How to flight a golf scramble

Flighting splits one scramble field into smaller prize groups so the weekend team is not chasing the club champions for the same trophy. There are two ways to do it, and they are not the same decision:

Pre-flighting sorts teams into flights by team handicap before the round.
Post-round flighting sorts teams into flights by gross score after the round.

Pick one, print it on the rules sheet, and do not switch on the day.

Pre-flighting by team handicap (before the round)

You flight on paper before anyone tees off, using team handicaps.

Collect Course Handicaps for every player at registration. See how to collect course handicaps for a scramble.
Work out each team handicap with one allowance for the whole field. Run the numbers through the scramble handicap calculator, or the Ambrose vs USGA dual-mode calculator if your field uses Ambrose.
Sort teams by team handicap, lowest to highest.
Cut the list into flights. Championship, A, B, and so on. Equal numbers of teams per flight are easiest to explain.
Print the flight on the pairing sheet next to each team so captains know who they are playing against. Keep it on the scramble pairing sheet.
Score each flight on its own leaderboard, gross or net as you published. Gross vs net scramble scoring explains the difference.

When it fits: fields with reliable handicaps, events where teams want to know their competition at the first tee, and net prizes inside each flight.

Watch for: late team changes. A no-show or standby fill can move a team across a flight line. Decide in advance whether flights are locked at print or rechecked after day-of rebalancing.

Post-round flighting by gross score (after the round)

Everyone plays the same event. Flights are drawn from the final gross scores once the cards are in.

Play the round with no flights assigned.
Collect every team gross score.
Sort gross scores, best to worst.
Cut the sorted list into flights using the rule you published. For example, a fixed number of teams per flight, or equal thirds of the field.
Award prizes inside each flight.

When it fits: fields where handicaps are patchy or missing, casual charity days, and organisers who want to avoid sandbagged team handicaps.

Watch for: ties on a flight line. Two teams on the same gross score at the cut need a published tiebreak before you split them. Use one method from scramble tiebreaker rules and apply it the same way at every line.

Pre-flighting vs post-round flighting at a glance

	Pre-flighting	Post-round flighting
Based on	Team handicap	Team gross score
When flights are set	Before the round	After the round
Needs handicaps	Yes	No
Teams know their flight at the tee	Yes	No
Main risk	Wrong or inflated handicaps	Ties at the flight line

Fields with no handicaps: Callaway and Peoria

Some fields have no handicaps at all. Two old systems produce a handicap from the day's scores instead.

Peoria. The committee secretly picks a set of holes before the round, commonly 6. Players do not know which holes count. After the round, each handicap is worked out from the scores on those hidden holes.
Callaway. After the round, a player deducts their worst hole scores. How many holes are deducted comes from a table tied to the gross score.

Both systems were built for individual scores. Scramble events adapt them by applying the same steps to the team gross score. Publish which version you use and who runs the numbers before the day. Do not improvise the table or the hole selection at the scoring desk.

Once you have a Peoria or Callaway handicap for each team, you can flight on it or award net prizes from it. If your field does have handicaps, the standard route is simpler: the scramble handicap calculator.

Flighting checklist for the rules sheet

Pre-flighting or post-round flighting.
How flights are cut (number of teams per flight, or share of the field).
Gross or net prizes inside each flight.
Tiebreak rule at every flight line.
Whether flights lock at print or are rechecked after no-shows.
Peoria or Callaway version, if the field has no handicaps.

Put all of it on your scramble tournament rules sheet.

What is flighting in a golf scramble?

Flighting splits the field into smaller groups of teams that compete for their own prizes. You can flight before the round by team handicap (pre-flighting) or after the round by gross score (post-round flighting).

What is the difference between pre-flighting and post-round flighting?

Pre-flighting uses team handicaps to set flights before anyone tees off, so teams know their competition at the first tee. Post-round flighting waits for final gross scores, sorts them, and cuts the list into flights, so no handicaps are needed.

How do you flight a scramble with no handicaps?

Use post-round flighting on gross scores, or create handicaps from the day's scores with Peoria or Callaway. Peoria uses scores on a set of secretly chosen holes, commonly 6. Callaway deducts a player's worst hole scores based on a table tied to gross score. Both were designed for individual scores, so events adapt them for team gross.

How do you break a tie on a flight line?

Publish one tiebreak method before the day and apply it at every flight line. See scramble tiebreaker rules.

Keep reading

Flight the field, then score clean

Scrambled Eggs runs Ambrose and scramble team scoring on iOS, one phone per group, so each group walks in with its gross total ready for you to sort into flights.

Install Scrambled Eggs on the App Store