Fantasy primer: Time to prepare for all formats before '11 begins

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Bo Van Pelt (Group B on Yahoo!) has value in many formats after notching eight Top 10s in 28 starts in 2010.

It's why we love it as much as we do.

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It's why, when the holidays and family and parties and shopping and vacations (and more parties) collaborate to tug their aggregate best at our time at the end of the year, we're breaking down trends in greens in regulation, scrambling and that wonderful world of bogey avoidance. Oh, yes. Indeed, we are the fantasy golf gamers.

We don't believe in an offseason, or in excess, or in the aging unlikelihood that one day, just maybe, Brian Davis and Briny Baird and Charles Warren will finally get theirs.

For as much as Cigar Guy tangentially reels in your neighbors that couldn't name the world's No. 1-rated golfer without a question mark, you are quietly and already pondering the merits of Kyung-Tae Kim and Hiroyuki Fujita as fliers at the Masters, all the while knowing, without a shred of uncertainty, that Matteo Manassero is going to get a special exemption into the first major, before backing off, telling yourself that you will get your time to invest in the next Italian stallion. No need to get antsy. "The learning curve in golf is longer than in any other," you remind yourself.

Closer to home, you await my full-membership fantasy rankings because, of course, there is never enough resource material, and you know that I won't leave you hanging on anyone. You remember from my projections of the Nationwide Tour grads to invest in Jamie Lovemark or Chris Kirk or Kevin Chappell, capping your acquisition at one. And then you dust off my projections for the Q School grads, only to get hit (again) with the sobering advice to avoid Ben Martin, but worry not about William McGirt, Zack Miller and Nate Smith. Really? Really. Well, not as much at least.

Meanwhile, Yahoo! gamers in private leagues are rejoicing in the name of mulligan. In those closed-circuit loops only in 2011, owners can now remove their lowest score in any week in each of the three segments throughout the season. While it caters to the occasional double bogey of forgetting to set a lineup, it should also aid in bunching the leaders together, at least a little (That is the only modification in that format).

Looking at the new assignments for golfers in the game, here are notables from all three Groups:

Group A: Lee Westwood (non-member), Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Graeme McDowell, Jim Furyk, Dustin Johnson, Ernie Els, Matt Kuchar, Luke Donald, Nick Watney, Geoff Ogilvy and rookie Louis Oosthuizen

Group B: Steve Stricker, Paul Casey, Retief Goosen, Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, Tim Clark, Robert Allenby, Camilo Villegas, Bill Haas, Bubba Watson, Bo Van Pelt, Ian Poulter, Kevin Na and rookie Charl Schwartzel

Group C: Zach Johnson, Rory McIlroy (non-member), Martin Kaymer (non-member), Anthony Kim, Ryan Moore, Stewart Cink, Jason Day, Henrik Stenson and rookies Robert Karlsson and Jamie Lovemark

Sign up now!

Click here to sign up for Yahoo! Fantasy Golf and be eligible to win prizes.

Prizes for winners are as follows:

Weekly: One dozen Nike ONE Vapor Speed golf balls
Segment: One Nike SQ Machspeed Black driver
Grand: Package for two to any PGA TOUR-sanctioned event in 2012; covers transportation, accommodations and access to the grounds for the entire week

So while the annual competition partnered with PGATOUR.COM tees off at the newly sponsored Hyundai Tournament of Champions on Jan. 6, other formats will either have already locked in rosters or will be using the first few weeks for field study.

As I allude to often in my previews at PGATOUR.COM, while the Yahoo! game commands the landscape on the Internet, a countless number of you participate in old-school, spreadsheet-generated pastimes that pay homage to the origins of fantasy sports as an industry. I'm talking about rotisserie leagues, salary games, one-and-dones, duffers and variations in between.

Fantasy golf for the masses was borne from the Internet, but as some of you have shared privately, you refuse to engage with the option of changing your lineup daily due to the fickle nature of the sport. So, while there are any number of independent alternatives at the working end of a search engine, your happy place is in the grassroots. I, for one, have participated in a full-draft, 10-team dynasty league since 1994. We utilize keepers, drop-adds, a waiver system, a weighted lottery and a unique scoring format that has neutralized Tiger Woods without eliminating his dominance. No golfer sits on more than one roster at any one time, and owned golfers that complete tournaments contribute in some fashion. A primary objective it to make lots of starts and survive as may cuts as possible.

Until I slid into the columnist role at Rotoworld.com in 2008, I wasn't familiar with the popularity of the salary format. However, as you'll notice when my full-membership rankings are unveiled next week, one column is dedicated to those gamers. These are organic leagues formed in workplaces, families and other relationships. The object is simple -- finish atop the money list. You are given a budget to draft a certain number of golfers using earnings from the previous season. (In many of these competitions, when a top-shelf talent is out, injured or has an off-year, a minimum dollar value is assigned above the actual earnings. This is to remove the automatic decision to invest cheaply.) I've learned very quickly that these gamers get serious between now and mid-January as each league begins at different times.

Those of you familiar with my work in 2010 already know that I furnished one-and-done and duffer picks for every official event on the schedule. The one-and-done game is the easiest fantasy format for entry-level gamers that want steady action. All you do is pick one golfer for a tournament. Whatever he earns goes into your bank, and then he's off your board for the remainder of the year. The best one-and-dones allow you to ride along with the schedule. There are some that force you into an entire season worth of decisions before the first tee ball is aloft at Kapalua. Not only are you going to take Did-Not-Plays on occasion with that system, but injuries, golfers' schedule changes and other dynamics could damper the fun. Nevertheless, it's a fair solution for gamers that travel often, lead the busier lives among us or just don't want to deal with weekly communication.

Duffer leagues are evil, but they're a blast, especially as it relates to the trash-talking among the owners. The object is opposite that of the one-and-done in that you want to finish last in earnings to win your league. Since many PGA TOUR events allow open qualifiers, amateurs, sponsor exemptions and the like to compete alongside those with G650s idling at a local hangar, my suggested rule is to limit your eligible field to no lower than Priority Ranking No. 28, which is reserved for Non-Exempt Medical Extensions. (Once updated for 2011, you can view the entire pecking order here: Priority Rankings.) When you've burned a golfer, he's removed from your board for the remainder of the year. While the no-cut events on the schedule play a primary role in your overall standings, the game also serves as a viable exercise in learning more about and following the rank and file on TOUR. You can parlay that knowledge into success in formats that reward depth.

Finally, if committing to a full season isn't your bag, then consider the low-effort majors pools such as the Majors Fantasy Challenge at PGA.com. Games like this one use points or actual earnings to determine value. Team totals are calculated, and then ranked to determine a champion. They're no-brainers since you compete only four times and rosters are usually bursting with household names. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the PGA.com game as well as Yahoo! are free to play.

So, as you attempt to shake the sugar plums dancing in your head, if you're not already in cahoots with a fantasy game, consider hopping aboard Yahoo! and/or founding one of the other formats I've described. All it takes is two owners to play.

If you want help in getting a league off the ground, setting rules, etc, shoot me an email at FantasyInsider@charter.net. I reply to all. I also welcome discussion on Twitter. Find me there as @RobBoltonGolf.

Rob Bolton is PGATOUR.COM's fantasy columnist. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the PGA TOUR. To contact Rob, please e-mail him at FantasyInsider@charter.net or http://twitter.com/RobBoltonGolf.