Golf Betting

Golf has seen a surge in the amount of people betting on the sport in recent years and bookmakers have taken notice. We’ve seen a rise in turnover at the major betting sites and a number of exotic markets have become more popular with casual golf bettors.

Whether you’re looking to bet on the PGA, LPGA European Tour, Champions Tour, Web.com Tour or Asian Tour you’ll find the latest odds at online betting sites. These days you can bet on practically everything including how many often a player will hit the fairway. Make sure you bet on golf on one of our recommended sports betting sites below for the best odds and promotions around.

How to Bet on Golf Tournament Winner – Pick a Golfer to Win

Example: Tiger Woods to Win The Masters 700

Here you wager on which golfer you think will win the tournament outright. The thing about betting on this outright winner is that you won’t necessarily win very often, but you can potentially lock in a profit for the entire season with just one winner.

Golfers often win tournaments at odds of 5000 (50/1) or better. Rather than betting on a golfer to win outright you can also bet on a golfer each-way. In most cases the top 5 places pay out on EW bets in golf although for major events the top 6 will pay out.

Due to the huge field sizes in golf tournaments you can also bet on a golfer to finish in the top 3, top 10 or top 20. If I like a big long shot at 100/1 odds I’ll place a small bet on the money line, but the majority of my outlay on that golfer would be to finish top 10.

Head-to-Head Betting – 2-Ball & 3-Ball Markets

Example: Rory McIlroy to Beat Phil Mickelson –180

Tons of money flows through the 2-ball and 3-ball markets every week. These bets breakdown a tournament into small match-ups of two or three golfers and you pick who you think will win. Match-up bets are available for the full tournament and every round also.

Trying to predict the winner of a tournament requires a bit of luck. With the 2-ball and 3-ball markets you only have to handicap two to three golfers. Finding match-ups where one golfer has a considerable edge is much easier than picking the winner of an event.

Look for golfers heading into opposite directions. If one golfer has posted four consecutive T10 finishes and the other golfer has had trouble making the cut it’s obvious who to bet on. Also look at course form, as some golfers excel on certain courses every year.

Top Countryman – Pick a Golfer to Finish Higher Than His Countrymen

Example: Dustin Johnson to be the Top American 340

Golf is a truly international sport and you can bet on who will be top countryman for multiple countries every tournament. Want to bet on who the top US player will be? Or how about the top Irish, Scottish, Spanish, South African or Scandinavian golfer?

Finishing Position – Over/Under on Where a Golfer Will Finish

Example: Adam Scott to Finish Under 6.5 Places –130

For the top golfers sportsbooks will post over/under odds on their finishing position for major tournaments. Expect Bubba Watson to struggle in his next tournament? The best way to get action on him in this case is to bet on “over” on his finishing position.

First Round Betting – Predict the Leader After Round 1

Example: Matt Kuchar to Lead After Round 1 2000

Rather than bet on a whole tournament you can bet on which golfer will be leading after the first 18 holes. I look at the first round scoring averages of golfers for the current year and I also look at the 1st round scores from year’s past for the event I’m betting on.

Cut Betting – Will a Golfer Make/Miss the Cut

Example: Rickie Fowler to Miss the Cut 700

This isn’t a market with huge limits or much turnover, but can be great value. If you’re confident one of the favorites in an event is going to struggle you can bet on them to miss the cut at big odds. Alternatively, you can bet on long shots to make the cut as well.

Golf Prop Betting

Example: Will There be a Hole in a One “Yes” 500

Golf has a lot of prop bets. Want to bet on a hole in one happening at The Masters this year? Want to bet on how many fairways a golfer will hit this week in his tournament? Want to bet on the over/under on what the winning score for an event will be?

You can literally bet on just about anything to do with golf, especially for major PGA tournaments. The top golfers always have more props. You can bet on the over/under of a golfer’s total score for a tournament, lowest round score, highest round score and more.

Live Golf Betting

Recent Form: You have to look at recent form, but at times I also ignore recent form as well. If a golfer has finished in the T5 five consecutive years at a course I’ll bet on them E/W blindly at this point and not worry about the current form.

Know the Course: Is the course long or short? Are there a lot of par 3’s or par 5’s? Is scrambling important due to a lot of hazards or is putting going to be more important? You need to know what it takes to win on each course before betting.

Learn the Markets: As you can see above there is a lot of great golf betting markets. Betting on one golfer to win outright each week isn’t going to work for most people. You need to focus on markets where your chances of winning increase.

Spread Your Wagers Out: Almost everyone that bets on golf will wager on the winner market. Rather than betting $100 on one golfer to win each week you’re better off betting on 4-6 golfers including a 2-3 big long shots that you like.

Line Shopping: Even a small bettor will benefit from line shopping, so don’t just brush it off. If you bet $10 on Mickelson to win at 8/1 you’d win $80 profit at Book A, but imagine at Book Z you could bet on Phil at 12/1 and win $120 profit.