How To Bet on Golf - The Best Guide to Golf Betting

How to Bet on Golf – An Introduction to Golf Betting

Golf viewership and bet counts rose during the early months of the pandemic, being one of the few sports that was able to put out a product when everything else came to a screeching halt.

Unlike other major sports where customers place wagers on heavy favorites or spreads, golf is in the unique position to offer plus odds options week in and week out, which is enticing to customers looking to earn a larger payout on a smaller-sized bet.

Long odds are offered for bets like first round leader and tournament winners, and placement bets also can pay quite well and give you some wiggle room – so learning how to bet on golf and becoming a savvy golf bettor can pay off in ways that betting on other sports may not.

WagerTalk frequently offers free golf picks – check them out!

Betting On Golf – Picking The Tournament Winner

The main wagering option for a golf tournament is choosing the tournament winner. All players in the tournament will be a wagering option for any tournament.

It’s quite simple how to bet on golf tournaments winners. The favorite selection for a golf tournament, for instance Rory McIlroy, will have odds somewhere between +500 and +1000 depending on the strength of the players in the field that week.

This is an enticing part of placing wagers on golf as usually when customers are wagering on favorites, they aren't getting six-to-one (6-1) or 10-1 odds.

Golf Betting – Placement Position Wagers

Placement position wagers are a great part of learning how to bet on golf effectively. These give customers the option to decide whether players will finish inside the top five, top-10 or top-20.

Obviously, choosing one of these returns a smaller payout than picking a player to win the tournament outright, but golf tournament victories are hard to come by, as most players only win one-to-three tournaments per season.

This is also a good way to create an insurance for a customer's selection that will keep money in their account if they select a golfer who comes close but does not finish in first place.

Top five, top-10 and top-20 selections will spit out plus odds for most golfers in the tournament, but a couple of the favorites may be minus odds in a top-20 market selection.

An important thing to note when thinking about how to bet on golf for these markets is it is often that the dead-heat rule applies.

If a customer wagers on McIlroy to finish in the top five at +100 and he finishes in fifth place by himself, the customer will win their bet with +100 odds.

If there are three golfers tied for fifth place, the McIlroy top five payout will be divided by three.

First Round Leader Golf Bets

As mentioned earlier, there aren't many sports routinely paying out 30-1, 40-1, or even 50-1 or higher payouts for one day of action of a sport, but golf's first round leader market provides this.

Usually, long shots come in the form of season-long future bets where customers must wait an entire season to reap their rewards, but an FRL (first round leader) bet can get someone there in one day.

Instead of selecting the winner of the golf tournament over the usual four-day span, this wager is selecting the golfer who is in first place after the first round is over.

Dead-heat rules almost always apply to this market, so the winning payout will be divided by how many players are tied for first place after the first round. For example, if Jon Rahm went off at 15-1 to lead after Round 1 and finishes in a three-way tie for first, the payout is 5-1.

Learn how to bet on golf with a focus on first round leader golf bets and you’ll do very well.

Strategy For First Round Leader Bets

There are a few factors to consider when trying to select a first-round leader winner. Although it may look daunting seeing almost 80 golfers in an event and having to pick a select few, customers can eliminate most golfers by paying attention to the weather, the style of golf course, the course conditions, and other player trends.

For example, if the players teeing off from 7AM to 11AM play with little-to-no wind, and the afternoon groups may catch heavier wind and light rain, it could steer someone in the direction to choose a player from the early pairings. The opposite can be true where it may be 50 degrees in the morning, but a beautiful 75-degree perfect weather afternoon between 1PM to 4PM where it may be easier to score. For those into advanced stats, player trends can also lend a hand in selecting a first-round leader for a golf tournament.

First-round scoring or first-round strokes gained off the tee are golf stats readily available to the public, as some players may start out strong throughout an entire season but do not score as well in the later rounds.

Matchup Golf Betting

There are a few versions of matchup betting that will be seen on a golf wagering page. Head-to-head matchups between two golfers can be for one round, or the entire tournament. It is important to get familiar with the sportsbook operators user experience, so a customer knows which market he or she is trying to place wagers on.

These prices will have lines like baseball games, usually providing a favorite option and an underdog option.

For example, Daniel Berger is -120 over Kevin Kisner at +110 for both the head-to-head matchup for the entire tournament and per round. These are useful when a player has a strong course history or has a preferred putting surface (putts better on poa greens compared to bentgrass greens).

There will also be group betting markets, where a customer will have to select one of three players in the group the players are in. These odds selections will normally be higher payouts for customers because a customer is selecting one out of three golfers instead of head-to-head matchup between only two golfers.

How to Bet on Golf Online – Golf Prop Bets

Like most sports, there are golf props to check out as well. For bigger tournaments, there are more fun and quirky props such as, will there be a hole-in-one scored by any player over the course of the tournament.

We usually see golfers grouped into different, categories, such as nationality. Books will break them down mostly into country of origin, so customers can wager on who will be the top American, Englishman, Spaniard in a tournament.

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