DraftKings Golf Explained

• *With your first deposit of $5 or more, you will receive a FREE $3 ticket to play in any $3 paid contest. You must use this ticket within 1 year of depositing. Not redeemable for cash. DraftKings’ responsible gambing policy can be found here
• Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Min. $5 deposit. Eligibility restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. See terms at draftkings.com.

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) has taken America by storm and now it’s the UK’s turn to catch the bug. The biggest DFS provider globally is DraftKings and this DraftKings golf explained guide uses their product to demonstrate to new players just how it all works.

Overview

If you’ve ever played regular fantasy football before then you’ll be familiar with the concept of picking a team of players who each have a hypothetical ‘value’ or, in the case of DraftKings golf, a ‘salary’ and your task is to assemble the best team possible within a defined budget. Good news then is that DraftKings fantasy golf works in very much the same fashion as the fantasy football games that you might have played, however the subtle difference is that your objective is to fit 6 golfers into your team for a specific event rather than 11 footballers. Sounds interesting? Read on!

If you’re brand new to DraftKings then you’ll need to establish an account before you begin. UK customers are welcome to register, however due to the way that the product licences work, UK customers have to register via the draftkings.co.uk website as opposed to the draftkings.com site. The relevant link is here:

• DraftKings UK Customers – Registration Link*

* Please note, the ‘promo code’ option is currently not used by DraftKings so simply leave that blank when registering. Further details here.

The current welcome offer for UK customers is free entry into a $3 contest following a minimum deposit of £/€5 or more – the qualifying links above entitle you to this welcome bonus and this is currently the best and only offer available to new players. You can access DraftKings on both PC and Mobile devices, with a mobile version of the site available on tablets/phones as well as a full App available on both the Apple Store and Google Play.

New customers only qualify for the free $3 tournament entry. 18+ (higher age limits may apply in some states), T&Cs apply – for full T&Cs for this offer click here.

• *With your first deposit of $5 or more, you will receive a FREE $3 ticket to play in any $3 paid contest. You must use this ticket within 1 year of depositing. Not redeemable for cash. DraftKings’ responsible gambing policy can be found here.
• Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Min. $5 deposit. Eligibility restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. See terms at draftkings.com.

Deposit Funds

Once you’ve registered successfully, you’ll be directed to the deposit process where you can add your preference of payment method(s). Deposits are approved in seconds and can be made using the following methods:

• Credit/Debit Cards
• PayPal
• Skrill
• Bank Transfer

The first thing you’ll notice is that before submitting your deposit you’ll be asked to select an amount in Sterling or Euros which will then be converted into US Dollars. All of the contests on DraftKings are run in US Dollars so that it’s a level playing field for all players and everyone is paying, or winning, exactly the same amount regardless of where in the world they’re playing from. To proceed with the deposit you’ll need to accept the exchange rate presented to you and tick the box as per the screenshot below:

Once you’ve completed your deposit, your balance will be updated accordingly. Any free contests allocated to your account will not appear on your balance, instead you can select to use your bonus when entering a contest.

With your account registered and funded, it’s now time to go and find some contests to play.

Contest Lobby

The ‘Lobby’ is where you’ll find all the action and by clicking the Lobby option at the top of the website, you’ll see a selection of sports to choose from, currently encompassing:

• GOLF – Golf
• FTBL – Football (Soccer)
• NFL – American Football
• NBA – Basketball
• MLB – Baseball
• MMA – Mixed Martial Arts
• NHL – Hockey
• NAS – NASCAR
• CFL – Canadian Football League
• EL – EuroLeague Basketball
• LOL – League of Legends (Esports)

We’ll focus on golf in this guide, however there’s plenty more contests to try out if you follow any of the other sports listed above. When using the lobby, any sports that don’t have a current contest running will be coloured in grey and you won’t be able to select that option. This happens, for instance, before a salary market is established for the week’s golf events which is typically ready by Monday evening GMT for events that start on a Thursday.

Selecting a Contest

There are literally dozens of contests for you to select from for each golf event and crucially they ALL work on exactly the same scoring mechanism (more of which later), so for now it’s a case of choosing a contest that suits your budget. From free entry contests all the way though to those costing in excess of $10,000 to enter, there’s a contest to suit every type of player.

