How to bet on golf
Golf is a ball and club sport in which players attempt to make the fewest number of strokes possible while hitting balls into a succession of holes on a course.
Every week, there are several opportunities for bettors to uncover value in the sport of golf. With tournaments taking place on a weekly basis, bettors have the opportunity to be patient and wait for a few solid locations to come up each week. If you’re just getting started with golf betting, here are a few things to keep in mind.
How to Bet on Golf
The first thing you should learn about golf is how the odds are calculated.
The odds of Tiger Woods winning a tournament, for example, are +800 (sometimes written as 8-1) which indicates that if you bet on Tiger to win and he does so, you gain 8-times your investment. At +800 odds, a $10 wager returns $80.
Typically, the favourite is between +600 and +300, while the largest longshot might be as high as +50000 in a golf event (500-1). It is much easier to get matchup betting odds that are more in line with other sports when you choose one player to score more points than the other in a round or tournament. On the other hand, if you are betting $10 on Dustin Johnson to beat Justin Thomas in a tournament, you would need to pay $11 to win $10 if Johnson’s odds are -110. This -110 is referred to as the “juice,” which is a fee imposed by bookmakers on bets.
1. Outright Winners
A wager on a tournament winner is called an outright. In my opinion, these are the top longshot selections in any sport. Even the overwhelming favourite to win an event pays out at least 5-1 odds. It’s also a sport in which odds of 100-1 or greater are common.
With so many males in this category, finding a winner can be difficult, but they can provide a low-risk opportunity to earn a sizable sum of money.
2. Place/Finishing Position Bets
It is possible to wager on whether a player will finish in the top 5, 10, and/or 20 positions. These have a lower payoff than outrights, but they can help keep the bankroll afloat while you wait for an outright winner to come through.
In order for a bet to pay off, the winner of a golf event has to earn their way into contention.
You’ll still make a profit on the majority of these plays if not a profit. Finishing position bets, on the other hand, are usually subject to dead-heat restrictions. This means you’ll only get 1/5 of your wager back if your golfer finishes 20th out of a possible 20 golfers. There are loads of sportsbooks where you can place your bets, and we recommend Sportslens informative guide of the highest rated US online sportsbooks, including professional reviews and insight on the bonuses they offer.
3. Matchups
Bettors can also place a straight-up wager on one player vs another. Lines of about -110 are common, as are outright odds that are close to each other. Dustin Johnson vs. Jim Furyk will never be posted. Golfers in poor form might be targeted here and faded when they face players who are playing well. Depending on the course, a particular style of play may be favoured, such as long hitters, approach players, or those who rely significantly on their short game. If you can figure out what kind of player best matches the course, you may place bets on them instead of on players who are worse in certain areas. Betting on the entire tournament or just a certain round is possible with these types of wagers.
4. Props
Prop bets are the final topic we’ll cover. Golfers are typically categorized under a number of different sub-categories. You may wager on the top Americans, Englishmen, Spaniards, and so on if you look them up in books. At major competitions, such as the Masters, we’ll witness a variety of players. Highest-ranking senior, whether amateur or left-handed, in competition.
Because of course type or shape, it is possible for us to narrow the field down to just a few players who we believe will be the best bets for success. Even if winning a tournament is difficult, we can typically predict the sort of player who will do well on a certain course, and this is a good opportunity to use that information.
Metrics to Know
The PGA Tour is sitting on a gold mine of information, thanks to the ability to plot and sort every data point from every shot — from the starting position through the landing location, speed and height, for example.
During the previous decade, Strokes Gained has been the most significant discovery in golf betting and analytics. PGA TOUR and the rest of the field are taken into account while calculating each shot’s performance. Let’s assume the Tour average for a golfer to hole out from 210 yards in the rough is 3.2, and he accomplishes it in two strokes. His score has improved by 1.2 strokes.
As a golfer, you have four categories of strokes gained: off the tee; approach; around the green; and putts on the green.
Due to the randomness and non-stickiness of putting, we choose to wager on the best ball-strikers who can hit their second strokes close to the pin. The top players in the world aren’t always the best putters; rather, they’re the best players off the tee and with the irons.
