Not all golf is good for your game! Before you start thinking I am crazy and clicking away; read a bit more and see where I am going. Lately, I have played more scramble tournaments than regular stroke play. It is great fun and I still have an event next week to play before my tournament season starts to wind down. The the real questions is all this tournament play good for my game!
Playing scramble and stroke golf are two different beasts. Yes, you still have to hit the ball, but the strategy is different because of that playing in too many scramble tournaments does not necessarily keep my game sharp. I need to stay focused on what I can do during stroke play instead of the bash, chip and putt approach to scramble golf.
I realize that many of you are thinking that scramble golf is good for your game, but I am not convinced. During the past 6 rounds of scramble golf, I realized that chipping from 50 yards more often than not does not play into my strengths. This is definitely an in-between shot that I rarely practice. And it is not a shot that I plan to spend a whole bunch of time trying to perfect.
During stroke play, I tend to stay around the 80 yard mark or hit to within 25 yards. It is the half wedges that I have challenges with and unfortunately during scramble games that is the distances we seem to hit from the most. My stroke game allows me to control the course management and hit the shots I need to hit to play well. During a scramble, it is golf by consensus.
Bottom line is that too much scramble golf is not good for my game from a score perspective. Mentally, it is awesome because it is great fun and I enjoy playing golf with friends. That aspect of the game does not need improving because golf is a contact sport. Regardless, I always play a string of scramble events every year about this time and have learned to endure the stresses on my game.
Too much scramble events is not good for my game, but it is part of my golf season. I love playing is these events and will worry about scoring low in a week or so! Does any specific format have a detrimental affect on your golf game?
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
Jim, I’d just put scramble golf in a totally different bucket and not worry about how it affects your game. Just look at it as a totally fun event that is not really golf.
To put it in perspective, look at the best in the world on Wednesday before the Masters. In the par-3 tournament, they play snooker, skip balls off the water, laugh and horse around, and the next day compete their brains out in the first major of the season. Doesn’t seem to affect them one bit. . .although the winner of the Par-3 never won the big one 🙂 Anyway, you get my point.
Thanks!
Brian
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Brian,
I do get your point. And I have fun for sure, however I seem to always load up a couple of weeks with just scrambles and it takes a bit of time to recover. You are right though, it is all about the fun. Thanks for the perspective.
Cheers Jim
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I understand where you are coming from. I would think though that if you adjust your range practice accordingly, you should be able to keep your game sharp and maybe even make it better with all the practice you get in those tournaments on shots that aren’t something you would normally try to include. I don’t like 50 yards nearly as much as 80. In fact, I had two of them yesterday and sent both long which ticked me off a bit. I wasn’t trying to get to 50 yards out, I just had hit a lower trajectory than I really wanted and got more roll than expected leaving me with a closer than I was trying for. It happens. So getting some practice in on them should be a help as long as we use the range to practice the distances we want in between those tournaments to help keep our game sharp.
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Kevin,
You make valid points, but it does not seem to work that way for me at this time. It is all good because I am playing golf and enjoying the company. Just a good trade off I guess.
Cheers Jim
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