How to Bet Golf | Most Popular Bets

Golf is that always available sport that never seems to have a beginning or an end to the season. It’s kind of like soccer. The season is endless and when you have run out of sports betting options but desperately need a gambling fix; there’s golf! Betting on golf is also fun because like car racing, there are many options. Any given tournament may start out with around 70 players all trying to make the cut and depending on the tournament that’s being played and especially depending on the way that players star out on a Thursday; making the cut can be a real challenge. 

The cut works like this: Players that actually qualify for the tournament itself, are allowed to play in the two opening rounds on Thursday and Friday. This is the case for a 72 hole tournament. The first two rounds are head to head and they always feature groups or pairings of players. This is all drawn at random and has nothing to do with a leaderboard of any sort. The standard cut line in the PGA is 70. The 70th player or players tied for 70th will make the cut. Now, this may not always indicate 70 straight up. There can be and there often are several players tied for the same position with the same score going into Saturday, the first 70 players lowest scores, make the cut. In the case of more than 70 players, there will be playoffs.

Related: How To Bet | Golf: The How’s and Why’s

The most popular way of betting Golf is playing a player straight up or “odds to win”. The sportsbooks will set their own odds to win and they will usually be posted on the Monday or Tuesday going into the week of the tournament, in some case, the numbers may be posted sooner. This type of bet is exactly as it seems to be. You are choosing from the field of players and there are individual odds set on that player to win the tournament outright. 

There are pros and cons to playing straight up. The good thing is the money, the bad thing is that the odds are stacked against you, you can pick one of 70 guys to win a tournament! This is where golf is like betting auto racing. It is highly unlikely that you will have the ability to pick one driver out of 40 some cars to win a NASCAR race. 

How to beat the odds?

If you think you want to play the tournament straight up and this is the most fun way of betting golf for you then so be it but here are some words of advice. You must absolutely play at least 10 players. In any tournament, you will want to do this. You know your budget and you know how much that you can spend. Budget accordingly. This is a great way to beat the odds. Now you are stacking the deck in your favor. Picking ten of the top golfers going into anyone tournament is a sure fire way to come up with a big fish at the end of the day. Obviously, you can still lose, and nothing is guaranteed but this type of golf wagering sure makes for a fun weekend. Think of it this way; what would you rather do, spend $1,000 on one golfer to win a tournament and he needs to beat 70 other guys, or spend $100 on 10 guys and have fun all weekend long?

The Next most popular way to bet golf:

Player Matchups; this is absolutely a fun way to play any golf tournament. What this does is pit one player against another. Usually, the bookie will set the matchups according to pairings. Such as Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson. They would be an offered matchup from your bookie because Tiger and Phil have been paired to play with each other for the tournament. This is also a great bet to play several ways. You should play matchups 10 or 15 different way. Give yourself a chance to win some real money. The odds in matchups are Moneyline odds such as (Mickelson -110, Woods -130).

Check out the best Pay Per Head Services

There is one trick when it comes to betting golf and it’s basically the same trick as with betting any sport; know the players and know how they play on the golf course that you are betting for the weekend. If you want to win at golf, you must be prepared to do some homework or have someone do it for you. Find a great gam advising site and let them do the heavy lifting. Usually, these sites are free of charge or at least come with a free trial. Check it out, have fun and hopefully make a ton of money betting golf.