Golf Betting Guide

Golf is one of the richest sports in the world, with Tiger Woods the wealthiest sportsperson in history, and with a season that spans almost the entire year and two main tours, betting on golf can provide rich pickings for you too. Bookmakers, such as the ones in the table below, offer a great range of markets and promotions on all the top events and with golf regularly offering up winners priced at double and even treble figure odds there is serious money to be made.

Popular Golf Betting Markets

Like all major sports there is a huge range of markets available to bet on in golf. Here we look at the five most popular ones, all of which are very easy to understand and are, therefore, great places to start for a newcomer to golf betting.

  • Tournament outright – By far the most popular bet in golf, this is a straightforward wager on who will win a given tournament, and includes play-offs.
  • Tournament outright (each-way) – Each-way betting is a huge part of golf due to the large fields and unpredictable nature of events. With winners often returned at 20/1, 50/1 and even 500/1 from time to time, each-way wagers can give huge profits, especially with bookies sometimes paying out up to seven (or, very occasionally, even eight) places for the big events.
  • Top five – Similar to each-way betting and popular for the same reasons. You can normally also usually bet on top 10 and other placings.
  • Matchbets – This is betting on one player to beat another named player, either in a given round or the entire tournament.
  • Top European/American – Bet on which person from a given region or country will finish highest in a tournament, with Australia, South Africa and other regions/countries usually being offered too.

Major Tournaments

  • British Open – The biggest, oldest and most prestigious of golf’s four Majors and known simply as “The Open” to many, this takes place at a different British course each year, starting on the third Thursday of July. Played on links courses, the weather is usually a massive factor.
  • US Masters – The only Major to be played at the same course each year, Augusta National in Georgia. The first Major of the season and arguably the second most-coveted, despite being the “youngest”, the Masters is played at the start of April.
  • US Open – The second Major of the year was first played in 1895 and takes place on the third weekend in June. Famed for the difficulty of the courses, with harsh rough and hard, fast greens the norm.
  • U.S. PGA Championship – The final of the big four tournaments, this one takes place in mid-August and was first held in 1916. It is generally played in the east of the United States and is most like the US Open in the character of the courses.
  • Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass – Unofficially the fifth Major, the TPC – as it is known – is played for huge prize money at Sawgrass’s Stadium Course in Florida. The course is hugely iconic and the field is incredibly strong.
  • Ryder Cup – Held every two years with a European team taking on one from America over three days of mixed-format golf. There is no prize money at stake but this team event is one of the most intense, exciting events in golf and fantastic to bet on.