How to Bet on Golf
The basic format of golf, coupled with the sheer amount of big name players facing off in each tournament, means it presents a number of very exciting wagering opportunities for punters.
It is generally agreed upon, in betting circles, that wagering on golf is one of the best ways to get large payouts; although actually winning your bet can be tricky as you’re dealing with competitive fields and very small margins for error.
How to Bet
Tournament winner is obviously a very popular betting market, but live betting has really brought extra depth into golf wagering. You can bet on the first day’s leader all the way up to partnership betting, match betting and even mythical three-ball markets.
Generally, the bigger the tournament, the more markets and specials you’ll find. Major events, like the Major Championships or the Ryder Cup, always attract massive volume.
Betting on an outright winner can be tremendously difficult before the tournament actually starts, which is why you’ll rarely find a player priced at single-digit odds in pre-tournament betting.
Seldom does a first-day leader go on to win the tournament, so betting after the first day of a golf tournament should generally be about backing players who are in the hunt and looking to make a real impression.
What to Look For
Knowledge of your players current form is obviously an important part of making a calculated golf wager, but one of the biggest variables is how difficult the course is playing and just how likely your player is to excel.
Try to find recent records of how your player has done on that course in the past and answer whether or not the course has rewarded risk-takers.
The overhead conditions can be a crucial factor, as bad weather usually opens up a golf tournament to outside contenders.
A players’ current form, his track record on the course and a good knowledge of the weather (and how your player performs in that weather) are the keys to predicting a winner in a golf tournament. Once you have this information in hand, you can look into the types of bets offered, and where you can find the best value.
Types of Bets
Tournament Winner:This is a straightforward market on who is going to win the tournament outright. Much like in horse racing, each-way betting is a popular option. With most sites paying out up to 5 places on the each-way bet, this can be the best way to extract some value from the longer-odds selections.
Two-Ball: Two-ball betting pits two players against each other, wagering on which player of the two will win.
Three-Ball: The same as two-ball betting, only you have three players to choose from.
Hole in One:Most big tournaments will offer up a betting option on whether a hole in one will happen at any point in the tournament. This is an interesting side bet for courses with notoriously short par 3’s.
Day One Winner:This is a market that is generally repeated for days two and three where you wager on who will be atop the leader board at the end of that day.
Most sports have you betting on the winning player or team for the match, but with golf outright winner is a relatively small portion of the bets being made.
While the odds on outright winner are typically worth taking your best shot, most punters looking to make some money off the game tend to put their bets on more easily forecasted areas, such as two-ball betting.
For the latest news and odds from the world’s biggest golf tournaments, head to our golf betting page.