Every commissioner who sets a minimum entry count eventually faces the awkward version of it: the tournament is two days out, the pool is three entries short of the minimum, and the group is asking whether it is still on. Pool Bot-Fill is the option that answers that question in advance. It is a minimum-entries behavior for private and unlisted pools: if the pool does not reach its minimum in real entrants by lock, the commissioner can have computer-managed entries fill the remaining spots up to the minimum so the pool runs instead of being cancelled. This guide walks through exactly what that means, when the bots are drafted, how they behave, and the paid-pool rule that makes it transparent rather than a hidden edge.
Pool Bot-Fill tops an under-subscribed private pool up to its minimum with commissioner-operated computer entries at lock, so the game runs rather than auto-cancelling. Bots are labeled "Computer," they compete for position, and in a paid pool any prize a computer entry lands is retained by the commissioner rather than paid out.
What Pool Bot-Fill is
When you set up a pool, you can set a minimum number of entries. That minimum has always had two possible behaviors at lock time. The first is strict: if the minimum is not met, the pool auto-cancels and nobody is on the hook. The second is owner override: the pool runs anyway, however few entries it has. Pool Bot-Fill is a third behavior. If the pool falls short of its minimum in real entrants, the commissioner can have computer-managed entries top it up to the minimum so the game runs with a full-enough field.
Bot-Fill is available only on private and unlisted pools — pools you share by link with a group you know, not pools listed on the public browse page. It is a tool for a commissioner who has a committed group but is unsure whether enough of them will get their rosters in on time, and who would rather run the pool with a couple of computer entries filling the gap than call the whole thing off. It is a niche option, not the default; most pools never touch it.
When the bots are drafted
Nothing happens until the pool locks. Bot-Fill is evaluated once, at the lock boundary, and only if the pool is under its minimum at that moment. The logic is a top-up, not a target: if the minimum is ten and eight real entrants submitted, two computer entries are drafted. If the pool filled organically — ten or more real entrants — zero bots are drafted and the pool runs exactly as any other pool would. The bots exist only to close the gap between the real entry count and the minimum, never to pad the field beyond it.
Because the draft happens at lock, the computer entries draft against the field as it stands at that moment. On a standard four-round pool that is the Thursday-morning field; on a Weekend Shootout it is the post-cut field on Saturday morning. Each computer entry drafts a valid roster within the pool's value cap, the same constraint every real entrant plays under, and it never drafts a golfer who has already withdrawn, been cut, or been disqualified.
How computer entries appear and compete
A computer entry is a real entry on the leaderboard. It has a roster, it is scored by the same engine, and it holds a position in the standings for the whole tournament. It can finish ahead of you. Bot-Fill does not create a weak field that real entrants coast past — the computer entries draft competitive rosters and compete for position like everyone else.
What keeps this honest is labeling. Every computer entry is marked with a "Computer" badge wherever entries are shown — the pool leaderboard, the entrant list, and the commissioner's management view. There is no guessing which entries are real and which are filled. Anyone looking at the standings can see at a glance who is a person and who is a computer entry.
The paid-pool house rule
On a free pool, the computer entries are purely about having a full field for bragging-rights competition, and there is nothing more to say. On a paid pool there is one rule that matters, and it is stated plainly in-product and here: a computer entry that finishes in a paying position does not get paid. Its prize is retained by the commissioner — the "house" — rather than distributed to the other entrants.
The reason is that the commissioner is the one fielding those computer entries. A bot is not a person who anted into the pool, so its share of the pot is not owed to anyone. Rather than redistribute it or pretend the position does not exist, the platform assigns that share to the commissioner, who is operating the entries. Real entrants are always paid by their actual finishing position among the full field. The full accounting is derived automatically, and the commissioner's payout summary reports how much, if anything, computer entries claimed and were retained as the house take.
This is a real consideration for a paid pool, which is why entrants are told about it before they pay.
What entrants see before they join
Bot-Fill is disclosed, not buried. Whenever a pool is set to the Bot-Fill behavior, a plain-language notice stands on the pool page in every state, describing that the pool may add computer-played entries operated by the commissioner if it does not reach its minimum, and that any prize a computer entry wins is kept by the commissioner.
At join time the disclosure appears again. On a paid Bot-Fill pool, joining requires the entrant to acknowledge the notice before the entry can be submitted — the checkbox blocks entry until it is ticked, the same pattern used for other money-adjacent acknowledgments. On a free Bot-Fill pool the same notice is shown as information, with no checkbox, because there is no house-take consequence to acknowledge. Either way, nobody enters a Bot-Fill pool without having seen how it works.
Setting it up
Bot-Fill is a choice in the pool wizard, on the same screen where you set your entry fee and minimum-entries behavior. It becomes selectable once the pool is private or unlisted and a minimum is set; on a public pool it is not offered, and if you switch a pool to public after selecting it, the setting reverts to the strict behavior. On a paid pool, choosing Bot-Fill surfaces the house-take disclosure to you as the commissioner during setup so you know exactly what you are turning on.
If you would rather the pool just cancel when it comes up short, use the strict behavior instead. If you would rather it run with whatever real entries it has and no computer entries at all, use owner override. Bot-Fill sits between those two: it runs, but it runs with a full-enough field. The broader setup walkthrough lives in The Commissioner Guide, and the paid-pool money picture — including the house-take consequence — is covered in Free vs Paid Pools. For how visibility gates the option, see Private, Public, and Password-Protected Pools.
Common questions
Will my pool ever add computer entries without my choosing it?›
No. Bot-Fill is off unless you select it during setup, and it is only offered on private and unlisted pools. A pool set to strict or owner override never adds computer entries. Even on a Bot-Fill pool, no bots are drafted if the pool reaches its minimum in real entrants on its own.
How many computer entries get added?›
Only enough to reach the minimum. If your minimum is twelve and ten real entrants submitted by lock, two computer entries are drafted. If eleven submitted, one is drafted. If twelve or more submitted, none are drafted. The bots never push the field past the minimum.
Can a computer entry win money in a paid pool?›
No. A computer entry competes for position and can land in a paying spot, but it is never paid. That share is retained by the commissioner who is operating the entries, and the platform reports it as the house take in the payout summary. Real entrants are always paid by their actual finishing position.
Do computer entries receive any of the pool's emails or notifications?›
No. Computer entries are excluded from every entrant-facing message — completion emails, round recaps, reminders, and the rest. They appear in the standings that real entrants see, but they are never a recipient of any communication.
Pool Bot-Fill exists for one situation: a private group that wants its pool to run even when a few people do not get their rosters in on time. It is disclosed, the computer entries are labeled, and the paid-pool consequence is stated up front. Used the way it is meant to be used — inside a known group, with everyone told how it works — it turns "we did not get enough people, it is off" into "it runs anyway."