How Does Betting On Golf Work

Head To Head Golf Betting Strategy and Tips. A solid understanding of the game of golf is required when deciding which bets offer the most value from the head to head betting market. Spending time researching the following factors can provide a great insight as to who are likely to do well at each competition. Course Conditions. Golf Betting Match Ups Before an event, sportsbooks like bovada will normally publish a group of match ups between big name golfers. You’ll be betting on one of the players to finish higher than the other over the four days. Sportsbooks try and match up golfers who are considered a similar ability, so the odds on both will be close. Written by Mike Page on July 31, 2018. 2 and 3 Ball Golf betting that involves predicting a player from a group of 2 or 3 to shoot the lowest score.5 Fold When preceded by a number, a fold indicates the number of selections in a multiple bet.

1. How Does Betting On Golf Work On The Internet
2. How Does Betting On Golf Work
3. Vegas Betting On Golf
4. What Does +100 Mean In Betting

This is the simplest of golf bets available and the most popular. However, just because.

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Golf is the ultimate sport to bet on in terms of finding tremendous value. Where other sports require more money to be placed on individual games to win lots of cash, golf offers the ability to win big. Of course, that comes at a price, given that it can sometimes be quite tricky to correctly select a winner in a field of 156 golfers.

Thankfully, there is a myriad of betting options available on golf such as tournament winner, first round leader, head-to-head, hole in one odds, top nationality, and much, much more.

With several golf tournaments each week, including big-time major events, there is always something to place to a wager on. We’ll get you primed on some of the popular golf bets available to and show you how to potentially make your money work for you.

Golf Tournament Winner Betting

Betting on the winner of a particular tournament is the most common and the most straight forward type of golf bet.

Say, for example, Jordan Spieth is the favorite to win this year’s Masters. Bookmakers have listed his odds at +1000. That would mean in order to win $500 you’d have to wager $50, plus you’d receive your stake back to total $550. If Henrik Stenson’s betting line was +5000, then a $10 wager would also pay out $500, plus the stake wagered. If any of these odds are confusing to you, check out our guide on to how to read and understand sports odds.

The longer the odds, the better the potential payout, but you’re wagering on a golfer who’s considered less likely to win. For this betting option, a player must emerge victorious to win the bet.

Each-Way Golf Betting

This is a double down wager, of sorts. You’re betting a golfer wins or finishes high. It depends on what each-way betting options the bookmakers have set, but usually, it’s a top-5 finish. Think of it as two separate bets; one bet is to finish first, and the other bet is for them to finish in the top 5.

Say the book has an each-way listing and you think Matt Kuchar always contends at majors and you want to bet on him, but aren’t super confident he’ll end up winning the event. If his odds are +5000 and you place an each-way bet at $10, your wager doubles to $20, but the bet works for him winning and/or finishing in the top 5. The top 5 finish payout is a fraction of what he’d earn if he outright won.

For example, a $10 tournament winner wager on Kuchar pays out $500 if he wins. An each-way bet doubles to $20 but covers him finishing in the top 5. Instead of the $20 bet to win paying out $1,000, you get a quarter of the odds on him placing in the top 5. A quarter of $500 is $125. So the each-way bet pays out $500 plus $125 plus the stake of $20 for a total of $645.

First Round Leader Betting

First-round leader betting is pretty straight forward. Before the event, odds will be posted on which golfer will have the outright lead after day 1. If you think Charley Hoffman always gets out to a quick start in tournaments then this could be the perfect way to win some cash.

After each round, typically odds will be posted on 2nd, 3rd, and final round leaders upon the conclusion of play each day.

Top Nationality Betting

You have several choices you can make just on the specific golfers from a specific region whether you’re betting on top Asian, top Australian, top USA player, and so on. Depending on how many players from that region are competing, it could be a two-person wager or upwards of 20.

Odds vary depending on if one of the players is a heavy favorite over the others. If the bet is on the top Australian golfer, you might see Marc Leishman as EVEN money ($100 bet pays out $100 plus the original stake for $200 total), but a hypothetical long shot could be +2000 ($100 bet pays out a $2,100 total.)

Match Play Betting

Most events do not use the match play betting format, with the exception of the annual Dell Technologies Match Play, the Ryder Cup, and the Presidents Cup. Each of these events alternate years with an American team competing against an international team. In the Dell Match Play, you can wager on golfers squaring off head-to-head all the way through the conclusion of the tournament.

