Don't stress it.  I just had my club's 3 day member guest and this year we played in the upper flight.  I was pretty nervous to play with some really low single digit caps and former club and state champions, but I found out they're human just like you and me. 

I'm a 6 and my partner was a 12.  He played kind of poorly the first 2 days, but on day 3 he lit up the back 9.  His performance during that stretch put us in the money.  He also took advantage of his stroke holes and made some key points. 

The point is to just have fun.  Don't stress it, just keep your mind right and do the best you can.  If you're stoking, par will most likely be good enough for a win or at worst a tie.

Hey Chris B. 

Don't sweat it and don't be nervous. 

I normally don't play in tournaments like the one you mentioned above although I would love to but i do play with guys that are a lot better than me.  To be honest, i love playing with players better than me.   It pushes me to play better and tend to take the game a little more seriously, not sure why.  The other thing I keep in mind is the fact that i cannot out-drive these guys, so don't kill it.  Get in play and you'll be money from there.  

The other factor would be their personality.  Hopefully they're good guys and fun to play with. 

I wish you the best of luck and I'm sure you'll play well! 

Hit'em str8! 

Chris,

I train a lot of performance athletes and we spend a lot of time discussing peak performance attributes.  The other contributors have done a great job adding their thoughts...the biggest state of mind you need to be in "no fear" and "relaxed".  These two things together will allow you have a lot of fun and play well .... good luck!

Use the tournament as a learning experience Chris.  If you think the others were always low handicap, probably not, they were in your shoes at one time as well.  Play your best, thats all you can do but have fun along the way.  Good luck, you'll be just fine.

My advice would be to just enjoy the match and have fun.  If you relax and play your game, your scores will follow.  Being partnered with a scratch golfer and you at a 12 handicap means you will be getting a lot of strokes from the other team.  Many tournaments have a limit on the stroke differential, but if yours does not, you will be getting 12 strokes as you generally play off the lowest player in the group (if best ball, match play).

If the guys you are playing are also scratch, I am guessing they will be more concerned about playing a 0 and a 12 as a team than you should be playing against two scratch golfers.  If indeed it is a match play format, just play your game and try to take advantage of the holes where you get strokes.  I would assume that your partner will get a par and you are just trying to catch lightning on those holes where you stroke.  You can add a lot of value to the team because every par you make will be counted as a net birdie.  If you have a bad hole, don't worry as your partner should have your back.  The scratch golfer should be the "rock" in the team and you can come alive with scoring.  Even if it is stroke play, just take advantage of your strokes where they fall.

Good luck in the tournament, have fun, and let us all know how things turned out.