Golf Betting Tips For 2024

The game of golf is recognized as the oldest major sport played on the planet, with roots dating back at least to the 15th century in Scotland. However, many historians strongly argue that the game of golf has actually been around for thousands of years, not hundreds. The ancient Romans played a game called paganica, in which players would use a curved stick to strike a stuffed leather ball. Other historians believe that the Ming Dynasty in ancient China actually introduced the game as chuiwan. Regardless of where golf got its actual start, it's a safe bet to assume that the game is here to say. And speaking of bets, golf and sports betting is like a match made in heaven.

Because of the many players, the multi-day, multi-round format, the different cuts, and each hole on the course actually being a complete gamble, golf is better suited to sports betting than any other sport played today. Of course, this doesn't mean that any average Joe off the street can place a wager on golf and end up winning. There is much to learn about betting on golf properly, and having some golf tips in your back pocket may just help you win a few extra dollars.

Tips For Making Informed Bets On The Game of Golf

Try To Become A Fan Of The Sport - What does being a fan have to do with actually winning a sports bet? Imagine you've never watched a football game in your life, and the Broncos are about to play the Packers on a Monday Night Football game. How can you rightly make an informed bet if you know nothing of Peyton Manning or Aaron Rogers? How can you be sure of your bet when you don't know about defenses and offenses and coaching strategies? The same applies to golf. Knowing how weather conditions and mental issues and pressure all end up affecting different golfers, you will develop a feel for the sport. Plus fans typically watch or read news specific to the sport, so if there are any injuries or last-minute details of which you should be aware, you will know before placing your wager. The idea is to make informed bets, not loose wagers which rely on being lucky.

Bet On Short Increments - Another tip to use here is to always bet on shorter time increments. For instance, when the British Open is about to tee off, you can actually place a bet on the winner after four rounds of play (four days). You might even get decent odds doing this. But that's such an incredibly long span of golf that anything can happen between your starting bet and the end result. This is why it's much better to bet on shorter increments. If you can find good odds on the winner on a per-round basis, this is much safer than betting on a total winner. You can bet per round on a single player and your odds of winning are greatly increased compared to betting on a single player to win the entire tournament. One bad hole on day three can lose your bet; whereas betting on short increments, you can recover from a bad hole and leverage.

Look For High-Value Golf Betting Options - At the end of the day, there's no exact science in golf betting that ensures a win. This is why you always need to be on the lookout for value. What is a value bet in golf? It's a bet that allows you to retain premium odds without having to risk a lot of money or make multiple covering bets (known as chasing). For example, you can find bets in golf that reflect how golf is played; e.g. you can find pairing bets. Let's say that Rory Mcllroy is paired with Jordan Spieth for the day. Rather than betting on who wins the overall tournament, you can place a controlled wager on who wins between the two men playing for that day. This allows you to make a bet of great value without having to place a lot of money. The reason is that many pairings are lopsided, and many pairings after day two rely on trends (how the golfer has been playing). This isn't a surefire way to win, but higher value bets do increase your odds exponentially.

Avoid Wishful Thinking in Prop Betting - One cool thing the world of US online sports betting has offered to American sports betters is a whole lot of prop bets they can make. Short for proposition bets, prop bets can be made on practically anything. In golf specifically, you can find prop bets on players making a hole in one, players driving the ball X amount of yards, making a birdie, screwing the pooch and bogeying, and much, much more. Hey, if you're only wagering a dollar on these types of bets, it might be fun. But if you're actually betting props in order to build a stack, this isn't very smart. You will likely get caught up in making wild, outlandish prop bets. Betting on players to shoot any one hole in X amount of strokes is tantamount to insanity when dealing with golf. Okay, so you can bet that a player finishes under/over par. This is controlled. But never get sucked into the proposition world of putting an actual number on the exact count. Avoid wagering on any sort of long-shot in golf. Stick with your value and slowly accumulate your winnings.

Go With Golf Lines You Can Understand - So, there are two basic schools of golf lines here. There's the line you can understand because it's axiomatic to anyone who's ever placed any wager; e.g. Jordan Spieth 1:4. Then there's the trickier lines that can just be confusing: Rickie Fowler 0.5 pts to win, 18:1 to place. In short here, go with lines you can understand. We will break every golf line structure down to layman so that you can comprehend what's what, but it's always best to go with simpler lines. The more complex a line is, the more that must go right in order for you to win. In other words, complex lines give you far too much that can go wrong! A line that's simple is a bet that relies on a simplistic outcome. For instance, let's say you're going with that high-value pairing bet via Phil Mickelson matched up against Tiger Woods. With this line, you see it's Tiger +150/Phil -180. Of course, this means that Tiger is the underdog and that placing $100 nets you $150, and Phil is the favorite, so placing $100 nets you $80. A simpler line still would be a player's straight odds; e.g. 14:1 on Jordan Spieth. This means Spieth winning gives you $14 for every $1 bet. Simple lines provide more value by keeping things simple. This could be the difference between you making money while betting on the Maters Golf Tournament or losing money.

Unfortunately, there is no tip for golf betting that's going to guarantee that you win. However, you can really start to limit your risks and focus on high-value bets in smaller increments that will allow you to potentially stack up smaller sums with greater regularity. What this requires is a willingness to bet responsibly and to bet from an informed position. If you can do those simple things, you can use golf information to your advantage and walk away with some spending money after every tournament.