Professional golf isn’t one tour — it’s a dozen of them, plus four majors, plus a handful of team events, plus the qualifying ladders that move players between them. This page is the master index of every pro-tour, tournament, and competitive structure term defined on Golfing Fore All.
If you’re trying to understand how the FedExCup actually works, why LIV Golf is or isn’t a major contender, or how Ryder Cup foursomes differ from Solheim Cup foursomes, this is your reference. Every entry links to a plain-English definition reviewed by a PGA-credentialed editor.
The Essentials
- PGA Championship — the major run by the PGA of America, played in May
- Ryder Cup — the biennial team competition between Europe and the United States
- Solheim Cup — the women’s biennial team match between Europe and the United States
- Caddie — the player’s on-course partner — carries the bag, reads greens, manages strategy
- Sudden Death — the most common tiebreaker — first player to win a hole takes the tournament
How These Terms Relate
The men’s professional structure has three top-tier tours: the PGA Tour (American-based, the richest and most-watched), the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour, with stops worldwide), and LIV Golf (a Saudi-backed circuit that broke off in 2022, playing 54-hole no-cut events with team and individual scoring). Below these sit the development tours: the Korn Ferry Tour, the official feeder to the PGA Tour; the Challenge Tour, the feeder to the DP World Tour; and the Asian Tour, PGA Tour Champions (for players 50 and over), and others. Players move between tiers through qualifying schools (Q-School), feeder-tour graduation, and sponsor exemptions.
Four majors define every season in men’s professional golf. The Masters (April, played every year at Augusta National in Georgia) is the only major that returns to the same course annually. The PGA Championship (May, rotating American venues) is run by the PGA of America. The U.S. Open (June, rotating American venues) is run by the USGA and is famous for brutal course setups designed to identify the most complete player. The Open Championship (July, rotating UK links venues) is the oldest major, dating to 1860, and the only one always played on a links course. Win any one and your career is forever changed. Win two in a single year and you’re in genuinely rare company.
Team events sit alongside the individual majors. The Ryder Cup (Europe vs. United States, biennial, alternating venues) is the most-watched team event in golf and one of the most-watched in any sport. The Presidents Cup is the rest-of-the-world version, played in Ryder Cup off-years. The Solheim Cup is the women’s Ryder Cup; the Curtis Cup is the women’s amateur version. The Walker Cup is the men’s amateur version. All use match play (mostly foursomes and four-ball formats) over three days. The caddie matters more in golf than in any other major sport — they read greens, manage course strategy, calculate yardages, and serve as on-course coach and confidant. The best player-caddie partnerships (Tiger and Steve Williams, Jack and Angelo Argea, Phil and Bones) become defining stories of careers.
The Complete Index
Every term in this cluster, alphabetised, each linked to its full plain-English definition.
Common Questions
What are the four men’s golf majors?
The Masters (April, Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia), the PGA Championship (May, rotating American venues), the U.S. Open (June, rotating American venues), and the Open Championship (July, rotating UK links courses). The Masters is the youngest of the four (founded 1934) and the only one always held at the same course. The Open Championship is the oldest (1860) and the only one always on a links course. The U.S. Open is famous for the toughest setups; the PGA Championship rotates venues most widely. Winning all four in one year — the calendar Grand Slam — has never been done in the modern era.
How does a player qualify for the PGA Tour?
Three main routes. The top 30 finishers on the Korn Ferry Tour’s season-long points list earn PGA Tour cards for the following year. Major winners get five-year exemptions on the PGA Tour regardless of standing. Sponsor exemptions and Monday qualifiers let unattached players into individual events. The Korn Ferry Tour graduate route is the durable, structural path — it’s how almost all the players you see on tour today got there.
What is the difference between the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup?
The Ryder Cup is Europe vs. the United States, played every two years (odd years), alternating venues between European and American hosts. The Presidents Cup is the United States vs. the Rest of the World (excluding Europe — Australians, Asians, South Americans, and South Africans all qualify), played in Ryder Cup off-years (even years). The Ryder Cup is the more competitive and more-watched event. Both use match play across three days: foursomes and four-ball on the first two days, then 12 singles matches on the final day.
What is the FedExCup?
The FedExCup is the PGA Tour’s season-long points race, introduced in 2007. Players accumulate points based on finish position at every tournament across the regular season. The top 70 in points qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs in August — three elimination tournaments that cut the field down to the Tour Championship, where the top 30 compete for the FedExCup title. The DP World Tour’s equivalent is the Race to Dubai. The FedExCup winner gets a multi-million-dollar bonus and effectively the title of best player of the year.
What is LIV Golf and how does it compare to the PGA Tour?
LIV Golf is a Saudi-backed professional golf circuit that launched in 2022 with several PGA Tour stars defecting for guaranteed contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. LIV events run only 54 holes with no cut, feature an individual and a team competition simultaneously, and use shotgun starts. PGA Tour events run 72 holes with a Friday cut and pay based on finishing position rather than guaranteed contracts. The two circuits have been in legal and competitive conflict since 2022; a partial framework agreement was announced in 2023 but the situation continues to evolve.
What does a caddie actually do besides carry the bag?
On tour, a caddie is closer to a co-pilot than a porter. They walk the course in advance, mark up yardage books, calculate distances accounting for wind and elevation, advise on club selection, read greens, manage course strategy, and provide on-course coaching and emotional support. The best caddies make their players measurably better — the player-caddie partnerships of Tiger Woods and Steve Williams, Jack Nicklaus and Angelo Argea, Phil Mickelson and Jim Mackay are defining careers in their own right. At the club level, caddies are also a great way to learn a course and pace of play.
Related Clusters
- Formats and Games — the formats used at the Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup, and majors
- Scoring and Stats — cut lines, FedExCup points, and the stats commentators quote
- Rules of Golf — the tournament-specific rule decisions that decide events
About This Page
This cluster index is maintained by the Golfing Fore All editorial team and reviewed by a PGA-credentialed editor. If you spot something wrong, our corrections policy explains what happens next.