Plain-English definitions for every term you'll run into running or playing a golf pool. 28 terms, alphabetical.
A score of one stroke under par on a single hole. On a par-4, a birdie is a score of 3. The standard "good but not great" hole.
Won't directly affect your pool score, but it nudges a player's position on the leaderboard, which adjusts their projected earnings, and your team total.
A score of one stroke over par on a hole. On a par-4, a bogey is a score of 5. Most rounds have a mix of birdies and bogeys; how the math nets out is what determines a player's round.
The person who runs the pool, picks the tournament, sets the format, sends the invite link, and writes the recap. On golfpools.co, the commissioner is the only person who needs an account or subscription. Participants join free.
See also: Pool, Pool format
How well a golfer's specific strengths match what a tournament course demands. A bomber-friendly course (TPC Scottsdale) rewards different players than a tight, plotter-friendly course (Harbour Town). Picking for course fit is one of the highest-leverage skills in pool strategy, separate from picking based on recent form.
Affects your sleeper picks more than your top-tier picks. Top golfers usually adapt; lower-ranked players often have narrower comfort zones.
The score that determines which players continue to the weekend. After Friday's round, the field is cut to roughly the top 65 (and ties); everyone else is done for the week, earning $0. The cut number varies by tournament, usually somewhere between +1 and +5 over par.
If a player on your team misses the cut, their projected earnings drop to $0 for the rest of the tournament. The other picks on your team keep earning normally.
See also: Missed cut, Projected earnings
Disqualification. A player is removed from the tournament for a rules violation (signing an incorrect scorecard, breach of conduct, etc.). Rare. For pool purposes, treated the same as a missed cut: $0 earnings, no effect on the rest of your team.
See also: Withdrawal (WD), Missed cut
A score of two strokes under par on a hole. On a par-5, an eagle is a 3 (often after a reachable second shot). On a par-4, an eagle is a hole-out from the fairway. Rare and exciting, the kind of moment that vaults a player up the leaderboard in real time.
The PGA Tour's season-long points race. Players accumulate FedEx Cup points based on their finish at every tournament, and the top 70 qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs in August (FedEx St. Jude, BMW Championship, Tour Championship). The Tour Championship winner is the FedEx Cup champion.
Playoff events have bigger purses and elevated fields, which translates to higher projected earnings per finishing position, meaning pools for playoff events have higher stakes on the leaderboard.
The full list of golfers playing in a tournament, typically 156 players for a regular PGA Tour event, around 90 for a major like the Masters. Published by the PGA Tour about a week before the tournament begins.
When you create a pool, the field is auto-populated from the PGA Tour API, no manual entry. The "Field Ready" badge on the home page means the roster is loaded and pools can be set up.
One of the four most prestigious tournaments on the PGA Tour calendar: The Masters (April), PGA Championship (May), U.S. Open (June), and The Open Championship (July). Higher purses, stronger fields, and more dramatic broadcasts, and the best tournaments to run a pool for.
See also: Pool format
A second cut applied at some PGA Tour events after Saturday's round. Players who made the Friday cut but are well outside the top 70 after Saturday are sent home before Sunday's final round. They get a small payout (usually $5K-$10K) but technically "did not finish" the tournament.
MDF'd players score whatever the PGA Tour records as their final earnings, small but not zero. Pool scoring handles this automatically.
A player who didn't make the cut after Friday's round. They earn $0 for the tournament and don't play the weekend. In stroke-total pools, a missed cut adds a heavy penalty to your team's score. In prize money pools (the format on golfpools.co), it just means that player contributes $0. Your other picks carry on.
See also: Cut line (The Cut), Prize money scoring
The global ranking system for professional male golfers. Updated weekly, based on a 2-year rolling window of tournament results weighted by event strength. Scottie Scheffler at #1, Rory McIlroy in the top 5, etc. Used by tournaments to determine field invites and by pool tools (including golfpools.co) to build draft tiers.
When you create a pool, tiers are auto-built from the latest OWGR, top 10 ranked players in tier 1, ranks 11-25 in tier 2, etc.
See also: Tier draft
The number of strokes an expert golfer is expected to take on a hole or round. Holes are par-3, par-4, or par-5 depending on length. A standard 18-hole course is usually par 70-72. Scores are typically expressed relative to par (-4, +2, E for even).
The golfers a participant chose for their pool team. On golfpools.co, the default is 5 picks per person (one from each of 5 tiers). Picks lock at Thursday tee-off and cannot be changed after.
A pool with 5 picks and 10 participants has 50 total picks across the field, though there's usually overlap on the top tier.
