | Cal | 1 / 0 | 4 | 3 |
| 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | Cal | 2 / 0 | 4 | 3 |
| 3 | 3 | 17 | 0 | Dee | 2 / 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Cal | 3 / 1 | 4 | 3 |
| 5 | 4 | 11 | 0 | Dee | 3 / 2 | 4 | 4 |
| 6 | 3 | 15 | 0 | Dee | 3 / 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | 1 | Cal | 4 / 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 8 | 4 | 9 | 0 | Dee | 4 / 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | 4 | 13 | 0 | Cal | 5 / 4 | 4 | 4 |
- The team banked Dee's drives on the two par threes and the short par fours where the tee shot mattered least.
- The drive count is kept by the team. Parful records the hole scores and the team handicap, not whose ball was chosen.
Common variants
- Drives set by the committee
- Some clubs fix the drives per player at 4 in a four and 6 in a pair; others let the team choose any split as long as every player is used at least once. The scoring is identical.
- Texas scramble with a Stableford card
- The team's net hole scores are converted to Stableford points against par. Parful scores scrambles as stroke play; a Stableford scramble is not offered as such.
- Florida scramble
- A different restriction: the player whose shot was chosen sits out the next shot. Parful runs it as its own format.