How to Bet on Golf – A Golf Betting Guide for Everyone

Do Your Homework

Golf is a very difficult sport to predict. The favourites often have nightmare rounds (some not even making the cut) and unfancied competitors (such as Shaun Micheel winning the 2003 PGA Championship, his only PGA tournament win in over 400 attempts) win more often than in other sports. Don’t place golf bets without doing your homework and expect to win.

Consider Course Performance

There are many different types of golf courses. Some have narrow fairways, some wide. Others have greens that are hard to read, some not so hard. Some have many dog leg holes. Golfers have differences too, some hit for power but have weaker short games for example. Matching up the right golfer to the right course is one effective golf betting strategy.

Check the Weather Forecast

Weather has a bigger effect on golf tournaments than most other sports, and in particular the wind. Some golfers are good at playing in windy conditions, and others not so. The cold too affects the flight of the ball (cold air makes a ball fly higher but shorter) and wet grass is harder to play on than dry. Take all this into account before placing your golf bets.

Think Beyond the Winner

Because of the competitiveness of golf, it is going to be much easier for you to correctly pick a player to finish well up the field than the player who actually wins. UK sport betting sites will offer generous odds on players to finish in the top five, ten, twenty and even to make the cut. Top among our golf betting tips is the idea that you should explore more markets than picking tournament winners, such as golf each way betting.

Bet on More Than One Player

Again, because of the nature of golf it is wise to spread your bets about a bit instead of pinning all your betting hopes on a single player. The odds for any tournament are likely to be generous enough to make betting on more than a single player more than worth your while. You could back a couple of fancied performers at the start of a tournament, for example, and then back one or two more after a round, or after the cut.

Get the Best Golf Betting Odds

The odds offered by golf gambling sites may vary greatly at different sites, particularly deeper into the field. If you are placing golf bets it’s certainly going to be worth your while exploring the odds offered across a number of sites so you will maximise your winnings and returns if your bets are successful.

Tournament Winner

All golfers are competing to win, so you can bet on the winner of the overall tournament. Most stroke-play tournaments are held over four rounds of 18 holes each on the same course, with the winner being the player with the lowest score (number of strokes to complete all holes). Match-play tournaments pit golfers directly against each other on a hole-by-hole basis, with players winning a point for every hole they win (no points are awarded for tied holes).

Each Way Bet on Golf

An each way betting wager on golf means you split your bet in half. Half of the bet goes on the player to win, and half on the player to place. The golf betting odds and places offered is at the behest of the betting site. It could be a quarter the win odds for a top five finish, or one-fifth the win odds for a top eight finish, for example.

Top Finishes

This is similar to a place wager in horse racing betting. You are betting on a player finishing in a high enough position on the final leaderboard. Odds could be given for a top five finish, a top ten finish or even a top twenty finish, for example.

To Make the Cut

During the first two days of a golf tournament, the tournament organisers will announce ‘the cut’ which is the qualifying score needed for a player to be allowed to compete on the final two days. Usually the cut is worked out so that 65 to 70 golfers will play out the competition. You can bet on specific players making the cut. You may also be on specific players not making the cut.

1^st Round Leader

The first round of golf takes place on the first day of the tournament and consists (almost always) of eighteen holes. You can bet on players being atop the leaderboard once the first round has concluded.

Betting Without

Sometimes a player is such a dominant force in a golf tournament that betting on the golf golden boy is simply not really worth it. On such occasions, the best way how to bet on golf tournaments might be to choose a ‘betting without’ market in which that player is removed. Your bet wins if your selected golfer wins the tournament or finishes second to the player the market is offered ‘without’.

Handicap Betting

If you consider yourself a golf expert, then you might consider handicap betting. This is where players are given artificial points which will be added to their score once the tournament has concluded. For example, say you bet on Scottie Scheffler to win with a +2 handicap. If he wins the tournament by one stroke, then your bet would lose as for the purpose of your bet, two strokes are added to his final score.

2-Way Betting

During a golf tournament, players may play in foursomes, trios or pairs to spend up play. At some betting sites you will be able to bet on any such grouping, selecting the player you think will achieve the better score. This can be quite challenging as groups are selected based on players with similar abilities, but it makes betting on golf tournaments more interesting.

Group Betting

Similar to the above, players may be grouped in trios or foursomes to speed up play, especially during early rounds. In addition, betting sites may create artificial groups for you to bet on. Just like 2-way betting, you need to correctly select the golfer who will card the lowest score.

Forecast

People who enjoy betting on greyhounds will recognise this bet. When betting on the golf for a forecast bet you need to predict both the winner and the runner-up in a golf tournament. With a dual forecast bet it does not matter in which order the two selected golfers finish. With a straight forecast it does.

Wire to Wire Winner

As previously explained, most golf tournaments consist of four rounds. If a player is top of the leaderboard at the end of every round, they are said to be a ‘wire to wire winner’. If you so wish, you can bet on a specific player to be a wire to wire winner, and you will get decent odds as this is difficult to achieve. You may also bet on there being a wire to wire winner on a yes/no basis.

Hole in One

Just in case you didn’t know, a ‘hole in one’ is where a player holes the ball on his first stroke, straight from the tee. Betting sites usually do not offer golf betting odds on individual players hitting a hole in one, but you can bet on a tournament or maybe even a single round seeing any player hit one.

Winning Margin

Another popular wager when people are betting on golf tournaments. Here, you predict the number of strokes the tournament winner will win by. You will need, usually, to choose the tournament winner too, so this is a tough bet to get right but if you do, the payouts ought to be spectacular.