When searching for a contest that suits you, perhaps the best place to start is to sort the contests by cost to enter, so by clicking ‘Entry Fee’ the available contests will be ranked based on the amount it costs to play. If you’re looking for the big contests with top prizes then sorting by ‘Total Prizes’ will allow you to see where the biggest jackpots are; likewise sorting by ‘Entries’ lets you see where the events with the largest (or smallest) numbers of players are.

For golf, some of the most popular contests are the $3 entry ‘Birdie’ or $4 entry ‘Fore’ contests which tend to offer amongst the biggest overall prize funds for a relatively small entry fee – however of course you’ll need to beat thousands of other players if you’re going to win big.

Depending on which contest you choose, some allow multiple entries (and may stipulate a maximum number of entries as per the examples above), whereas others are single entry. The beauty of the multiple entry contests is that you can try a number of different strategies with teams containing different players and of course any or all of them could result in a payout.

Prizes

Having selected a contest to play in, you’ll be presented with a summary page which details the important information relating to that event:

The contest summary tells you the number of entrants, the top prize and also how many of those entrants will earn a prize of some description. The prize payout on the right-hand-side goes into more detail about the prizes paid by finishing position, whereas the ‘entrants’ section allows you to see who’s already entered into the contest. Symbols against an entrant determines whether they have submitted multiple entries into this contest or not (denoted by the symbol M), plus the experience badge denotes whether they are an experienced player and/or whether they’ve won a prize of over $1,000 in the past.

Selecting Your Team

Now for the important bit – actually picking your team of 6 players!

The salary cap for golf contests is $50,000 which means you need to build a team of 6 players whose salaries combined are equal to or less than the overall $50,000 limit. Player values tend to range from around $6,000 to $12,000 with the most expensive correlating with those players who are most likely to win and the cheapest those who aren’t expected to perform well.

There’s undoubtedly a strong correlation between the salaries for each player and the odds that the bookmakers offer, so the favourite tends to be the most expensive player to select, however this isn’t an exact science and there are often disparities between salaries and odds which can help you find some value players. With $50,000 in salaries available between 6 players, the average for each of your selections can be no more than $8,333 – so if you pick one or two of the most expensive players you will of course be limited as to which other players you can select and still stay under the $50,000 limit.

The ‘Rem Salary’ will tell you how much you have left in the bank for your players once you’ve started adding them to your lineup and, when you get to the final player, any selection that would potentially take you over the $50,000 limit is coloured in red to make it easier for you to see who can be selected.

With 150+ players available for a typical event, the search function comes in very handy as it allows you to partially match the name of a player and find them far more easily than scrolling down:

Of course if you want to change a player then simply click the red X by his name and he’ll be removed from your lineup. Once you’ve submitted a team you can also go back and edit your lineup any time before the event starts – great news if there’s a late withdrawal or if you have an 11th hour change of heart.

There are a number of basic stats listed against each player which may help you choose your team:

• FPPG: Fantasy Points Per Game – the average DratKings points achieved by this player for the season.
• T10s: the number of top 10s achieved by this player for the season.
• CUTS: the number of cuts made by this player for the season.
• AVG: stroke average for this player for the season.

Of course this is all very basic stuff, so combining this data with our stats, previews and predictor models should help you make a more informed decision. Once you’re happy with your team simply click the green ‘Enter’ button and you’re in the contest.

DraftKings Golf Scoring

DraftKings scoring on golf isn’t overly complicated, however it’s worth understanding the individual components as some elements are worth more than others. The full scoring mechanism is as follows:

Per Hole Scoring

• Albatross or Better: +13 Points
• Hole in One: +5 Points
• Eagle: +8 Points
• Birdie: +3 Points
• Par: +0.5 Point
• Bogey: -0.5 Point
• Double Bogey or Worse: -1 Point

Tournament Finishing Positions Scoring

• 1st: 30 Points
• 2nd: 20 Points
• 3rd: 18 Points
• 4th: 16 Points
• 5th: 14 Points
• 6th: 12 Points
• 7th: 10 Points
• 8th: 9 Points
• 9th: 8 Points
• 10th: 7 Points
• 11th–15th: 6 Points
• 16th–20th: 5 Points
• 21st–25th: 4 Points
• 26th–30th: 3 Points
• 31st–40th: 2 Points
• 41st-50th: 1 Point

