Scramble, the team game.

Overview

A Scramble is a team format where all teammates tee off, the team selects the best of those shots, and then every player plays their next stroke from that spot. The same selection process repeats on every shot until the ball is holed — one ball, one score per hole for the whole team. It's the most accessible team format in golf because no one is on the hook for a single bad swing.

How a Scramble Works

1. Form teams. Most scrambles use 4-person teams; 2-person scrambles also work.
2. All teammates tee off. Every player on the team hits a tee shot.
3. Pick the best shot. The team agrees on which shot they like best (typically the longest or best-positioned).
4. Everyone plays from that spot. Each player drops within a club length (no closer to the hole) of the selected ball and plays their next stroke.
5. Repeat for every shot. The same select-and-play-from-there process continues for fairway shots, approaches, chips, and putts — until one ball is holed.
6. Record one team score per hole. The number of strokes the team took, including the holed putt, is the team score for that hole.

Detailed Rules

One ball, one score. Unlike Best Ball, the team produces a single score per hole, not a "best of" comparison. The whole group plays the same ball after each selection.

Drop position. Players drop within one club length of the selected ball, no closer to the hole, and not into a different lie type (fairway must stay fairway, rough stays rough, sand stays sand). Putts are placed, not dropped, and must be played from the same line.

Tee shot rules. Most scrambles require the team to use a minimum number of each player's tee shots over the round (e.g., "every player's drive must be used at least three times"). This prevents one big hitter from carrying the team and is a tournament-by-tournament rule.

Front 9, Back 9, Overall. Duck Hook Golf tracks team totals for the front nine, back nine, and overall round — just like a stroke-play tournament, but with one team score per hole instead of individual scores.

Variants & Handicap

Scramble Match (the match-play variant). Same scoring rule — one team score per hole — but team scores are compared hole-by-hole between two teams. Lower team-score wins the hole; ties are halved. Useful when two scramble teams want a head-to-head match instead of a stroke-play leaderboard. Select "Scramble Match" instead of "Scramble" when creating the game.

Handicaps. A scramble is a one-ball format, so Duck Hook Golf scores the team’s shared ball gross — no individual handicap strokes apply. Charity events that want an equalizer usually handle it outside the scoring (balanced team draws, or a manual percentage-of-combined-handicap adjustment applied to the printed results).

Variant: Texas Scramble. Same as a standard scramble but with a minimum-drives rule per player — each player's tee shot must be selected at least N times during the round.

Strategy

• Worst-to-best putting order. When the team has multiple players putting the same line, send the worst putter first so the better putters can read the line off them.
• Aggressive on tee shots. The longest hitter goes for it — if the shot is wild, the team uses someone else's safe ball.
• Don't waste the best shot. If your team's drive is in perfect position, don't have your weakest iron player hit first — let your best ball-striker swing first while the option is still live.
• Use everyone. If your tournament requires minimum drives per player, plan ahead so you're not stuck using a weak player's drive on a tough hole at the end.

Presses and side bets. Play it as a match and the trailing side can press: a new bet on the remaining holes, or a 2x on what’s left. The app scores both. It also tracks side bets like closest to the pin and long drive on top, and settles them with the rest of the round.

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