⛳ Commissioner setup guide

PGA Pick’Em — Commissioner Setup Guide

Every PGA Pick’Em setting explained — roster size and best-X counting, scoring by prize money/position points/low score, golfer availability caps, pick visibility, missed-cut and withdrawal handling, the live leaderboard, entry fee and organizer cut.

PGA Pick’Em pool commissioners · 7 min read

A PGA Pick’Em pool has each entrant draft a small roster of golfers for a single PGA Tour event — the Masters, a major, or any tournament on the schedule — and score points off how those golfers actually perform. It runs on the same “field pool” engine as our NASCAR pools, so the settings below (roster size, scoring method, availability caps) are the ones you’ll see whether you’re running golf or racing.

This guide covers every setting you control: picking the tournament, roster size and scoring method, golfer availability and pick visibility, missed-cut and withdrawal handling, the entry fee and organizer cut, and finalizing to pay winners.

Creating your pool

Golf pools are single-tournament — pick the event and the pool is built around it.

Tournament & season: Choose the PGA event from the imported schedule. Picking a tournament auto-fills the contest name and sets picks to lock the morning of the first round; a platform admin must have imported that season’s schedule first.
Contest name: Defaults to “<Tournament> Pick’Em” — rename it however you like.
Roster size: How many golfers each entrant drafts: 1, 3, 5, 6, or 8 (5 is the default).
Best X countPro: Only each entrant’s top N golfers (by score) count toward their total — the rest are bench/insurance picks. Leave blank and every rostered golfer counts.

Scoring

Scoring method: Prize money (sum of official tournament earnings, the default), position points (points by finish position), lowest combined score, or average finish position.
Tournament purse override: Only shown for prize-money scoring. Set a purse manually if the golf feed doesn’t report one for the event (some majors show $0) — leave it blank to use the feed’s number and split by finish position automatically.
Tiebreaker: Golf pools use a built-in tiebreaker: each entrant predicts the tournament champion’s final score to par. If entries finish tied on points, the closest guess wins.

Golfer availability & pick visibility

Golfer availability: Unlimited (anyone can roster any golfer, the default), unique (each golfer can only be rostered once across the whole pool), or limited (cap how many entries can own a given golfer).
Max owners per golfer: Only shown when availability is set to limited — the ownership cap per golfer.
Pick visibility: Hide rosters until picks lock (the default), until the tournament starts, until it ends, or make them public immediately.

Entry fee, pot & organizer cut

Entry fee: What each entry pays to join. Players pay you through the app’s in-app payment step at join — you never route money through us.
Entries per personPro: Let entrants submit more than one roster in the same pool — up to 2, up to 3, or unlimited.
Organizer cut: What your program keeps before payouts — a percentage of the pool, a flat total, or a flat amount per entry. Set on the Settings tab; the prize pot is always shown net of it. No fundraising add-on required.
Prize payout: Finalizing splits the prize pot across whoever has the top score, dividing it evenly if entries are tied.

Running the tournament

Join link: Copy a share link from the Settlement tab to invite players — no separate roster to manage.
Live leaderboard auto-refreshPro: While the tournament is underway, the leaderboard pulls fresh results from the feed automatically so standings update without anyone hitting refresh.
Missed-cut (MC) & withdrawal handling: Choose how a missed-cut golfer scores (zero, their official finish, last-place value, or a custom number) and how a withdrawn golfer scores (zero or last-place value). Feed-detected withdrawals apply automatically; you can also mark a late WD by hand and everyone re-scores instantly.
Finalize & pay winners: Pools settle automatically once results go final, or finalize manually any time to re-score from the latest results and split the pot. Winners appear with one-tap pay links in Payout Assist.

FAQ

How does scoring work in a PGA Pick’Em pool?

You choose the method: prize money (each golfer’s share of the event purse), position points (points by finish), lowest combined score, or average finish position. Each entrant’s golfers are totaled to rank the pool.

What happens if a golfer misses the cut or withdraws?

You set the handling: a missed-cut golfer can score zero, their official finish, a last-place value, or a custom number; a withdrawn golfer scores zero or a last-place value. Feed-detected withdrawals apply automatically, and you can mark a late withdrawal by hand.

Can I stop everyone from just picking the same star golfers?

Yes — set golfer availability to “unique” so each golfer can only be rostered once pool-wide, or “limited” with a max-owners cap per golfer, instead of leaving it unlimited.

How are ties broken?

Golf pools use a built-in tiebreaker: each entrant predicts the tournament champion’s final score to par when they submit their roster. If entries finish tied on points, the closest prediction wins.

How do payouts and the organizer cut work?

The prize pot is entries × fee minus your organizer cut (a percentage, a flat total, or a flat amount per entry). Finalizing splits the pot across the top score, evenly if there’s a tie, and you pay winners through Payout Assist.

Does the leaderboard update live during the tournament?

Yes, on Pro Commissioner and above — while the event is underway the leaderboard automatically pulls fresh results from the feed instead of waiting for a manual refresh.

Ready to run yours?

Set it up in a few minutes — every option here is right there in the wizard.

Start a PGA Pick’Em pool →