Alright, so we got out on the course the other weekend. Felt good to swing the clubs again. We usually just play our own ball, stroke play, you know the drill. But this time, one of the guys, Tom, mentioned trying a different format called a Shamble. Sounded interesting enough, so we decided, why not? Give it a shot.
Getting Started with the Shamble Idea
None of us were exactly experts on it, so we looked it up real quick before teeing off. Seemed simple enough, really. Here’s the gist of what we figured out we needed to do:
- Everyone tees off on every hole. Just like normal golf.
- Then, the whole team looks at where all the drives ended up.
- You pick the best drive out of the bunch.
- Everyone on the team picks up their ball and takes it to the spot of that best drive.
- From that spot, everyone plays their own ball into the hole. Like regular golf from the second shot onwards.
So, you get the benefit of a good tee shot, but you still have to play your own game for the rest of the hole. Seemed like a decent mix.
Hitting the Course – How it Went Down
We got to the first tee. Everyone took their swings. I hooked mine a bit left, Mark sliced his way right (pretty standard for him), Dave hit a decent one down the middle but not super long, and Tom absolutely crushed one, perfect position. So, obviously, we picked Tom’s drive. No brainer.
We all walked up to Tom’s ball, found our spots nearby (within a club length, we decided), and then played our second shots from there. It definitely made the approach shots easier than where my drive ended up! From that point on, it was just regular golf. I hit the green, two-putted for par. Mark somehow found the bunker from that great spot, took him two to get out, ended with a double bogey. Dave made par, Tom birdied.
For scoring, we decided to take the two lowest scores from our foursome on each hole. So for that first hole, we took Tom’s birdie and my par (or Dave’s par, same difference). Felt fair, kept everyone involved.
We kept doing this for all 18 holes. Tee off, pick the best drive, everyone plays their own ball from there. It was kinda nice, took some pressure off the tee shots. If you hit a bad one, you knew it probably wouldn’t get used anyway, thanks to whoever hit the fairway. But you still had to focus on your own approach shots, chipping, and putting. You couldn’t just completely rely on everyone else like in a standard scramble sometimes.
Thoughts on the Format
It definitely felt different. On one hand, using the best drive really helps speed things up a little, or at least makes the second shots more playable for everyone. Less time spent hacking out of the woods, usually. It keeps everyone more involved than a scramble, since you’re playing most of the hole with your own ball.
On the other hand, you still have everyone playing their own ball from the second shot in, so it’s not necessarily faster than a regular round once you’re past the tee shots. And you still get that moment after the drives where everyone stands around deciding which ball to use. Not a big deal, but it’s part of the flow.
Overall? Yeah, it was a pretty fun way to play. Good change of pace. Made for some good team scores without feeling like a total giveaway like some scrambles can. We actually shot quite well as a team, using those best drives really helped avoid blow-up holes. We’d probably do it again sometime, especially if we have a group with different skill levels. It levels the playing field a bit off the tee, which is cool.
