PGA One and Done Pools
For years I was searching for a way to make fantasy golf more fun. I had played the salary cap games, the tiered picks games and even the season long games. None really held my attention and I slowly drifted more and more to betting on golf. Obviously that’s not the easiest thing to pull off in the United States. That was the extent of my PGA action, for lack of a better term, for years until I got an invite for a PGA Pool from a long time member of one of my Home Run Pools. He figured he would reach out because I was usually up for every type of pool that was going on and boy was he right. That email would become my initial introduction to PGA One and Done Pools and since then I haven’t looked back. I’m currently in seven different pools with four of them being completely different formats and payout structures. In the following post I will describe each contest so that you might make the time between the Super Bowl and the first NFL Game a little more fun.
PGA One and Done Pools
The idea of a PGA One and Done Pool is to pick a golfer for a certain tournament and then not get to use that golfer for the rest of the season. If you pick Bubba Watson for The Masters you can’t use him anywhere else. You keep a running total of money won for each and every week and pay the top finishers in whatever payout structure you want. I usually follow the payout structures of Poker tournaments. The more people in, the more spots get paid.
I use Google Forms and Google Sheets to keep track of everyone’s information, picks, standings and of course finances.
This structure makes it easy enough for even the most casual PGA fan to pay attention every week. They have to do very little studying to make a pick each week as long as they concentrate on not picking the same player twice during the season. Some sites that will run pools for you won’t allow the person to pick a player twice. If you don’t mind taking some money out of the pot to avoid that headache later on I would suggest it.
I personally enjoy PGA One and Done Pools that start after January. I like that it brings in all the fantasy football players and people who enjoy NFL Suicide Pools and you have a total of 37 tournaments to make it a long fun contest. This year most of my pools started at Kapalua and the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.
A Regular PGA One and Done Pool
- Can either be for the entire PGA Season from Fall to the Tour Championship, or from January until the Tour Championship, or it can start any time you want and end any time you want. Some people don’t want it to bleed into Football season so they end after the last Major of the year.
- Pick one player each week and never use them again.
- Keep a running total of money one by the team
- Pay out as you wish. Some do winner take all and others pay as you go. It all depends on what type of payout structure you want. Most of the time I try to stick with Top 3 at the end of the year and add one more spot paid for every 10 people that join and max it out at 10 places paid. you gotta make it worth the effort after all.
PGA One and Done Survivor Pool
These pools are very similar to regular one and dones, but really emphasize making cuts and high finishes because the low man or woman gets knocked out of the tournament. For instance if you were in a no cut event and you player was the lowest money winner you would be out of the competition, like a loss in an NFL Suicide Pool.
I play in many different versions of these types of PGA One and Done Survivor Pools.
- Straight up suicide pool- Lowest out of money won in a tournament or missed cuts are knocked out each week until there is one winner or the highest money won total still standing at the end of the season.
- Two Tie we all tie- If two or more people tie for the lowest money won or more than one person had their golfer miss the cut, then no one gets dropped from the competition. You would be surprised how much you will root for your friend’s pick to miss the cut when your guy is already out of it.
- Season Long PGA Suicide Pool with a Rebuy Option– This is run just like a regular suicide pool, but with the option to buy back in up until a certain point. Usually the cut off for rebuys is around the The Players Championship.
PGA One and Done Pool with a Lone Wolf Option
I particularly enjoy this version of PGA One and Done Pools. You play it just like a regular One and DOne Pool, but the players must go out on their own (Be the only one to pick a golfer in any given tournament) at least once. You are not eligible to win the pool unless you picked a golfer no one else picked at least once. There is also a side pot of 25% (or whatever amount you want) of the pot for the person who wins the most money with their lone wolf pick. If people go Lone Wolf more than once the highest money won out of the picks is their total. This is a good way to keep people involved who fall behind early and also has a bit more strategy.
With great content for PGA One and Done picks on PGATour.com, The Pat Mayo Hour and a ton of other places you should jump in one today!
