The 2027 majors start with the Masters on April 8-11 and end with the 155th Open at St Andrews on July 15-18. In between: the PGA Championship at Fields Ranch East in Frisco (May 20-23) and the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (June 17-20). If your group wants a pool for some or all of them, you've got five realistic places to run it.
They don't do the same job. DraftKings is cash against strangers. PGA TOUR Fantasy is a free season-long game. Majors Challenge and Splash Sports (which now runs RunYourPool) host classic office-style pools. Foursome runs a draft-and-auction pool for one friend group. Here's what each one is for, with the weak spots listed.
Methodology: we checked each platform's own site and rules pages on November 2, 2026, and ranked them by fit for a specific kind of group, not as one overall winner. Yes, we make Foursome, so it's listed first. The cons for it are real, and two other platforms here are a better pick for some groups.
1. Foursome: best for a friend pool with a draft night
Format: 3-round snake draft plus a Friday-night cash auction, one pool per major.
Cost: Free. Entry fees are settled between friends; Foursome tracks who paid.
Site: foursomegolf.golf
Foursome is built for one job: 4-12 friends running a pool each major weekend. Everyone drafts three golfers in a snake draft before Thursday, and no golfer can sit on two rosters. After the cut, a live auction opens on every undrafted golfer still in the field. Each bid names the player you'd drop. The auction closes at a hard cutoff before Saturday's round (default midnight Eastern going into Saturday, later for the PGA and U.S. Open out west), and anyone short a player gets auto-filled at the league minimum bid, so nobody chases lineups at 1 a.m.
Pros:
- Real snake draft: if you want Scheffler, nobody else can have him
- Friday auction adds a second act and grows the pot
- Daily prizes plus an overall pot, with a "remainder" slot that grows 1st place as auction money comes in
- Cascading tiebreakers through every golfer on the roster
- Live ESPN scoring every 5 minutes, push notifications, one invite link
- Season standings across all four majors
Cons:
- Built around the four men's majors only. No weekly PGA Tour game.
- Someone has to be commissioner and get the group to draft.
- Newer and smaller than everything else on this list.
- Doesn't collect or pay out money. You still Venmo each other.
Best for: Groups where the draft and the Friday auction are half the fun.
2. Majors Challenge: best for big pools and golf clubs
Format: Tiered weekly pools, plus a snake draft format, one-and-done, and season-long leaderboards.
Cost: The commissioner pays $1 per team for each major. Other tournaments are free, and members never pay. A new league gets 50 starter credits. Clubs buy a season subscription.
Site: majorschallenge.com
The main Majors Challenge game is a tiered pool: each team takes 8 or 12 golfers drawn from four tiers based on world ranking. It also offers a "Fantasy Draft" format (usually a snake draft, five golfers plus an alternate, no shared players), a one-and-done, a points-based Birdie Ball game, and a season-long Majors Challenge Cup. Several state golf associations run member pools on it.
Pros:
- Handles 50- or 200-person pools without strain
- Lots of formats, including a draft if you want one
- Cheap: $1 per team per major, and the starter credits cover a first small pool
- Covers weekly events, so you can run a full season
Cons:
- In the tiered pools, two entrants can end up with identical teams
- No mid-tournament auction or post-cut roster moves
- Built for scale more than for a 10-person group chat
Best for: Office pools, club pools, and any group too big or too scattered to draft together. If you have 40 people, it's a better fit than Foursome.
3. Splash Sports (RunYourPool): best for classic tier sheets with money handling
Format: Six-tier pick sheet or a salary-cap sheet, six golfers per major.
Cost: A per-player fee plus a percentage of entry fees processed (the exact numbers aren't published on the page; check at signup).
Site: runyourpool.com
Splash Sports, RunYourPool, and OfficeFootballPool are now one brand. The golf majors pool covers the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, the Open, and optionally the Players. Members pick one golfer from each of six odds-based tiers (or build a six-man roster under a salary cap), and the commissioner can drop each team's worst golfers or add finishing bonuses. Splash can collect entry fees for you; the free RunYourPool version can't handle real money.