In the heated Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, you’ll most frequently find USA vs. Europe and the USA vs. the World team matches, with betting options to boot. You can bet on which team will emerge victoriously, and/or which golfers will win specific matches, like the Dell Match Play.

Head-to-Head Betting

With head-to-head betting, you can place wagers on specific golfers to defeat their playing partners for the day, which golfers will win certain holes during the round, or you can even bet on Tiger Woods doing better in a particular event than Dustin Johnson, for example, plus many more similar options.

Top 5/10/20 Betting

Do you like a particular golfer, but don’t think they have the chops to actually win? At reduced odds, you can wager on whether they’ll finish in the top 5, top 10, or even top 20.

Feeling extra confident? Place a bet on all three, and if your golfer finishes in the top 5 you’ll win three times over! Since earning a top 20 finish is easier than winning a tournament, the betting lines are lower for that bet.

Hole-in-One Betting

This one is self-explanatory. Think someone in the field will get a hole-in-one that week? Place a bet on it and if they do, you cash out.

Being that a hole-in-one is slightly less likely to happen, the odds are lower so more money is to be made if it does happen. A +160 line for yes and -200 line for no is common, depending on how many golfers are in the field. A $100 bet on yes pays out $260 total whereas a $100 bet on no would pay out $50 plus the original stake for a total of $150.

Futures Betting on the Big Golf Events

The big betting events for the men are the Masters, PGA Championship, US Open and Open Championship. Read on for a brief overview of each event.

The Masters

The Masters is steeped in tradition as the only repeat venue every year at Augusta National. With a limited field and plenty of past data to bank on, this tournament provides bettors with plenty of built-in knowledge.

PGA Championship

This has moved from its customary August slot up to May for the first time in 2019. Contrary to the popular belief that this is one of the “weaker” tournament, this event almost always produces fireworks.

US Open

Considered the toughest test in golf, this tournament tests professional golfers’ mettle and will. It is, without question, the most controversial of the major golf events, often the questionable course setup becomes the focal point for the week.

Open Championship

Also known as the British Open stateside, this is the oldest major in golf and also the most unpredictable. Watch out for wildly differing weather patterns for golfers teeing off in the morning or afternoon groupings the first two days. Golfers drawing the short straw tee time with poor conditions often find themselves knocked out of the tournament.

Other Big Golf Events

The LPGA has five majors—the ANA Inspiration, US Women’s Open, Women’s PGA Championship, the Evian Championship, and Women’s British Open. There are a slew of other top-notch events around the world on the PGA, LGPA, European Tours and even the five Champions Tour majors (golfers over 50 years old.)

Betting on Golf Never Lacks Options!

There are plenty of different types of golf bets to be made virtually every week of the year. The PGA, European Tour, and the LPGA Tours are most common, but there are additional listings for golf events around the world as well.

As always, we have you covered if you’re curious about what betting options are available to you.

For beginners who are looking to learn how to bet on golf, you’ve come to the right place to learn. Sportsgrid will walk you through all of the basics required to bet on golf. Golf betting provides a lot of entertainment value for even the most casual bettor as you get to sweat your bets over the full four-day tournament. Golf also offers several different betting market types that may be foreign to the new sports bettor. Below is a quick overview of how to bet on golf within each market type.

Outright Betting

Outright betting is the simplest way to learn how to bet on golf as the sports bettor simply predicts who will win the golf tournament and makes a bet on that outcome. If the golfer you’ve bet on wins the tournament, you’ll be paid out on their bet and if the golfer loses the tournament you’ll lose your wager. Golf outright betting typically offers longshot odds with the biggest favorites often still offering 8-1 (+800) or better odds and some longshot golfers paying as much as 500-1 (+50000).

Place Betting (Top 5 / Top 10 / Top 20)

Place betting allows individuals to bet on a golfer finishing within the Top 5, Top 10, or Top 20 of a given event. With place betting, the odds offered on a golfer are often lower which reflects the fact that it is a more likely outcome. Unlike outright betting, place betting can sometimes result in ties where 12 golfers finish Top 10 or better for example. Here it is important to understand whether the sportsbook provides dead heat rules. With dead heat rules, the stake is divided proportionately by the number of golfers that are tied. For example, if two golfers tied for a single bet type, the bet would return half of what it does otherwise.

