So, I finally decided to give this “golf shamble” thing a shot. I’d heard about it from some buddies at the club, and it sounded like a fun, slightly less stressful way to play.
First thing I did was look it up online, just to get a solid idea of the rules. Seemed simple enough: everyone tees off, you pick the best drive, and then everyone plays their own ball from that spot until they hole out. Got it.
Practice Day
Then came the actual practice. I rounded up three friends – Mark, Sarah, and old man Johnson– to give it a whirl. We headed out to the course on a pretty chill Tuesday afternoon. No pressure, just us trying to figure this shamble thing out.
- Tee Shots: This part was the usual. We all teed off on each hole, trying to smack it as far and straight as possible.
- Choosing the Best Drive: This is where it got interesting. We’d huddle up after our tee shots and decide whose drive was in the best position. Sometimes it was obvious – longest drive, right down the middle. Other times, we had to debate a bit, considering the lie, the angle to the green, and all that.
- Playing Our Own Balls: Once we picked the best drive, we’d all drop our balls around that spot (within a club-length, I think that is the usual rule). From there, it was regular stroke play. Everyone played their own ball until they holed out.
- Keeping Score: We used the lowest score of each player.
It took a couple of holes to really get the hang of the rhythm. At first, we were a little slow, overthinking the “best drive” decision. But after that, we loosened up and just started playing.
We did a few practice rounds to master this format, The fun part was, even if you had a terrible tee shot, you weren’t totally screwed. You still got to play from a decent spot thanks to your teammates. And, let me tell you, taking some of the pressure off the tee shot made the whole round more enjoyable. It made us more relaxed and the conversation flowed better. The result, some surprisingly good scores!
By the end of the day, we were all pretty sold on the shamble format. It’s definitely something I’ll be suggesting for our regular weekend group. Less stress, more fun, and who knows, maybe it’ll even improve my game!
