Scramble or shamble it’s still fun for Horsham Seniors golfers

Horsham Seniors took on the challenge of a Modified Score Texas Scramble that is designed to test a range of skills.

A Texas Scramble, or shamble as it is sometimes known, is a relaxed way to play golf with friends in a team format without worrying too much about whether your golfing skills, or lack of them, will affect gameplay.

In a team of four everyone hits a tee shot on every hole and the best drive chosen is the spot for the ball in play for all four. Once again the best position is identified and each team member hits their ball from that location following the same routine until the ball ends up in the hole.

With some extremely good scores everyone was able to enjoy a group game without worrying too much about letting the others down, even if your ball goes out of play it won’t upset the score too much as someone else is likely to be in a better spot. It can also encourage more aggressive play in the spirit of just going for it so this game offers the best of both worlds for the high and the low handicappers.

The modifications for the Horsham Seniors came in the form of requiring everyone to have a minimum number of drives and changing the Stableford scores according to the number of strokes on each hole.

It certainly makes the format more mathematically challenging, as an eagle scores 7 points, a birdie 5 points and a par 2 points, then a bogey is minus 3 points and a double-bogey scores minus 5 points.

Playing off 10 per cent of their combined course handicaps, the winning team on Tuesday, Jill Bowden, Kevin Lark, Nigel Jerome and Andew Gunning carded an impressive 79 points that included 3 eagles and 10 birdies.

Coming in second on 76 points were Clive Limbrick, Ian Davenport, Dennis Jordan and Keith Martin.

On Wednesday with 2 eagles and another 10 birdies, the winning team of Nairon Khan, Derek Shadbolt, Dennis Warner and Steve Fisher scored 73 points, celebrating their win after the round in the ‘Café Upstairs’.

Second place went to Will Pitt, James Barclay, Alan Butt and Tommy Ward with a score of 71 points.