See also: Tier draft, Sleeper
A group competition where each participant picks a set of golfers from a tournament field, and teams are scored based on how their picks perform. Office golf pools have been a tradition since long before the internet. Golfpools.co just makes them stop requiring a Google Sheet.
See also: Commissioner, Pool format, Prize money scoring
The rule set that determines how the pool is run. Three common formats: (1) tiered draft, pick one player from each of several tiers, the format golfpools.co uses; (2) stroke total, pick a few players, lowest combined score wins; (3) salary cap, each player has a "price" and you build a roster under a budget.
See also: Tier draft, Stroke total, Prize money scoring
A pool scoring method where each pick's contribution is their projected prize money for the tournament. The PGA Tour itself uses prize money to rank performance, so this format produces leaderboards that mirror what actually matters at a tournament. One stroke between 1st and 2nd at a $20M major is a $1.44M swing. Stroke totals weigh that the same as 49th vs 50th, prize money captures the truth.
This is the default scoring system on golfpools.co. See our deep dive: why prize money pools beat stroke totals.
See also: Projected earnings, Stroke total
The amount a golfer is currently on track to earn at a tournament, based on their position on the leaderboard. Updates live as positions shift. A player at T15 might have $164K in projected earnings; a 1-shot move to T8 might bump that to $250K.
Your team total on golfpools.co is the sum of your picks' projected earnings, refreshed every few minutes during active rounds.
See also: Prize money scoring, Purse
The total prize money the PGA Tour pays out at a tournament. Typical PGA Tour event: $7-9M. Signature events: $20M. The four majors: $18-21M. The purse is split across the field by standard payout percentages, 1st place gets ~18%, 2nd gets ~10.9%, all the way down to 65th who gets a fraction of a percent.
When a tournament's purse increases, every position's projected earnings scale up proportionally.
One day of golf at a tournament. A regular PGA Tour event has four rounds (Thursday-Sunday). After Friday's round (rounds 1 and 2), the field is cut. The weekend rounds (3 and 4) feature only the players who made the cut.
A PGA Tour designation for elevated regular-season tournaments: bigger purses ($20M+), no cut (often), limited fields (~70 players). Examples: The Sentry, Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, Travelers, BMW Championship. Signature events feature the top-ranked players almost exclusively.
Pools for signature events tend to be high-stakes. Small fields mean every position pays out, and the elevated purses scale projected earnings way up.
A lower-ranked or under-the-radar golfer that a participant picks hoping for a high finish. In a tiered draft pool, the sleeper is usually your bottom-tier pick, the player ranked 50th-100th in the world who could vault to a top-15 finish. Sleepers are where pools are won.
Picking sleepers well requires real research: recent form, course fit, weather conditions. See our guide: how to pick a sleeper.
See also: Course fit, Tier draft
A pool scoring method where each pick's contribution is their final stroke count, and lowest combined total wins. Simple to explain, but two problems: one missed cut adds ~155 strokes (cut number + penalty) and craters your team, and the leaderboard barely moves during the tournament. Most office pools default to this format; golfpools.co uses prize money scoring instead.
See also: Prize money scoring, Pool format
How many holes a player has completed in their current round. A player listed as "thru 12" has finished 12 of 18 holes. "F" or no number means they've finished the round. Useful for understanding why one player on your team is at -4 (finished early) and another is at -1 thru 8 (still playing, might catch up).
When two or more players end with the same score, they share a position: T1 (tied for 1st), T15 (tied for 15th), etc. Their combined prize money is averaged across the affected positions. Three players tied for 4th split the prize for positions 4, 5, and 6 equally.
Pool scoring handles ties correctly, picking a player who finishes T20 with 5 others isn't penalized vs. a clean T20 finish.
The pool format where the field is grouped into tiers based on world ranking, and each participant picks one player from each tier. Forces balanced rosters. You can't just stack the favorites because you have to spread picks across the tier structure. The default format on golfpools.co.
Typical setup: 5 tiers (top 10 / 11-25 / 26-50 / 51-100 / 100+), one pick per tier. Tiers are auto-built from the latest OWGR.
See also: OWGR (Official World Golf Ranking), Picks, Pool format
A player who withdraws from the tournament mid-round (injury, illness, personal reasons). They earn $0 for the tournament, same as a missed cut. Common during a season; can happen Thursday, Friday, or even mid-Sunday round.
If your pick withdraws, their projected earnings drop to $0 and stay there. Your other picks continue earning normally.
See also: Missed cut, DQ (Disqualification)
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