Alright, let’s talk about something I wrestled with for a bit: getting a golf tournament payout chart sorted. It sounds simple, but when you’re trying to keep everyone happy in your local club game or even just a friendly weekend competition with a bit of cash on the line, it can get tricky. I’m going to walk you through how I ended up figuring out a system that works for me.
The Early Headaches
Initially, when our little group started playing for a pot, divvying up the winnings was, well, chaotic. We’d just sort of eyeball it. “Okay, winner gets this much, second gets that…” It wasn’t very consistent. Sometimes the winner got a huge chunk, other times it felt too spread out. And if we had a different number of players each week? Forget about it. It felt like I was reinventing the wheel every single time, and someone always had a question or a slightly confused look.
I knew I needed something more structured. Something fair, transparent, and easy to explain. The goal was to make it so everyone knew what to expect before they even teed off.
Getting Down to Brass Tacks
So, I sat down and really thought about what I needed. My first step was to decide how many places we should pay out. For our small group, paying out too many places didn’t make sense; the amounts would be tiny. But just paying the winner also felt a bit harsh, especially if someone had a really good round and came in a close second.
I figured the number of paid spots should probably scale a bit with the number of players. If we only have 8 guys playing, maybe top 2 or 3. If we get up to 16 or 20, then maybe top 4 or 5. I didn’t want a hard and fast rule that felt wrong for different sized fields.
Playing with Percentages
This was the core of it. I grabbed a pen and paper – old school, I know, but it helps me think. I started jotting down different percentage breakdowns. What felt right? I looked around, vaguely remembering how bigger tournaments seemed to do it, with a good chunk for first, then a reasonable drop for second, and so on. I didn’t want the percentages to fall off a cliff too sharply after first place.
My basic thinking went like this:
- First Place: Needs to be significant. It’s the winner, after all. I aimed for something around 30-50% of the total pot, depending on how many places I was paying.
- Second Place: Substantial, but clearly less than first. Maybe 20-25%.
- Third Place and Beyond: Gradually decreasing amounts.
I actually made a few little tables. For example, if we paid 3 spots:
- 1st: 50%
- 2nd: 30%
- 3rd: 20%
And if we paid 5 spots, something like:
- 1st: 35%
- 2nd: 25%
- 3rd: 20%
- 4th: 12%
- 5th: 8%
Important note: These weren’t set in stone. The key was getting a template I could adjust. Sometimes I’d tweak them by a percent here or there based on the total pot size to make the actual dollar amounts round nicely or just “feel” better.
The Spreadsheet Savior
Doing this by hand every time was still a bit of a pain. So, the next logical step for me was a simple spreadsheet. Nothing fancy, just a basic Excel sheet (Google Sheets works just as well, of course).
I set it up with columns for:
- Player Name (though not strictly needed for the payout chart itself, good for reference)
- Score
- Place
- Payout Percentage (this is where I’d put my chosen percentages)
- Actual Payout Amount
I’d input the total prize pot at the top. Then, for each paid place, the “Actual Payout Amount” cell would just multiply the total pot by the “Payout Percentage” for that place. Super simple, but it made calculations instant and error-free.
Dealing with Ties – The Inevitable!
Ah, ties. They happen all the time in golf. My approach here is pretty standard: if two players tie for a spot, you add the prize money for that spot and the next spot down, then divide it by two. For example, if 2nd place was due $50 and 3rd place was due $30, and two players tied for 2nd, they’d each get ($50 + $30) / 2 = $40. The next finishing player would then get the 4th place money. My spreadsheet has a little section or note to remind me how to handle this manually if it’s not a super complex tie scenario.
Putting It All Together and Keeping it Simple
So, my “system” evolved into having a few standard percentage breakdowns ready to go in my spreadsheet, depending on roughly how many players we had and how many places we agreed to pay. For our regular games, we usually decide before we start how many spots will get paid.
For example, for a typical game with, say, 12-16 players, we might decide to pay the top 4. I’d pull up my spreadsheet, plug in the total pot, and use a pre-saved percentage breakdown like:
- 1st: 40%
- 2nd: 30%
- 3rd: 20%
- 4th: 10%
If the total pot was $200, it would automatically calculate:
- 1st: $80
- 2nd: $60
- 3rd: $40
- 4th: $20
And that’s pretty much it. It’s not rocket science, but having this thought out and easily accessible in a spreadsheet has saved me a ton of time and, more importantly, made the payouts clear and fair for everyone involved. No more guessing, no more awkward calculations on the back of a scorecard. It just works, and everyone seems happy with the transparency.
