What's the Deal with Scramble Tournaments?

[Pooler33]

Is it just me or do the winners of Charity golf tournaments (4 man scramble type) kinda get the shaft if you win? I recently played in one with some friends, and we won with a 58... we got this little trophies. Meanwhile the "Most Honest Golfer" group got gift certificates for some restaurant. Longest Drive and Closest to the Pin got nice beer-themed gift baskets, and we got a trophy. Maybe it's to stop teams from cheating? Not too sure. Don't get me wrong, I know the point is to raise money for the charities, and I have no problem with paying $150+ for a brunch, round of golf, a few snacks, and a reasonable dinner, but shouldn't some of the good prizes go to the winner? Just wondering if it's just me. Am I really that greedy?

[jsttaylor]

I'm in agreement with you that the winners deserve the best prizes but I understand why this is being done. It is the cheating factor. I played last weekend in a best ball tourney and we finished 11 under. Winners were 12 under. Both were real scores by honest teams. But the winner was drawn from a hat. When we asked why, they told us too much cheating in the past. Makes sense but I think I'll find this out before starting play from now on, just to take the "preassure" off.

[sharkshooter]

I wouldn't be interested in entering a scramble tournament with a significant prize to the "winner" unless there were controls. For example, officials to ensure rules are not broken, rules regarding team composition (eg at least one female on each team, total handicap not less than xxx, etc.)

Otherwise, it is just a gift to the "ringer" team, or to the team with the lowest morals.

[hoolio]

The only controls there should be in a cash scramble or one with a significant prize is having two teams per tee-time. Not sure this happens with 4-man scrambles, but I play in a 3-man cash scramble every fall and it works just fine.

Ensuring 1 female from each team doesn't nescessarily make it more fair because it's a lot harder to find a 5 hdcp woman than it is a man if you're trying to field a team. The team who can find the "Ringer" who looks good in a dress will likely walk home with the cash.

The total handicap not less than XXX is weird too, I would think you want the best teams showing up to play. When the goal is to shoot the lowest score, you shouldn't tell people that they're too good to play together.

[Pooler33]

The "Ringer" aspect doesn't even bother me. If you can put together a team that shoots the lights out, then go for it. Out of our 58 shooting foursome, my Hdcp is maybe a 13, same with one of the others, one guy is in the 20's, and our best player is maybe a 6? It's not like we're all scratch golfers. We just had a great combined round. We had an 80 yard pitch one hop into the cup for eagle, a couple chip-in birds, a 40 foot prayer over two mounds dropped in. The stars were just aligned I guess.
I know it's impossible to monitor these things, but I just figured that if you're good enough to shoot well (or lucky enough in our case, lol) maybe a little reward isn't so bad?
I guess I'll just have to wait for the SunScramble. hehehe