How a Tiered Golf Pool Works

A tiered golf pool splits a PGA Tour field into groups by ability, has every member draft a set number of golfers from each group, then scores each team by adding up its golfers' strokes relative to par. Only your best few scores count, and a tiebreaker on the winner's final score to par settles ties. It is the most common format for a private pool among friends, because the tiers stop everyone from picking the same five favourites.

Last updated 10 August 2026

Step 1 — The commissioner sets the tiers

Tiers are bands of golfers of roughly similar strength, drawn from the field for that specific tournament. A common setup is four tiers: the favourites, the strong contenders, the mid-pack, and the long shots. The commissioner decides how many tiers there are and how many golfers each member must take from each one.

The tiers are what make the pool a game rather than a popularity contest. Without them, every entry is Scheffler, Schauffele, McIlroy and whoever else is hot, and the whole pool comes down to who got lucky in round four.

In The Club, tiers can be generated from world ranking, DataGolf's model ranking, betting favourites, course fit, or raw strokes gained — then adjusted by hand before publishing.

Step 2 — Everyone drafts their team

Each member picks their required number of golfers from each tier, independently and usually in secret. Unlike a fantasy draft there is no snake order and no ownership limit: two people can both take the same favourite. That keeps it simple to run and means nobody has to be online at the same time.

Picks stay open until the deadline, which is normally the first tee time on Thursday or the evening before.

Step 3 — Scoring is strokes to par

Each golfer's score is their total strokes relative to par, and your team score is the sum of your counting golfers. Lower is better, exactly as in golf itself. A golfer at −8 helps you by eight; a golfer at +3 costs you three.

Team score: −25. The +4 and the missed cut are dropped.

Step 4 — Only your best scores count

Best-N counting means you pick more golfers than you score. Pick six, count the best four. This is the single rule that keeps a pool alive to Sunday: one blow-up round or one missed cut does not end your week, so people are still watching on the final afternoon instead of having checked out on Friday night.

It also rewards depth over luck. Getting four golfers to the weekend beats getting one winner and five passengers.

What happens when a golfer misses the cut?

A golfer who misses the cut does not simply disappear — they are given a penalty score for each round they did not play, so they still count against you if you need them. A typical penalty is the equivalent of +8 per missed round.

Without a penalty, missing the cut would be indistinguishable from picking nobody at all, and a member who lost half their roster on Friday would be no worse off than a member whose golfers all made it through.

Step 5 — The tiebreaker

The standard tiebreaker is each member's prediction of the winning score to par, submitted with their picks. Whoever is closest to the actual winning score takes the tie. Ties are common in a pool of any size, because a lot of teams land within a stroke or two of each other.

A good tiebreaker has to be submitted before play starts, be a single number, and have nothing to do with the golfers you picked — otherwise it just rewards the same roster twice.

Step 6 — Buy-ins and payouts

Most private pools run a flat buy-in per person per tournament, with the pot split across the top few finishers. A three-way split of 70 / 20 / 10 is the most common starting point; smaller pools often pay two places, larger ones pay four or five.

The part that actually causes arguments is not the split, it is the record-keeping: who has paid in, who is owed, and whether last month was ever settled. That is tracking, not betting, and it is the job a spreadsheet does worst.

Frequently asked questions

How many golfers should you pick in a golf pool?

Six picked and four counted is the most common setup and a good default. Fewer than four counting scores makes a single missed cut decisive; more than about eight makes the drafting tedious without adding much.

How many tiers should a golf pool have?

Three or four suits most fields. More tiers means a more even spread of entries but more work for whoever is setting them. A pool of eight people with four tiers already produces enough variety that no two teams look alike.

Can two people pick the same golfer?

Yes, in a tiered pool. There is no exclusive ownership, which is the main difference from a fantasy draft. Everyone submits privately and duplicates are expected.

What is the difference between a tiered pool and one and done?

In a tiered pool you draft a full team every tournament and can reuse golfers week to week. In one and done you pick a single golfer per week and can never pick them again all season, so the strategy is about saving your best options for the right events.

When should picks lock?

At the first tee time of round one, or earlier if the commissioner prefers. Locking the evening before is common so that nobody is scrambling at 6am, and it removes any argument about late entries once scores have started moving.