The percentages
A scramble team plays one ball, so the team gets one handicap. The widely used method takes a percentage of each player's Course Handicap, with the biggest share from the best player.
- Four-person team: 25% of the lowest Course Handicap, 20% of the next, 15% of the third and 10% of the highest.
- Two-person team: 35% of the lower Course Handicap and 15% of the higher.
The shares are added together and the total is rounded to a whole number, with a half rounded up. Order matters: sort the handicaps from lowest to highest first, then apply 25, 20, 15 and 10 in that order. The player you do not match to the right percentage is the most common mistake.
Worked examples
Four players with Course Handicaps of 5, 10, 15 and 20: 5 x 25% = 1.25, 10 x 20% = 2.0, 15 x 15% = 2.25 and 20 x 10% = 2.0. The total is 7.5, which rounds to a team handicap of 8. For a pair of 5 and 15: 5 x 35% = 1.75 plus 15 x 15% = 2.25 is 4.0, so the team handicap is 4.
Using the team handicap
For a net scramble, subtract the team handicap from the team's gross score. Many outings spread the strokes over the round as a fraction of a stroke per hole, so a team handicap of 8 over 18 holes takes a little under half a stroke off each hole. Whatever you choose, tell every team the method before the round.
Flights
If your event has several flights, sort the teams by team handicap and cut the flights from that list. The guide to setting fair flights goes through the choices. These percentages are the widely used ones; if your committee uses different figures, apply theirs.
The calculator only does arithmetic and stores nothing.