Golf Pool Formats Explained: Pick One Golfer, Tiers and One-and-Done

Golf pools are great for groups that want something to follow on weekends without a commitment every night. Here are the formats worth knowing.

Pick one golfer

Each tournament, every player picks one golfer. Points come from where that golfer finishes. On Sports Picker, a win is worth 25 points, second 18, third 15, and so on down to 1 point for 10th. It is quick to play and easy to follow on Sunday afternoon.

Tiers

In a tier pool, the field is split into groups by recent form, and you pick one golfer from each. That stops everyone from loading up on the favorites and makes you think about value. Sports Picker builds four tiers from each golfer's last two seasons (the top 10, the next 15, the next 20 and everyone else) and scores each golfer on a deeper scale: 40 for a win, 34 for second, 33 for third, down to 1 point for 35th.

One-and-done

The strategic favorite: you can use each golfer only once all season. Do you spend the world No. 1 on a regular tour stop, or save that golfer for the Masters? One-and-done turns a weekend pick into a season-long plan.

Majors are the main event

Whatever format you pick, the four majors are when interest peaks. Some groups run a pool for the majors only, which is four great weekends and no burnout.

Missed cuts

A golfer who misses the cut scores nothing, which is why steady players are often better picks than streaky ones in a pick-one pool.

Read more about golf pools, or start one before the next tee time.

Related

More from the blog