I’m finalizing pairings for our Spring Charity Scramble at Deer Ridge this Saturday and could use quick input: do you prefer an 8:30 a.m. shotgun with carts staged by hole, or two waves at 8:00 and 1:00 to smooth check-in and pace of play? Check-in would open at 7:15 either way, and our caterer can handle one big lunch at 12:15, but two sittings would mean boxed meals — what would keep you most engaged?
I’d go “8:30 a.m. shotgun” so you can keep the single hot lunch at 12:15 — , boxed meals kill the vibe for a charity scramble. To smooth the 7:15 check-in, text hole assignments Friday and stage carts by hole with big placards; add two marshals to float where groups stack. Any known choke points at Deer Ridge that would make a full shotgun rough?
Leaning shotgun too, @j_parker77 — one thing that’s worked for us is color‑coding cart tags by hole pods (“1–3 blue, 4–6 green, etc.”) so staging is idiot‑proof and check‑in flies; only caveat is a frost hiccup at 8:30…any concern there?
Shotgun at 8:30, but set A-L check-in 7:15–7:30 and M-Z 7:30–7:45, and use live scoring like Golf Genius (https://www.golfgenius.com) so mulligans/skins are prepaid and lines move. Small caveat: if parking is tight or carts are limited, split waves will save headaches; otherwise keep the single hot lunch and hit a ‘10-minute horn’ to get everyone moving.
Go 8:30 shotgun — spring frost at 8:00 can torpedo a two‑wave day, — and build a 10–15 min buffer so you can still hit that 12:15 lunch… Concrete step: print a tiny tee map on each cart tag and cone off pods, plus assign two roving marshals to babysit the long par‑5s the first hour. Text out “horn at 8:30, be in carts by 8:20” the night before and again at 7:15 check‑in so nobody drifts.