Whether you’re looking for fading one particular player, a longshot to cash big or something in between, it’s crucial that you know how to bet on golf.
Golf provides ample opportunities each week for bettors to gain value from. The choice allows bettors to pick their spots carefully, and with tournaments essentially taking place weekly, the key is to remain patient and wait for those good spots to attack. Before we delve into the types of golf bets that you can place, let’s go over some key points.
How to Bet on Golf
The first thing you should familiarise yourself with is the odds. For example, if Tiger Woods is 8-1 (also written as +800) to win a tournament, you would win eight times your investment if you bet on a win and he does end up triumphing. If you bet CA$10 at +800, you will net CA$80. Typically, the favourite for a golf tournament is usually between +600 and +1300, while the biggest longshot could be as high as +50000 (500-1).
In matchup betting, you would pick a single player to post the better score in a single round or throughout a tournament. Here, you would see the odds much more in line with other sports. For example, if you are betting CA$10 on Dustin Johnson to beat Justin Thomas in a competition and Johnson’s odds are -110, you’d need to bet CA$11 to win CA$10. That -110 is referred to as the “juice” which is the sportsbooks’ tax for placing a wager.
Different Types of Golf Bets
There are four different types of golf bets that you can pursue:
1. Place/Finishing Position
These bets let bettors decide whether players would finish inside the top five, ten or 20. These bets offer medium payouts but can keep the bankroll afloat. Winning a golf tourney requires a bit of luck, but this allows bettors to receive a payout when a contestant works their way into contention.
Most of the best bets come from the top-20 players who are in excellent form and have a good course history. Additionally, you’d usually at least break even on most of these plays. However, many sportsbooks apply dead-heat rules to finishing position bets. This means that if your chosen golfer finishes in a five-way tie for 20th while you betted him top-20, you’d only win a fifth of your bet.
2. Outright Winner
Outrights are bets on a single player to win a tournament and provide the best longshot options in golf. Even the favourite to win an event would usually pay at least 5-1. Golf is also a sport where 100-1 or greater odds hit often. There are typically a lot of guys in this range, so it can be tough to find the one who could win, but they offer a way to score a large payout with little investment.
3. Props
We usually see golfers categorised into several classifications. Books will often break them down into countries of origin, so you can bet on the top American, Canadian, Spaniard and so on. You would also see additional subcategories, such as a leading senior, amateur, or a lefty, during larger-scale tournaments such as the Masters.
These offer value when large portions of a group can be eliminated because of course form or type, and whittle these down to a few players you think could advance ahead of the rest. As mentioned, it’s hard to win a competition, but you can usually figure out which types of players should succeed at a given course.
4. Matchups
Bettors can also pick one golfer against another. Usually, these are players near the same odds, so you’d see lines close to -110. Subsequently, you’d never see a Jim Furyk vs Dustin Johnson matchup posted. These are opportune spots to target those golfers who are in bad form and fade them once they’re put against golfers who’ve been playing better.
Certain courses will also favour specific types of players, whether this is a golfer who has a robust approach game, hits it a mile off a tee, or relies heavily on the short game. This is an excellent opportunity to identify which types of players fit a course and bet these against others who aren’t as skilled in those areas.