A Beginner's Guide to DFS Golf
“Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening – and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.” - Arnold Palmer.
Golf DFS has become increasingly popular over recent years and I myself have really enjoyed it. No other sport offers various sweats throughout a single contest. For those of you that are familiar with golf, you know that tournaments run from Thursday through Sunday and that the cut happens after the second round (on Friday). This means you’re sweating the first two rounds, hoping that all of your golfers make the cut, and then you’re sweating the weekend as they jockey for position on the leaderboard. It’s complicated, frustrating, and satisfying all at once. I’m here to share with you some tips on how to play Golf DFS and what things to look for.
1) Know the Scoring System
Different DFS sites will have different rules but for this article, I’m going to focus on Draft Kings.
Here is the basic scoring breakdown:
Double Eagle or Better = 13 points
Eagle = 8 points
Birdie = 3 points
Par = 0.5 points
Bogey = -0.5 points
Double Bogey (or worse) = -1 points
Now, achieving a double eagle or better is extremely difficult, so you’ll want to focus on golfers that have success with making birdies (and eagles in some cases), but also avoiding bogeys. Obviously, the point of all of this is to score as many points as possible so you want to make sure you’re choosing golfers that have a history of consistency.
2) Understand the Golf Course
This can be one of the most difficult parts of Golf DFS, especially if you don’t play or watch very much golf. I say that because each course is different and will require you to focus on different key stats for each tournament. For example, Waialae Country Club in Hawaii, which is the host of the Sony Open, has some very narrow fairways. They range from 26 to 29 yards wide, where an average PGA Tour fairway can be between 30 and 32 yards wide. For a course like this, you’ll want to look at golfers who excel in driving accuracy off the tee and consistency hit the fairways. On the other hand, if the course has a wider fairway, you may want to focus on golfers who can drive the ball farther regardless of their accuracy. Does the course have smaller greens? You’ll then want to look at golfers who are better at approach shots and shots around the green, along with proximity. As I said earlier, each course is different and will require different key stats for each one.
3) Weather
Weather changes constantly, and when it comes to golf the rain and wind will play a big factor in not only how the course plays, but how your golfers react to it. Rain will soften the fairways which will give an advantage to those that can crush the ball off the tee because of the carry of the ball. When the wind picks up, you’ll want to look at players that are better ball-strikers with their irons to keep the ball down. Now, if there is a front that is coming through that will eventually pass, you can target a specific group of players with the same tee time to avoid the weather concern.
4) Ownership
Like in all DFS sports, ownership is a great way to gain leverage on the field in GPP’s. If you’re deciding between two or three golfers for a single slot, taking the one with the lower projected ownership will help you to differentiate your lineup from the others. It’s ok to take the chalk in some cases, but those that win large GPP’s usually are the ones that have three or four low owned players.
5) Recent Form and Course History
I look at both of these when putting together my lineups each week, but they aren’t the deciding factor when it comes to my player pool. If a player has been playing great over the last few weeks but doesn’t have a great history at the next course I will still feel comfortable playing him because he’s found a groove. Golf is a sport of mental strength, along with having a short memory. There are some golfers, like Bubba Watson, who just don’t play well at certain courses no matter how well their recent form is. For me, I take recent form and key stats into account more times than I do the course history.
Final Thoughts
If you aren’t someone that plays or watches golf, I would recommend just sitting down and watching a few rounds of a PGA tournament. You’ll get to know the players, understand a little bit about the game, and you’ll also be more prone to watch when you have some money on the line. Like with all DFS sports, it’s a process. With that said, Golf DFS is a lot of fun and you should enjoy it as much as you can.
