The Masters is the pool everyone joins. Friends who ignore golf the other 51 weeks a year suddenly want in, because Augusta in April is appointment television. If you run one friend-group golf pool all year, this is the one. In 2027 it's April 8-11.
This is the commissioner's playbook: what to set up before the first tee shot Thursday, how the Friday auction adds a second draft after the cut, and the payout splits that keep everyone watching through Sunday's back nine. For the 2027 dates, field and a payout table by group size, see our Masters fantasy pool 2027 guide.
Why the Masters is the easiest pool to fill
The field is small and famous. Roughly 90 players, most of them names your group already knows, plus past champions who can tee it up for life. Nobody needs a spreadsheet of world rankings to recognize Scheffler or McIlroy, who won in 2025 and 2026 and shows up in 2027 trying for three in a row. The event does the rest: azaleas, the green jacket, Amen Corner. That pulls in casual friends who'd never touch a U.S. Open pool.
Practical upshot: send the invite early. People say yes to the Masters faster than any other major, and two or three weeks out gives you time to collect buy-ins before Masters week.
Step 1: Set the buy-in and send one invite link
Most friend pools land between $25 and $100 per person. The pot is every entry fee plus whatever the Friday auction raises. A ten-person, $50 pool starts at $500 and usually grows by a few hundred dollars once bidding starts Friday night.
On Foursome, drop one invite link in the group chat. Friends click, register, and land in the pool automatically. Mark each person Paid in the admin panel as their Venmo clears. No roster spreadsheet, no chasing. Foursome is free; the money moves between you and your friends.
Step 2: Draft Tuesday or Wednesday night
The standard format is a 3-round snake draft, three golfers per team. Wednesday night after the Par 3 Contest is the sweet spot: late enough to catch withdrawals, early enough that nobody's picking at midnight. Tuesday works too.
The Masters rewards course history more than any other major. It's the only major that returns to the same course every year, so players who've contended there tend to keep contending. That makes draft night a real debate: spend an early pick on a proven Augusta horse, or chase a hot hand who has never figured out those greens on a Sunday?
Get everyone on FaceTime, set a 90-second clock, and let the trash talk run. A ten-person draft takes about half an hour. For pick-position tactics, see the Masters draft strategy guide, and if your group is new to the format, how a snake draft works.
Step 3: Thursday and Friday scoring
Each day, the team with the lowest combined score to par from its golfers takes the daily prize (all three count by default; you can switch to best two). Ties cascade: best single golfer that day wins, then second best, then third. Scores pull from ESPN automatically every few minutes, so you're not doing math off the broadcast.
Step 4: The Friday auction after the cut
This is what separates a Masters pool from a one-and-done bracket. The cut is top 50 and ties after 36 holes (the old 10-shot rule is gone). Once it's applied, every undrafted golfer still playing goes up for live cash bidding. Say your Round 1 pick missed the cut. Friday night you bid to replace him, committing a drop player at bid time so finalization is clean.
The Masters cut is often dramatic. A big name blows up, a past champion sneaks inside the line, and suddenly the auction board has players your group skipped Wednesday and now wants badly. The hard cutoff (default Saturday midnight Eastern) auto-finalizes and gives anyone short of a full roster the next-best available golfer at the minimum bid, so nobody sleeps through the weekend. Our auction explainer covers bidding tactics.
Step 5: The weekend, and Sunday at Augusta
Saturday and Sunday score from your post-auction roster. The overall winner comes down to Sunday's final leaderboard: your best golfer's finishing position decides it, with tiebreakers running through the rest of your roster. Augusta's back nine on Sunday swings hard. In 2026, McIlroy won by one after birdies at 12 and 13, and Scheffler closed 65-68 on the weekend to finish a shot back. Keep the group chat open.
Suggested payout for a 10-person, $50 pool
- Daily Thursday: $40
- Daily Friday: $40
- Daily Saturday: $40
- Daily Sunday: $40
- Overall 3rd: $50
- Overall 2nd: $100
- Overall 1st: the remainder ($190 plus every auction dollar)
Paying a prize every day keeps the casual friend who drafted a dud checking his phone Saturday morning. Even a busted overall team can win Sunday's daily. Set all of this in the admin panel: toggle which rounds pay, set amounts per place, and let first place absorb the auction money. Running 6 or 8 people instead? The 2027 pool guide has splits for each size.
Collecting the money
Money moves outside the app: Venmo, cash, Apple Cash. Foursome gives you a paid/unpaid toggle per person so you can see who still owes before Thursday. Collect up front. Chasing a $50 buy-in from someone whose team missed the cut is the worst part of being commissioner.
FAQ
When should we draft for the Masters?
Tuesday or Wednesday night of Masters week. In 2027 that's April 6 or 7, with Thursday's first round on April 8.
How much should a Masters pool cost?
$25-100 per person is typical. $50 with a $10 minimum auction bid is a good default for a group of 8-12.
What if someone can't make the live draft?
Push notifications tell them when they're on the clock, so they can pick from their phone. A longer pick clock helps.
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