Played in a "best ball" tourney yesterday...like a putting lesson!!!

[Dub]

Had an absolute blast playing in a best ball tourney yesterday.

We had two outstanding ball strikers....a super putter......and me (the cheering section).

We worked up a great strategy on the very first hole....the obvious was for the low hcp to put a ball in play in great position and then I just tried to bust the drives. Knee felt good and advil was close at hand so I didn't mind giving it a big rip. It was sort of like therapy...letting it ride on a few drives.

The real strategy was once on the greens. We had a four looks at the putt from different angles and then we had a super lead-off putter who to date is one of the best lag putters I've ever seen.

Having two very solid golfers read the putts and determine breaks was really eye-opening. I've been playing the course for a year or better and thought I had a good feel for the breaks. They, however, chose the perfect spots each time.

I'd love to have a parlay with them prior to every putt that I made on the course in the future.


Another interesting thing I noted late in the round is that the two low hcp both were gaming 2-Ball putters and our lead-off / lag specialist was gaming an Odyssey center shafted mid-mallet.

Another interesting point I noted was that they were all gaming ProV1s.

Odyssey and Titleist would have been proud.

[goblue107501]

Do you mean a 'scramble' tournament? Where you pick the best shot of the four and everyone hits from there?

[denver_nuggs_15]

Had an absolute blast playing in a best ball tourney yesterday.

The format you played in is actually called a scramble if I'm not mistaken. They are so much fun to play in...especially if you have a couple good golfers in your group. Three other guys (two were <7 H.I.) and myself played in one. We decided that the least talented golfer would hit first and the best golfer would hit last. We took it a little different than you guys did.

Just watch out for cheaters. It's a really easy format to cheat in. I saw one group (not when I played in one, but when I caddied) that shot like 19 under par for the group for the day. Someone called shanigans and there was a slight issue. Just be careful in the future. How'd you guys do though?

[Dub]

Do you mean a 'scramble' tournament? Where you pick the best shot of the four and everyone hits from there?

Exactly.....sorry, it was the captain's choice as to which shot we'd take and then all hit from.

Our captain was the Club Senior Champ. He was a very, very bad dude.....a real stud on the course. I've never played with anyone who hit the ball so pure. I hope to play with him again soon. Again....it was very interesting to see his reads on the putts. He'd point out the spot and we'd try to terminate the putt there. It was too easy. The greens are bermuda and were firm and moderate speed...which picked up through the round. He took many variables into account. It was essentially a free lesson on putting / green reading.

[elementz]

I love playing scrambles, especially as a high handicapper. Usually I am going with one of my partner's shots but it feels great to hit the nicest shot out of the 3 other golfers who are better than you.

I also concur that it is way to easy to cheat but in all of the scrambles that I have played, they have all been for charity and to have a few beers with friends.

[bogeymike]

They are fun.

[GDWindowpane]

They are fun to play in but can form some bad habits... I'm usually one of the stronger hitters in my group and typically tee off last. Hopefully someone has put one in play which allows me to grip it and rip it. Not something I would typically do in a normal round.

[MiniMoe]

There is a guy at our course that is a pretty good player, but can't read a putt to save his life. He plays his best when he has someone read his putts for him. We usually play wolf, or 1,2,3,4, so unless he is on my team, he is SOL and on his own.... which is why he tends to lose.

A couple things I notice about his putting... 1) He is not very good at look at the green as a whole to determine peaks and valleys to give him a general idea of overall break in a putt. He simply looks at the putt from behind the ball. We are trying to teach him that sometimes you have to look at other things to understand and predict which way the ball will move. 2) he almost never plays enough break, even if he knows which way the ball will move. 3) his speed control is horrible. It is getting better because I think he is finally beginning to understand that the speed of a putt is more important than the line. He would walk up to a 10 footer and hit it 6 feet past the hole, then leave the next one short. We would tell him that even if he hit the hole dead center, there was very little chance for that putt to go in at that speed. He is shaving strokes off his game just by not three jacking 4 times a round. On top of that, he is now starting to make a few putts.... when we tell him the correct line.

[PiKapp23]

I have always enjoyed playing a scramble or 2 a year. I play a fraternity scramble every spring with the same 3 guys. We have won 3 times and finished 2nd twice in last 9 years we've played together. Funny thing is I'm probably 10+ strokes better than the other players on my team and I'm not as good as a few of the other golfers playing every year, but our team always scores great in these events.

I've always been a really good putter, but like to go first instead of last. I do not want to see a bad line and my partners are horrible at reading greens. I make a good number of putts and when I miss 1 of the other guys is really good at getting putts right speed if he sees the line first.

Our team configuration basically consists of me (fairly long and accurate driver and decent with irons and short game and good putter); a guy with bad back who can't drive it more than about 175 yards, but it's always straight, and who is also a good putter when given line; a really good iron player with great short game; and the fourth guy makes Charles Barkley look like Tiger Woods (yea, he's that bad), but always seems to hit a good shot when none of the rest of us have (plus he had a hole-in-one in the scramble the first year we won). The team would not seem to be a perfect fix, but we all have our specialities and everyone seems to play better when we play together.

[clubhousehero]

Pleyed a scrable once with friends on an empty course. We were a 4 some, 2 of them are 7 and 8 hc and me and the other kid are high hcs. The 2 high hcs teed off first and if we were in the fairway, the other 2 just tried to kill it. They both can hit it 300 - 330 with some consistence. really fun to watch. One guy even flew the green on a short dogleg par 4.