PGA Matchups Betting

PGA matchups betting allows for sports bettors to bet on who will win an individual matchup between two different golfers. Sportsbooks typically offer these markets as either single round or full event bets. In single round betting, you are betting for a golfer to win the matchup during that round, while the full event is over the course of all 72-holes. In a 72-hole match the winner will be whoever shoots the best score relative to par and if both golfers miss the cut, whoever shot the lower score will still win. PGA matchups betting is typically done as a moneyline bet or with a stroke handicap as the spread.

Tournament Matchup Example

Single Round Matchup Example

In this example, Dustin Johnson is a favorite in both betting markets but in a single round matchup he will be a smaller favorite than he would be over the course of a tournament matchup.

PGA Three Ball Betting

PGA Three Ball betting allows a sports bettor to predict the winner of a matchup including three separate golfers, either at a single round or over the course of the event. If two golfers tie in the matchup than the sportsbook would split the payout based on dead heat rules.

Sports bettors should be attention to the odds offered in a 3 Ball matchup to ensure that they are getting a fair price. In this example, if three separate bettors each played a $100 wager on the three golfers, the sportsbook would collect $300 and pay out either $260 or $280. This would give the sportsbook a margin of anywhere from 6.6 percent to 13.3 percent. Bettors should always look to bet 3 Ball matchups that have lower sportsbook margins and return more to the bettors.

First Round Leader Betting

Many sportsbooks also offer bettors the ability to bet on first round leader markets. This bet type allows you to simply bet who will be winning after the opening day. A single round of golf has a lot more variance to it, so while first round leader markets usually price golfers in the same order as outright betting markets, they often will adjust the prices to offer slightly lower payouts for the worse golfers and slightly higher payouts for the better golfers. Because the prices mirror outright betting markets so closely there are some interesting research angles that bettors can explore:

Weather. The weather (in particular wind or extreme temperature) can create an advantage for golfers who tee off at different points in the day.

Course. Some tournaments feature a rotation of courses and there may be golfers who are playing an easier course during the first round that hasn’t been priced into the betting market.

How Does Betting On Golf Work On The Internet

Volatility. Some golfers may have similar odds to win an event but feature more volatility, making one more likely to shoot the lowest score during a single round of golf.

First-round leader betting creates the same exciting payouts as outright betting but is paid out after just one day of play.

Props and Group Betting

Sportsbooks also offer some more exotic props and group betting, particularly for the majors. Some of these props could include winning score, margin of victory, lowest amateur or the odds of finishing first out of a golfer’s countrymen. Props typically have a high degree of “vig” or “juice” resulting in higher margins for the sportsbook but can still offer some edge for potential bettors.

Points Betting on Golf

With the increased coverage and legalization of sports betting, we also wanted to use this space to highlight some new and innovative concepts. One of these companies isPointsBet, an Australian bookmaker that has entered the New Jersey market.PointsBet offers a unique betting type called points betting, where a bettor is rewarded (or penalized) based on how right (or wrong) they are. With PointsBetting your sweat never stops and you are rewarded based on how much your selected bet varies from the posted totals. PointsBet offers a few unique market types: Finishing Position (FP), Wire to Wire (WTW), and Leaderboard (LB).

How Does Betting On Golf Work

Wire-to-Wire Leaderboard: A prediction on how well this player will perform at the end of each round. Points are cumulative for the whole tournament. For example, if a player leads from start to finish the make-up would be (20+40+60+100)= 220pts. The points are awarded as follows: 1st Rd: 1st=20, 2nd=10, 3rd=5; 2nd Rd: 1st=40, 2nd=20, 3rd=10, 4th=5; 3rd Rd: 1st=60, 2nd=40, 3rd=20, 4th=10, 5th=5; 4th Rd: Winner=100, 2nd=60, 3rd=40, 4th=20, 5th= 10, 6th=5.

Vegas Betting On Golf

Leaderboard: A prediction on how well this player will perform in the tournament. The points are awarded as follows. 1st = 60 points, 2nd = 40 points, 3rd = 30 points, 4th = 25 points, 5th = 20 points, 6th = 15 points, 7th = 10 points, 8th = 5 points, All others = 0 pts.

Finish Position: Bet OVER or UNDER on finishing positions. For example, you can bet that a golfer finishes better (UNDER) than 28th or worse (OVER) than 31st. In this bet type, a $1 bet on the OVER 31st could win up to $39 if he missed the cut and lose up to $30 if he were to win.

What Does +100 Mean In Betting

For more information on check out our article on how to bet on sports and learn about sportsbook vig, where to bet, how much to bet, line moves, shopping for the best line, and expected value (or EV).