2011 PGA Tour LED Scoreboard Graphics Style Guide
(revised 4/6/2011)
This document constitutes a style guide that tournaments shall use to create the local tournament graphics for the LED scoreboards.
It is recommended that tournaments appoint a staff member or volunteer with graphics experience to be the graphics chairperson (the point person to work on the graphics). The
PGA Tour will continue to create the full-screen tournament logo slide, so there is no need for the tournament graphics chairperson to create one. Tournaments must put their tournament logo in the left box of every slide. The other side will be used for tournament staff names, pro-am and clinic information, and other tournament messaging. This allows for enhanced branding for the tournament in that the tournament logo is on every slide along with its sponsors and messaging. There are three layouts available for the right side: single-box, two-box high, and two-box low.
The PGA Tour will supply a template (.psd file) for creation of local tournament graphics as .png files. A thirty-day trial of Photoshop CS or Elements can be downloaded from
Adobe.com. Elements can be purchased for less than one hundred dollars. There are also free graphics applications available on the Web.
The PGA Tour has two sizes of LED scoreboards. Most PGA Tour tournaments will have the larger scoreboards with a resolution (pixel size) of 384x144. Some PGA Tour tournaments and most Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour tournaments will have the smaller scoreboards with a resolution (pixel size) of 320x112. Some tournaments may have both sizes on site. It is the tournaments’ responsibility to make sure they use the correct template for the size scoreboards on site. The two templates are named as follows:
2011_PGATour384x144Template_COLOR.psd
2011_PGATour320x112Template_COLOR.psd
The graphics chairperson will use the template supplied to create tournament graphics by adding in logos and/or text to create .png files.
Web sites, URLs or domain names may not be put on any slides unless the Title Sponsor is a Web site. For example, referencing a tournament page on Facebook, the messaging can read: “Find us on Facebook.” It cannot read: “Facebook.com/tournament.” Tournaments may color in a single box if the tournament or sponsor logo involves a background of a specific color such as National Car Rental’s signature green background.
Tournaments are responsible for the accuracy of spelling, dates and times. If changes need to be made, new files must be re-submitted. The on-site staff cannot make these changes.

Smooth, round or bold fonts are recommended. Some examples are Arial, Lucida and
Univers. Italic fonts should not be used. Fonts should be no smaller than 14 pt. Text in all caps usually looks better but is not required.
Tournaments may change the color of the background and of the inset border to match the tournament primary and secondary color scheme.
1) Use Background Color Overlay to change the color of the background. In the image below, it is set for blue.
2) Use Inset Border Color Overlay to change the color of the inset border. In the image below, it is set for gold.
3) The eye symbol makes elements visible or not visible.
To change the colors, double-click on the words “Color Overlay” (1) in the layer effects shown above. The following pop-up will appear:

Click on the color box shown with the arrow.
In the next pop-up box, you can use the middle slider bar to find the desired palette and then fine tune the color from the left box, or you can just input the desired RGB values.
The Eyedropper tool allows for the fastest color selections from the tournament logo.

Tournaments may elect to match the TOUR color scheme by making the background and inset border not visible when creating and exporting slides. The output files will then have a transparent checkerboard look that allows the TOUR colors (a solid color with an inset border) to show.
Below are the individual box dimensions for both template sizes and examples of different color options:

384x144 – Two-box layer – dark blue background & gold inset border
320x112 – Two-box layer – dark blue background & gold inset border
384x144 – Three-box, big-bottom layer – green background & gold inset border
320x112 – Three-box, big-bottom layer – green background & gold inset border
384x144 – Three-box, big-top layer – light blue background & white inset border

320x112 – Three-box, big-top layer – black background & red inset border
If your tournament has both sizes of LED scoreboards, it is recommended that the graphics chairperson resize the logos so that they fit on both boards to reduce time spent on the graphics.
The best way to allow easy exporting and fixes (e.g. logo updates, spelling errors, date changes or color changes) is to add a new layer for each additional element used to create the slide, and then save the template rather than renaming a single layer multiple times.
That way, one template can be used to create all the tournament slides, and the “eye” can be used to make elements visible or not visible as needed when saving the output files. In the two example images below, the single template contains all the layers that have been created for multiple output files.
Two-box layer, messaging, & dark green color selected as visible:
Three-box layer, staff name, & light green color selected as visible:

When saving the files, the .png extension must be preceded by a three-digit number,
Tournament Name, and text to designate the order in which the files are to show on the scoreboards and to help easily identify what the files are without having to open them.
Below is an example of how to name the files:

When saving the .png files, select “File,” “Save for Web & Devices” ( not “Save As”), choose “PNG-24,” and make sure “Transparency” is checked. See below:
Tournaments must use the exact same color background and inset border on all slides created for their tournament. Backgrounds must be either a solid color or transparent.
Tournaments may not use any other custom background. Below are examples of possible layout options:

Once the files are created, they need to be zipped up and emailed in for approval. While there is no specific deadline, keep in mind that until we receive your tournament files, we cannot run the content on the scoreboards. Once the files are submitted, they will go through an approval process. It is possible that some of the files may need to be modified by the tournament and re-submitted. In order to allow enough time for this process, we recommend submitting the files by noon on Monday of the tournament’s advance week.
If you would like to see more examples of how other tournaments have laid out their slides or for any technical questions regarding this process, please contact:
Jonathan Rabhan
Office: 904-543-5163
Cell: 904-755-2551 jrabhan@pgatourhq.com