A golf playoff is used when two or more players are tied at the end of a competition or tournament. Major tournaments each have their own version of the golf playoff. In less competitive circumstances, like a golf game between friends, winning may not matter as much, and thus no golf playoff may be used.

The US Open Tournament uses a golf playoff where the tied players return the next day and play another 18 rounds of golf to determine the winner. This is thought of as the most fair way to settle a tie, yet it can engender problems, such as people needing to schedule extra days to stay at a tournament and requesting the presence of sportscasters for additional time. It can also disturb television executives who must make quick decisions about how to change programming to show additional days.

Similar to playing another game is an aggregate golf playoff used in the PGA Championship and other tournaments. An agreed upon number of holes are played, and the person with the least strokes is declared the winner of the tournament.

In both a second game and in an aggregate golf playoff there is the possibility that the end result of the game may still be a tie. Such a tie is usually broken by a sudden death golf playoff. Players play each hole, and the first time a player wins a hole, by using less strokes then his competitor, the game is over.

Some tournaments choose a sudden death golf playoff at the onset instead of using a second game or an aggregate golf playoff to determine the winner. It has the advantage of resolving a tie quickly. Competitive friends playing a social game of golf tend to use the sudden death method as well to settle a tie.

The British Open initially used the aggregate method, but now employs the sudden death golf playoff method to determine the winner of its tournament. Conversely, the PGA Championship used to use the sudden death method but now finds the aggregate method fairer. The golf playoff type depends upon what the organizers of the tournament think is the most fair. Individual golfers and organizers of tournaments clearly differ in determining the “fairness” of a golf playoff. Thus one sees all three methods employed at different tournaments throughout the world.