As those in their 20’s and 30’s start getting older and raising families, their view of life changes. Maybe their parents played golf or a few of their friends, but golf, that was for old people.
When you start seeing golf as an activity you can do with your children or wife, that becomes enticing. And with a hectic life of work, kids and whatever you do, watching something as slow and peaceful as golf can be relaxing.
When it comes to betting on golf, the standard lines are “I don’t know anything about it.” Or “How can you place bets if you don’t know the players.” All good and legitimate questions.
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However, if you first started betting football only and now you wager on the NBA and college basketball, how did you learn about those sports? You put the time in, did research or trusted somebody else’s expertise. If you are interested, that process is unchanged.
OK, you are convinced enough to want to learn more about making golf picks, let’s continue.
Reasons To Bet Golf
There is a myriad of betting odds on golf each week. However, from a wagering perspective, there are tournament bets or daily bets. The term daily is self-explanatory and those usually involve player versus player or a threesome of golfers with both having varying odds, who will have the best score on any chosen day.
This method is a single-day bet, as with most sports betting you get an immediate result that day. In truth, this takes more knowledge of the golfers overall and seeing how they are playing day-to-day, which is best utilized by more serious bettors.
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What is far easier is tournament golf and ultimately more fun, at least in this golf betting writer’s opinion.
For tournament wagering, when you look at Oddstrader.com you will see that every betting site will have betting odds and that includes some of those that advertise heavily like DraftKings, Caesars and FanDuel among others.
The number of choices depending on the sportsbooks is plentiful. You can pick the winner, Top 5, Top 10, Top 20, Top 30 and some even Top 40.
You can do head to head, covering all four days, who makes the cut and who doesn’t, along with group play (3 to 5 evenly matched players) along with other fun bets like Top American player, Top British and even exacta (finish 1-2) or quinellas (finish 1-2 or 2-1).
The Beauty of It
The beauty of this is the amount of worry is primarily reduced to the final day of the tourney. (Unless your choice doesn’t make the cut, which only means you would have lost anyway.)
For those wondering where the excitement is, let us explain. We will double dare you to sit down on a Sunday afternoon and you had players for a Top 10 or a Top 20 wager and they were 3rd and 7th respectively after Saturday’s third round.
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You thought you were almost gold and you flip on the TV or your phone and your player(s) is/are 9th and 18th and you watch trying to bring them home to cash. Not only are caring about your selections, but other golfers could cause your picks to rise or fall depending on how they play.
Guaranteed, you will be squirming in your seat watching approach shots to the green and putts.
Recommended Ways to Bet
Let’s get this out of the way, it’s your money, you should do what you want with it. At the same time, there are ways to hopefully win more consistently than trying for a big kill shot.
Top 10 or Top 20 wagers are preferred compared to picking a winner or a Top 5. A player that has odds placing on him among the five lowest or hot players off a few good weeks that is outside the ten-best odds is worth consideration.
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If you want to play that more conservatively, you can take a potential Top 10 play and move him back to a Top 20. As long as you have plus-odds (+120 vs. -120), that would enhance your chances of winning and you might want to increase your risk by wagering more if you really like that individual for a Top 10.
Other Options
Head to head for the tourney is also fun. What you want here is to stay below -130 odds based on risk or bet underdogs. What you are after is finding a player who is in current better form and whose playing characteristics better match the type of course being used.
For example, a long hitter playing on a course that has short rough and trees that don’t come into play is a better choice than a short hitter who is straight on a longer layout. Generally, hitting short irons at the pin increases accuracy compared to hitting longer irons. If the putting stats are similar, you could have a live play.
The other benefit of tournament play, the amount of information is bountiful to help you make picks.
Try some golf wagering at some of the top sportsbooks mentioned above and don’t be afraid, you might like it.
And remember to check back for more betting strategy at the OddsTrader blog. Happy betting!
