A little help with Scramble Rules

Newbie here and I hope this is the right place for this question. I have been asked to head up the long drive portion of a pretty large/high profile golf scramble coming up in a couple of months. I don't have much experience with golf scrambles but my understanding is the ball is hit (in the fairway to qualify?), its marked and if someone drives a ball past that the mark is moved and name recorded? And that continues until everyone has played the hole(s)? If there is a woman in a group and she plays from the ladie's tee does that change anything?

Thanks for any help, and if I am missing something please feel free to point it out.

I highly recommend having a hole for men's long drive and a different hole for women's long drive.

A long straight par 5 is best, especially for the men's.

But yes you have the procedure correct, it's relatively simple.

yes it should have to be in the fairway to qualify. you also might want to make sure you have a marshal monitoring the hole. the words scramble and cheat are s ynonymous (sp?)

You might also want to clarify that "Longest Drive" means longest from the tee and finishing on the fairway. We had an instance last year where one drive was long and finished nearer the pin than another long drive which was longer and on the fairway but not nearer the pin!

You got that right. More than once I've watched the team ahead of me spray the ball all over the course for 4+ hours, only to come in at 10 under.

+1....straight, probably being more important than long FWIW, and without any real hazards that force a 'layup v. go-for-it' decision off the tee (if possible).  A nice, straight expanse of fairway staring back at you on the tee lets everyone wind up and go for it.  If there's a lake or middle-of-the-fairway bunker near the typical landing area, that probably forces at least one team member into playing a conservative shot and not being able to participate in the grip-n-rip portion of it.  My $.02

One "typical rule" for long drive holes in scrambles is that for the long drive to count it has to be the one used by the group in the scramble.   While it normally wouldn't seem to be a problem  (why wouldn't you use the long one?) this can come into play when you have to use a certain number of tee shots from each player.    For example, I played in a scramble once where the long drive hole was 18 and each player had to contribute at least 3 tee shots, and we came to 18 with only 2 used with one of our players.    Three drives were far longer than his, but we had to use his on the hole so that was the tee shot that counted.

If you're not doing a shotgun start (aren't most scrambles shotguns, though?), to help avoid that kind of situation, I'd avoid, say, the last 5 holes as the long-drive hole, that way the group is unlikely to feel pressure to go with a drive that isn't the longest. Also, players are less likely to be influenced by fatigue if you put it in the first 12 or 13 holes. But those both depend on not having a shotgun start.

All scrambles have a rules sheet that specifies what's in play at the event. These rules will vary by course and by the organization which sets them up. Most often, I see a four-person scramble: Each person hits a tee shot. All then go to the spot of your group's best tee shot, and all hit an approach shot. You keep hitting from the spot of the last best shot until your group holes out. There's generally one or two holes designated as longest drive holes. Otherwise, you'd never get done if you measured longest drive on every hole. Again, the consult the rules sheet for specifics of your scramble. Rules from my most recent scramble: * Play from white tees (men's regular) * Two-putt maximum per green * Maximum score of bogey per hole * Skins game ($20 a person per team + entire team must pay; we never did figure out how the money got divided) * One longest drive hole * Closest to pin on par 3 holes. It was fairly clearcut and simple. No mulligans for sale; no string (sometimes every group gets 3 feet of string, and you can use it to bring ball back into fairway, or to finish up a short putt rather than use a stroke; leftover string serves as tie-breaker).

Thanks everyone for your input! This is all very helpful and your advice will be put to use.