Scramble Tee Assignments: Men's, Women's, Senior and Forward Tees

Assign scramble tees by how far each player hits it, and use men's, women's, senior and forward as the usual shorthand for that. Put the tee policy on the rules sheet before anyone tees off. Then work out each player's Course Handicap from the tees they actually play, and apply the USGA scramble percentages to those numbers.

How to set up tees for a scramble

Choose your approach. Everyone on the same tees, or tees by category.
Assign by distance first. A long-hitting senior may belong on the regular tees. A shorter-hitting younger player may be happier forward.
Use the labels as the default. Men's, women's, senior and forward are the easy starting point. Decide who approves a request to move.
Write the tee policy on the rules sheet. Which tee each category plays, who can change, and your rule for where a mixed-tee team plays from after the drive.
Collect every player's Handicap Index. Get it at registration, along with the tee they'll play.
Turn each Index into a Course Handicap from that player's tees. Not their teammates' tees.
Apply the team allowance. Rank the Course Handicaps lowest first and apply the USGA percentages, or use Ambrose if that's your format. Lock the team numbers before the horn.

Choose tees by distance, then by label

Tees are there to make the course the right length for the player. Gender and age are just a quick way to guess distance.

For most players the label and the distance line up fine. Where they don't, let people move and write down who approved it. What you don't want is players picking tees on the day because they feel like it.

Same tees vs category tees

	Same tees for everyone	Category tees (men's, women's, senior, forward)
Best for	Simple charity days, social groups	Mixed fields with a wide range of hitting distance
Setup	Easiest. One tee on the sheet	More work. A tee for each category plus a move policy
Course Handicaps	Everyone's comes from the same tees	Each player's comes from their own tees
Fairness for shorter hitters	Can be tough on long holes	Better balance across the field
Mixed-tee team ball rule	Not needed	Needed on the rules sheet
Pace of play	Simple, one tee box	Carts stop at more than one tee box

Either works. Pick one and print it on your scramble tournament rules sheet.

Course Handicap must match the tees played

This is where most tee mistakes turn into handicap mistakes.

Every player's Course Handicap comes from the tees that player actually plays. Under the World Handicap System the formula is:

Course Handicap = Handicap Index x (Slope Rating / 113) + (Course Rating minus Par)

The Slope Rating, Course Rating and Par all come from that player's tees. That last part, Course Rating minus Par, is what sorts out the difference between tees. So when players on one team play different tees, the difference is already built into each player's Course Handicap.

That means you should not add a second tee adjustment on top before applying the scramble percentages. Do it once, in the Course Handicap, and stop there.

In Australia, use your Daily Handicap from the club chart or the GA app. Golf Australia uses its own formula, not the one above. It adds a 0.93 multiplier and a Consistency Factor that's different for women and men. So don't run a GA Handicap through the formula above and call the answer your Daily Handicap. The details are in Golf Australia's WHS reference guide.

You don't need to do the maths yourself. The course's handicap table, the club system or the national handicap app will give each player their Course Handicap for their tees. For the step-by-step, see how to collect Course Handicaps for a scramble.

Then apply the team allowance

Once every player has a Course Handicap from their own tees, rank the team lowest handicap first and apply the USGA allowances:

4-person scramble: 25%, 20%, 15%, 10%
3-person scramble: 30%, 20%, 10%
2-person scramble: 35%, 15%

Playing Ambrose in Australia or New Zealand instead? The team handicap is the sum of the players' handicaps divided by two times the number of players. Same starting point either way: each player's handicap for the tees they play. In Australia that's their Daily Handicap.

The scramble handicap calculator does the percentages for you. If you're not sure which method your event uses, the Ambrose vs USGA scramble handicap calculator shows both side by side. Running a Texas scramble? Same tee logic. See Texas scramble rules for the format.

A mixed-tee team still plays one ball

Different tees don't change the format. The team hits its tee shots, picks one, and everyone plays the next shot from there.

Where it gets fiddly is after a drive from a different tee box. A common approach is that the chosen drive is the chosen drive, and everyone plays from that spot whichever tee it came from. But there isn't one official scramble rule here that everyone follows, and some events add their own tweaks.

Decide your rule and write it on the sheet. Something plain like "Players tee off from their assigned tees. After the drive is chosen, all players play from that ball" saves a lot of arguing on the par 5s. Your usual placement rules still apply after that.

Can one team play different tees?

Yes. Each player plays their assigned tee, and the team still plays one ball. Make sure each Course Handicap comes from that player's own tees, and put your mixed-tee rule on the rules sheet.

Do forward tees change the handicap percentages?

No. The USGA percentages stay the same whatever tees people play. The tee difference is handled inside each player's Course Handicap, so don't add an extra adjustment on top.

Where do I get a player's Course Handicap?

From the course's handicap table, the club system or the national handicap app, using the tees that player will play. Our guide on collecting Course Handicaps walks through it.

Where does the team play from after a drive off a different tee?

A common approach is that everyone plays the next shot from the chosen drive, whichever tee it was hit from. There's no single official rule for this in a scramble, so write your version on the rules sheet.

Keep reading

Score the day on one phone

Once tees and handicaps are set, give each group one phone. Scrambled Eggs keeps the team score and records whose drive was used, hole by hole.

Download Scrambled Eggs on the App Store