Golf Betting Guide

Betting on golf continues to rise in popularity and there are worldwide tournaments every week offering great value bets to golf punters. The majority of golf bets fall into two categories, tournament or 72-hole betting and round-by-round betting.

72-Hole Betting

Betting on the Tournament Winner

Outright betting, or attempting to name the tournament winner, is perhaps the most popular golf bet. The outright market provides punters with good value, with most pre-tournament favourites offered at double-figure prices. In the Majors (the Masters, US Open, Open Championship and USPGA), there are plenty of 3-figure prices offered and these players are not necessarily no-hopers, as the 150/1 success of Keegan Bradley at the 2011 USPGA illustrates.

Each-Way Betting

For punters lacking the confidence the back their chosen player "all or nothing" in the outright win market for a golf tournament, each-way betting can prove a viable alternative. Bookmakers have improved the terms for the "place" part of each-way golf bets in recent years, with most of the leading firms offering ¼ the odds for the first 5 places in many tournaments and 6 places in a selected few.

"Big Guns" v The Field

The "Big Guns" comprise the market leaders (usually the top3 or 4) in an event, with "The Field" made up of the remaining players. Bookmakers offer odds on which group will win the tournament. The odds in this market can fluctuate wildly throughout an event and often offer the chance to secure a profit by laying off on the betting exchanges.

Group Betting

Bookmakers compile groups of 5 or 6 players, gauged to have approximately equal winning chances and offer odds on each player in the group performing best in the tournament. This type of betting is ideal for those that think an outsider can perform better than his odds suggest, without threatening to win the tournament.

Round-by- Round Betting

To Make or Miss the Cut

In most golf tournaments, the tournament directors make a "cut" after all the competitors have completed 36 holes of play. The number of players remaining after the cut varies from event to event. In the Major championships (and a few lesser events) bookmakers price up selected players to make or miss the cut. The odds on the better-fancied players missing the cut can be quite lucrative and a bet of this type often entertaining, especially for us amateurs who love to see the professionals prove that they are human, too.

3-Ball Betting

For most tournaments, the competitors play in groups of three for the first 36 holes. This type of golf bet requires selection of the lowest-scoring player in the 3-ball, for a particular round.

2-Ball Betting

For the last 36 holes, competitors usually play in pairs. There are 2 types of 2-ball betting, actual and mythical. The former involves a pair of players that are actually playing together, while the latter is an imaginary match-up between two (usually big-name) players not paired together. In either case, the punter must pick the player shooting the lower round.

2 fore one vouchers, widely accepted at golf courses throughout the UK, allow 2 golfers to play for the price of one, thus greatly reducing costs.