The Ultimate Golf Betting Guide

Online sports betting has grown and become more popular over the last couple of years. In today's article we are going to take a closer look at one particular sport: online golf betting.

Here you will read about tips, advice and read about some of the basic things you need to know before venturing into online golf betting. Things like understanding the odds, doing research, knowing where to bet, keeping a record, having a system, and more. We will end with our best tips and strategies so make sure to stick around.

Golf is a game that has conquered millions of fans around the globe. This game originated in Scotland in the 15th century and simply consists of completing a circuit by placing a small ball in a sequence of 18 holes by throwing it in with a bat. Whoever reaches the end of the course, which may sometimes have obstacles such as lakes, trees, stretches of sand, among others, with the fewest shots, is the winner.

This particular sports modality has rapidly spread around the world, especially in countries that have been formerly colonized by England, and quickly became an Olympic sport. Nowadays, it is a guaranteed presence on the menu of bookmakers. And it offers options for risking guesses practically throughout the year, since the calendar of events, whether on the professional circuit, masters competitions or even amateurs, is quite extensive and brings together tournaments in several countries.

Rules are simple, but fields have different characteristics

Although the dispute rules are quite simple, there is a need for some knowledge about the players and their particularities in order to make guesses with a greater possibility of winning. As golf courses have very different characteristics, this significantly influences the performance of golfers and, naturally, affects the final result of competitions.

The number of markets presented by bookmakers to bet on golf is not huge, but it is reasonable. The simplest of these, of course, is the tournament winner. In it, the names of the players registered for the competition and the quotation of each one of them are presented. As many competitions are spread over two or three days, there may also be partial bets, such as the winner of the first round or the second.

Bets can be placed by nationality or group

An extension of the winning market is the possibility to risk guesses on the players who will be among the top five, ten or twenty. The number of betting options of this type varies greatly depending on the house and the importance of the competition.

Another very frequent possibility to make predictions in golf betting is to risk according to the golfer's nationality. The houses give the customer the chance to try to guess who will be the best ranked Scotsman in the competition. Or, for example, the Finn who will finish in front. And so on. Again, the number of options will vary by house and also by the variety of countries represented.

Some betting sites offer possibilities for more specific predictions by indicating some players and asking if they will complete the first circuit using only two or three balls at most on each hole. In that case, the bettor risks whether or not this will happen.

There are still closed bets. The house indicates a group of golfers most likely to win a round and the bettor must select who will be the best among them only. There are also so-called comparative bets. In this case, the house puts two players face to face. It is up to the customer to indicate who will finish the tournament in the best classification. In this case, there is still a third possibility: that both complete the course tied with the same number of strokes.

Another modality presented by some betting sites are the personalized predictions. In them, a golfer is chosen and the bettor bets in which position he will finish. Three options are usually presented. For example, player A will complete the competition in the top ten, between eleventh and twentieth place or from twenty-first place backwards.

Always be informed

Before placing bets on this sport, it is always recommended to look for information on the official competition websites, which bring up-to-date tournament statistics, and especially on specialized channels such as the Golf Channel, ESPN, BBC and Golf News. 

TOP 10 GOLF TOURNAMENTS

Event	Tour	Date	Participants
The Masters	Major	April	90
US Open	Major	June	156
The Open	Major	July	156
USPGA Cship	Major	August	156
Ryder Cup	PGA vs Euro	September	24
BMW PGA Cship	Euro	May	145
DP World Tour Cship	Euro	November	144
The Players Cship	PGA	May	156
Tour Cship	PGA	September	30
World Golf Cship	WGC	March	64

 

Each tour ends with a final series where the most successful players throughout the season compete for big prizes in smaller field events. These are known as the Fed-Ex Cup on the PGA Tour and the Race to Dubai on ET.

The Fed-Ex Cup is played over four events, the first of which features the top 125 players on the US Money winners list. The second event has that number reduced to 100 before the third, which reduces that number to 70. The last event, the Tour Championship, sees only the top 30 players on the PGA Tour compete for the Fed-Ex Cup. The winner of the trophy will be the man who earns the most money throughout the PGA season.

The Race to Dubai provides that winners of 60 points in seasons combined with ET tournaments qualify for three final series events, during which there are no cuts to be made. Like the PGA Tour, big points and cash prizes are up for grabs at these three tournaments and the winner of the race to Dubai will be the man who earns the most points over the course of the ET season.

Golf Betting Odds Explained

What do golf betting odds represent? If a player is listed with odds of 36.0 to win a tournament, what does that mean? 

Betting odds represent a probability (often referred to as the “implied probability”) of a particular outcome occurring. For example, if your golfer is listed with a 31.0 chance of winning, the equation is as follows: 1/31=0.0322 = 3.22% chance of winning. And if you want to calculate how much you will win if you bet $10, then the formula is “(odds bet)-bet = profit”, or in our case (1031)-10 = $300.

Understanding probability expressed in betting odds is critical to successful golf betting. In fact, it is critical to the success of any sports betting. Knowing how to convert probabilities to their implied probability will increase the chances that you will be a successful and profitable golf bettor in the long run.

Tips and strategies

Something that is important to stand out is the fact that live betting is extremely attractive in golf. Unlike other sports, this is played at a fairly slow pace, which gives bettors time to think carefully before directing their plays.

To bet on this modality, it is essential to be watching the event live; if possible, on television, since online transmissions are generally a few seconds late, as are some pages that monitor the days hole by hole.

It is worth referring to the favorites, who in many cases tend to relax and speculate too much, so, at certain times, a good tactic is to bet against them.

Also, eventually they are somewhat overvalued and in specific cases it is very difficult to recover many hits. In another order, betting on the champion of a tournament before it begins usually goes hand in hand with highly competitive odds.