Beginners Guide to Golf Betting

After Football and Tennis, Golf has become one of the most popular sports for punters to bet on. With big events such as the four Majors and the Ryder Cup, interest is high and there are plenty of opportunities for a bet.

Despite a number of claims on where golf sport originated, it's generally agreed that the game we recognise today first began in Scotland in the middle ages. The earliest the golf rule book was established back to 1744 and the governing body for golf sport, The Royal and Ancient was established in 1754.

The principles of golf

In simple terms, the aim of golf sport is to hit a ball the fewest number of times into 18 holes of a golf course.
But as with most sports, golf has a large number of rules that cover various scenarios of golf game, which the governing bodies of The Royal & Ancient and US Golf Association has set.

On the left picture: The Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course.
The course is situated on the shores of the gorgeous blue Lake Tahoe, with signature holes throughout the circuit.
It is an awesome course even average golfers can relish.

This is one of the most scenic golf courses you can play, and the Golf Magazine rates it as one of the best courses you can play in the United States.

In the standard competition, a golf course is played on a course of 18 holes, generally measuring around 7,000yds in total. Each hole will comprise of a fairway, rough, bunkers, water hazards and Greens (where the hole is situated, marked by a flag).

A golf course will comprise of holes that have varying lengths to test different facets of a player's ability and skills. These holes have a “Par” which determines the standard score for that hole based on its length, this is either a Par 3, Par 4, or Par 5.

Competition Formats on Golf Pro-Tours

Although all competitions are played on 18 hole courses, professional tournaments fall into three categories – Strokeplay, Matchplay and Stableford.

• The majority of Golf tournaments, including the Majors are played as a Strokeplay tournament. Players compete over four rounds of 18 holes (over four days) and their aggregate (total number of shots) determine who, is the eventual winner.
• Matchplay is most famously used in the Ryder Cup, but also in the Accenture Match Play. Players compete against an opponent (or in pairs in the Ryder Cup/team Matchplay) over one hole, the winner of a point being the winner of a hole. The eventual winner will gain the most points over the 18 holes of a course.
• Stableford is less frequently played tournament (generally only played once or twice a year on the main tours) and award points based on a player's score on a hole, in relation to par.

About the Professional Golf Tours

Most of the professional Golf Tournaments are part of the so-called Tours.

The US based PGA Tour is the strongest tour in the world of professional golf, and attracts the best players from around the world.
The European Tour is the second strongest one and, despite its title, around half of its tournament are held outside Europe in places like the Middle-East.

On the left picture: Professional golf player attending one of the European Tour event. Golf sport is perhaps not so much popular like soccer, for example. However, major events attract serious audience and the golf enthusiasts attention.

Both the PGA Tour and the European Tour have feeder tours (web.com Tour and Challenge Tour respectively), which allow players to gain entry to the main golf tours. In addition to the PGA and European Tours there are a number of other professional tours including the main Woman's Tour, the LPGA and the Asian Tour.

For example, the European Tour could include such golf events like Scottish Open Castle Stuart, Avanta Master, Seve Trophy, European Golf Trophy, to name a few. Every season is different one and you should check for the current golf tour schedule and statistics.

The Majors are most important in the Professional Golf Tours

The highlight of the golfing year is the Majors, which are the most coveted tournaments of the year. There are four Majors played throughout a year, between April and August:

• The Masters (held in April)
• The US Open (June)
• The Open Championship (July)
• The PGA Championships (August)

Each one has its own distinct character and apart from the Masters (which is played at Augusta National), the other three are played on a variety of courses year-by-year.

The types of Golf Bets

If you are accustomed with the sports betting activities, you should have not any problems understanding this topic, as golf sport bets use the same types of odds and pay-outs that you can find at other sports betting markets.
There are various types of golf bets that you can place placed at the leading sports betting exchanges and at the majority of leading online sports bookmakers

Golf Outright Win Bet

In this type of golf bet, you simply pick an individual golfer in the tour, place a backing bet on him and then get paid if that golfer wins the tournament.
We think that this is one of the most commonly placed bet in the world of golf bettors.

It's like at every sport betting market, the less likely a golfer is expected to win a golf tournament, the more bookmakers offer on that player.
We should mention and encourage you to place your bets at the sports betting exchange, where you can place 'lay' bet, not available at the traditional bookmakers. In the 'lay' bet, you can back the loser, mean you can pick a golfer that (in your opinion) is going 'not to win' the tournament. Amazing!

Golf Head to Head Match Bet

You should notice that this bet is sometimes called 'match bet'.
You simply pick two golfers that play in the particular tournament and place a bet on either golfer is going to win. In simply words, you just bet if the one golfer you pick gets a better score than the other golfer.

Golf 3 Ball Bet

This is the very similar bet as mentioned above. You simply choose three golfers and place a bet on a single golfer that is expected (in your opinion) to win.
If your preferred golfer ends up with the best score out of the group of three chosen golfers, you win the bet.

Golf Futures Bet

Like futures and stock options found on the stock exchange, golf futures bets are long-term bets. These bets are placed way in advance of the tournament and may cover various types of golf bets, including not mentioned above.
Golf futures are suitable for advanced golf bettors.

Golf Prop Bet

Prop golf bets cover the diversity of the other golf bets not mentioned above. Usually, golf prop bets have nothing to do with individual winners and losers.
This kind of bets are similar to the variety of soccer bets, like 'total goals in the match', 'correct score', 'under/over 2.5 goals', and similar. If you are novice golf bettor, we recommend staying away from this kind of golf bets, just in the beginning.

There some other kind of golf bets, like:

• Bet on a player to finish in either the group of top five golfers or top 10 golfers (and sometimes top 20 golfers) in any particular tournament.
• Nationality betting where you can bet who you think will be the leading player from a particular country.

But whatever type of bet interests you, golf can be a fun and rewarding sport to bet on.

Golfer Rory McIlroy vs The Robot funny video

Rory McIlroy has beaten just about every human on the planet so for the latest European Tour challenge he's up against a robot. Or a Golf Laboratory computer controlled hitting machine to be precise.
Video courtesy of European Tour. Enjoy!