Shamble
Everyone drives, the side walks to its best drive, and everyone plays their own ball in from there — scored side against side on stableford points.
- 4–8 players
- Own ball
- Two sides
How it’s scored
- Each player scores their own ball in stableford points off their shots.
- On every hole the best two of the four balls count for the side; the other two are dropped.
- Side total against side total on the hole, and over the round. More points wins.
- Two a side and it is the best one of two.
Worked · Bogey Boys v Sandbaggers, holes 1–2
Who plays off what · 85% of own handicap
Handicaps
85% of your own course handicap, not of the gap: Hartley plays off 17 here, Ellis off 9. The individual stableford still uses the full number.
Good for
- Players
- Four to eight, two even sides
- Handicaps
- Wide — a blob costs the side nothing while two partners stand
- When
- A mid-week change of pace that still scores for the Cup
Set it up in score70
- Set Up the Day → Shamble
- Pick the two sides. The allowance is prefilled at 85% of own handicap
Free. Only the organiser signs up; everyone else opens the link.
The fine print
Why 85% of my own handicap and not the gap to the lowest?
Points are counted against par and stop at nought, so cutting everyone to the lowest man would only delete points from the higher handicaps. Eighty-five is the recommended allowance for the best two of four cards, and the organiser can move it on any round.
When does a hole count?
Once every ball on the side is in. A side one card short has not scored the hole yet, so the total never lurches when a phone catches up.
Is it a match? Can it be closed out?
It is a points game: it runs the full eighteen and more points wins. On a Ryder Cup board that is a point for the side ahead at the end, half each if level, and the tile reads +2 pts rather than 3&2.