Fun match - How many strokes should we give?

[ScottRempel]

Hi guys,

Hoping that you can give me a rough idea on how many strokes you think we should give our buddies in an upcoming match we are planning.

This is purely for fun. We are planning to play 2-person scramble stroke play.

My partner and I are the better golfers. None of us have official handicaps, but we all know what we shoot roughly. My partner and I were both 6s (on 9 holes) in our local men's league, and would likely play to a 10-12 handicap on 18 holes. We tend to shoot low-mid 80s with high 70s possible (although not the way I've been playing lately ).

The other pair will consist of one golfer that is almost as good as us. He can shoot mid-80s but on the course we are playing is more likely to shoot closer to 90. His partner hasn't been golfing nearly as long, and while he can hit some good shots, he usually ends up shooting just over 100.

My thought is that playing 2-person scramble my partner and I are hopefully going to shoot close to par. Basically we hope to avoid the few bad shots that usually turn what could have been a mid-70 into a low-mid 80. We'll obviously have an extra putt, but it isn't like playing a 4-person scramble where you expect to make at least a few long ones. With only 2 of us there is still plenty of chance that we could make some bogies, but hopefully we'll be making birdies as well, as we generally make a few each when we play by ourselves.

At the same time I'm thinking that the other guys are going to shoot around 80. The better golfer definitely has the potential to shoot a score like 80, but usually has some trouble on a few holes. With the other golfer, even being a higher handicap, this should eliminate some of those terrible shots that end up OB, etc.

Based on all of this, I was thinking around 7-8 strokes on 18 holes. I just talked to the better golfer on the other team and they think they need at least 10 strokes. In the end it doesn't make a huge difference, but it got me wondering what other golfers might do.

Thanks for your input. If you need more details or further clarification on anything, please let me know.
If we did all know our official handicaps, would there be any type of formula to help figure this out?

[THUNDAH]

You and your buddy will shoot par or just about. The other two cannot expect much better than mid 80's. That's 13 strokes. 80% of 13 is 10.4 ... 10 strokes should be fair for everyone.