Streaks and Bonuses

• Streak of 3 Birdies of Better, Maximum 1 Per Round: +3 Points
• Bogey Free Round: +3 Points
• All 4 Rounds Under 70 Strokes: +5 Points

The scoring system for golf on DraftKings creates an interesting dynamic. The rewards for picking players who are aggressive birdie or eagle-makers can be high as, similar to playing Stableford golf, there’s more upside in making a gain than there is downside in making a bogey or worse.The scoring for finishing position is what tends to make the difference though and ultimately picking a team that contains players very prominent on the final leaderboard is the most likely route to succeeding in this game.

The other dynamic that’s critical to success in DraftKings golf is getting your players through to the weekend. Losing the scoring potential of one or more of your team for the final two rounds if they miss the cut is a sure-fire way to reduce your profit potential. However consistently picking 6 out of 6 players to make the cut is far, far harder than you might think!

To be winning good prizes, you’re likely to need to pick the winner, another two or three in the top 10 or so and the remainder of the team need a good, solid scoring week. To be winning a big overall prize you’ll likely need to go a step further than that, although with the intricacies of the scoring it’s possible to make big moves if you’re lucky enough to pick a player who makes an Ace or Albatross – and these kind of things just can’t be accounted for.

My advice when you’re starting out is to pick some low-cost contests and enter multiple teams in them using different approaches. Maybe balance teams with a couple of expensive favourites and four rags against six mid-priced players and see how you get on. Ultimately though you need to be picking players who firstly make the cut and secondly contend and/or win if you’re going to win some of the bigger prizes on offer.

Useful Pointers

Importing Teams. If you’re planning to enter the same team in more than one contest then the ‘Import’ option is handy as it saves you having to find the same players from the list each team – simply click ‘IMPORT’ and it will present you with a list of all your teams for you to select from.

Editing Teams. If you want to make any changes to your lineups then the easiest way to do this is by clicking ‘Contests’ from the top navigation menu. From there select ‘UPCOMING’ and you’ll see a list of your entries alongside an ‘EDIT’ option which takes you back to your linuep where you can make any amendments with ease.

Leagues. If you’ve been invited to a league, or would like to set up your own league for friends to play in, then the ‘LEAGUES’ option on the top navigation menu is your starting point. This is where we post our weekly contests for GBS readers – the GBS League can be found here.

Majors. DraftKings tend to pull out all the stops when the four Majors roll around and with their Fantasy Golf Millionaire Maker contests you can enter for your chance to win the $1m top prize. Satellite tournaments run for the weeks leading up to each Major where you can win an entry in the main event itself, or of course you can buy-in for what has typically been a $33 entry fee in recent times.

Tracking Your Progress

Once an event has started you can track your progress in each of your contests live. The scoring is only marginally behind the live leaderboards on the PGA and European Tour websites/apps and by selecting the ‘LIVE’ tab within ‘Contests’ you’ll get a summary of your positions and any winnings for each of your entries, alongside a total value of your current winnings. Alongside each of your entries there’s a further ‘LIVE >>’ option which takes you to that team specifically and allows you to see how each of your players are contributing to your team individually.

Of course there’s nothing left you can do at this stage but cheer on your team of players, however it can get very exciting if one of your lineups is going well!

If you’re brand new to DraftKings then you’ll need to establish an account before you begin:

• DraftKings UK Customers – Registration Link*

* Please note, the ‘promo code’ option is currently not used by DraftKings so simply leave that blank when registering.

The current welcome offer for UK customers is free entry into a $3 contest following a minimum deposit of £/€5 or more – the qualifying links above entitle you to this welcome bonus and this is currently the best and only offer available to new players. You can access DraftKings on both PC and Mobile devices, with a mobile version of the site available on tablets/phones as well as a full App available on both the Apple Store and Google Play.

New customers only qualify for the free $3 tournament entry. 18+ (higher age limits may apply in some states), T&Cs apply – for full T&Cs for this offer click here.

Got any feedback or do you think this article could do with additional features/explanation? Email us at feedback@golfbettingsystem.co.uk and we’ll take a look for you. Best of luck!