What is Vegas Scramble?

Vegas Scramble is a version of Texas Scramble which aims to keep all players in a team more involved than can be the case in a game of Texas Scramble

Las Vegas Scramble is a variation on the standard Texas Scramble format. Texas Scramble, also known as Captain’s Choice, is a team game whereby every player takes a shot and the team then elects which of these shots to play.

All players then place their ball at this spot and play their next shot from there and so the cycle continues until one player holes out.

Texas Scramble allows players of diverse abilities to play together. In particular it means that the lesser players can be accommodated, and so is popular at charity events and such like where some golfers may be very inexperienced or highly rusty. If a golfer’s drives scuttles into nearby undergrowth no worries - just choose one of the other drives.

However this does mean that one player can dominate a team if their play is so superior to their team-mates that his or her shot is almost invariably the one selected. This can lead to a situation whereby some players are settling over a shot knowing whatever they do it is unlikely to matter.

For example, if star player has played his tee shot on that tricky par 3 over water to within 3ft, what is there left for happy hacker to do except see if he will lose a ball in the lake?

Thus versions of Texas Scramble has been developed which means that every player’s shot is potentially relevant regardless of the shot other team members may have already played.

One of these is Vegas Scramble. In this the choice of shot is made by a roll of a die.

Each player of the four-man team is allocated a number, 1 to 4, and after all players have played their shots the die is rolled and if it is a number between 1 and 4 that comes up, then the corresponding player’s shot is the one selected. If a 5 or 6 is rolled, the team get to choose which of the players’ shot is used.

This way Vegas Scramble enables the best player still to play a major part, but the rest of the team are continually kept in the game.