Teams of 2–4
🏌️How to play a shamble — best drive, then your own ball
A shamble is the happy middle between a scramble and best ball: the whole team tees off, you pick the best drive, and then everyone plays their OWN ball from there to the hole. You get the confidence of a good tee shot every time without giving up individual scores — which means skins, dots and side matches all still work.
The rules
Everyone tees off. The team chooses the best drive and each player drops within a club-length of it (not nearer the hole), then plays their own ball into the hole. The team score is usually the best one or two net balls on each hole — agree which before you start.
Because every golfer finishes with a real score, a shamble is the rare team format that plays nicely with individual games riding on top.
Why groups love it
It’s forgiving off the tee (nobody’s duck-hook ruins the hole) but still individual from the fairway in, so it keeps the round honest and the side action alive. It’s a favorite outing and member-guest format for exactly that reason.
How Swilkin runs it
Pick Shamble in Swilkin — because everyone keeps their own score, it counts your chosen best-ball rule for the team AND lets skins, birdies and a side match ride on the same scorecard, all settled together at the end.