Creative ways to pair up for doubles

[BIG MACK]

Does anybody know of fun, cool, and/or unique ways to pair up players for random draw doubles? Out here in Colorado, we typically pull paired playing cards or flip discs.

Thanks!

 

[Jeronimo]

We actually have a league up here in Maine (I use the term league loosely) where we meet every wednesday night during the summer and we have random A and B pool doubles. The people that run the shop keep track of their players scores and they average out your scores. Depending on who shows you draw a line and everyone above becomes B pool, everyone below becomes A. Random draw A matched with Random draw B. It really evens out the playing field and makes for a ton of fun.

 

[mike]

most dubs events i run....are BYOP

 

[jclepa]

I wish I could take credit for this... but the guy who runs our local double toss has pairs of matching microbrew bottlecaps (in a crown royal bag). Matching pairs form teams. And there's numbers on the back for the starting hole. (2 teams per hole.)

 

[BIG MACK]

Oooooh...I like that one! A good excuse to drink more beer, too!!!

 

[JohnnyB]

We do the card draw but experienced players get black cards and newer players get red. Helps new players get introduced to the older players in a more comfortable setting and they tend to learn a bit if they're not to shy to ask questions.

 

[pointdisc]

For the league I run, I put #s on the back of mini-discs & they draw from there.

 

[nohr]

Flip discs.

Heads stay in one group tails go to the other. Keep flipping until everyone has a partner. The only thing this doesn't help with is the starting holes/groups playing together.

 

[Mr. Wick]

Everyone puts their mini in a box. Whoever is running the show pulls two minis out .....they are partners. Continue until all the minis are gone.

 

[Frank Delicious]

We use poker chips with numbers on them here. Or, if we have power, a small excel script that uses the rand() function.

 

[Widdershins]

Two of my local leagues have gone to the poker chips with numbers written on them. The numbers are from 1 to 150 and one "pick your own partner chip". If there is an odd number of players then there is a "voluntary" flip off for Cali ( one player plays alone but gets one soft mulligan per hole).

It is sort of a shame that the Cali option exists because if one of the top players gets Cali it is almost an unfair advantage. Of course, if a very weak player were forced into being Cali it would be a huge disadvantage. I'm not sure there is a better alternative, though. It seems a little harsh to exclude the last odd numbered player to register.

I am also not fond of the pick your partner chip. I guess it is just as random as drawing any particular partner but something about it seems wrong.

A Pro/Am split creates generally fairer teams. The best thing about a random approach (where the best players might get paired together) is that the good players like it. If the good players aren't happy with a league format then they just go off on their own and play. For young or developing players there is a big benefit to playing along with and observing good players. They might "pay" for the privilege but no one becomes good without paying some dues.