Pros:
- Familiar pick sheet anyone can fill out in five minutes
- Optional entry-fee collection through Splash
- Combined standings across all the majors
Cons:
- Shared golfers across entries, so no sniping
- Fees scale with pool size
- Set-and-forget once picks lock
Best for: Commissioners who want someone else to hold the money.
4. DraftKings: best for daily fantasy cash games
Format: Salary-cap DFS. Six golfers under a $50,000 cap. Classic (all four rounds), Weekend, and single-round Showdown contests.
Cost: Entries run from cents to hundreds of dollars, plus free contests.
Site: draftkings.com
DraftKings runs golf contests for every PGA Tour event, majors included. You compete against thousands of strangers, and the serious players use ownership projections and optimizers. Real-money DFS isn't legal in every state, so check yours.
Pros:
- Huge prize pools every week
- Single-round Showdowns if you just want Saturday
- Polished app, instant payouts
Cons:
- You're playing sharps with solver software
- Strangers, not friends
- Same golfers on every lineup
Best for: Skill-game players who want to beat a public field for cash.
5. PGA TOUR Fantasy: best free season-long game
Format: Six golfers per event (four starters, two bench), a captain who scores double, season split into segments.
Cost: Free.
Site: fantasygolf.pgatour.com
The official game was rebuilt for 2025 and tweaked again for 2026. You pick six golfers each week, name a captain, and can set your lineup any time before or during the event. Each golfer can only be started three times per segment, which forces you to save Scheffler for the weeks that matter. Auto-swap pulls a bench player in if a starter misses the cut or withdraws. Private leagues pick which tournaments count, so a majors-only league is possible.
Pros:
- Free, official data, full PGA Tour schedule
- Usage limits and captains add real weekly strategy
- Private leagues with a custom schedule
Cons:
- Golfers aren't exclusive, so friends can pick the same team
- No draft and no auction
- No prize or money tracking
Best for: Groups who want a free game every week of the season.
What about ESPN Fantasy Golf?
Lots of people search for it, so here's the status. As of November 2026, fantasy.espn.com/golf redirects to ESPN's general fantasy home page, and there's no season-long golf game listed next to football, basketball, and hockey. ESPN's recent golf contests were free one-off "Major Championship Pick'em" question games; the last one we could find was for the 2022 Open. More detail in our ESPN Fantasy Golf comparison.
How to choose
- 10 friends who want a draft night for the majors: Foursome
- A 50-person office or club pool: Majors Challenge
- A tier sheet where the platform collects the money: Splash Sports
- Cash games against the public: DraftKings
- A free weekly game all season: PGA TOUR Fantasy
Plenty of groups run two. PGA TOUR Fantasy keeps everyone busy from January to August, and a draft pool makes the four majors feel different from a regular Tour week.
Run your 2027 major pools on Foursome. Free for friend groups.
Set up your Foursome league →Running the Masters first? Start with the 2027 Masters fantasy pool guide. For the format head-to-heads, see Foursome vs Majors Challenge and Foursome vs PGA TOUR Fantasy.
FAQ
What's the best free fantasy golf app for the majors?
For a friend group that wants to draft, Foursome is free. For a free weekly game against the public or a private league, PGA TOUR Fantasy. Majors Challenge is close to free: $1 per team per major, paid by the commissioner.
Can I run a fantasy golf pool for just the four majors?
Yes. Foursome only runs the majors. Majors Challenge and Splash Sports let you pick which events count, and PGA TOUR Fantasy private leagues can choose their own tournament schedule.
Which platforms let friends draft so no one shares a golfer?
Foursome (snake draft, then an auction after the cut) and Majors Challenge's Fantasy Draft format. Tier sheets, salary caps, and PGA TOUR Fantasy all allow the same golfer on many teams.
Do any of these handle the money?
DraftKings does, and Splash Sports can collect pool entry fees. Foursome and Majors Challenge track the pot but leave payment to the group.