A Beginners Guide to Golf Bets

Betting on golf tournaments is an exhilarating way to add some potentially profitable fun to your love of the game. There are plenty of bookies specialising in free golf bets as well as offering member only betting offers in the lead up to major tournaments.

Golf bets range from the simple “win-lose” golf bets, head-to-head bets, pitting one golfer against another, to more complex “prop” golf bets that let you to bet on the style of John Daly’s trousers!

Golf Betting Guide

Here’s our easy to follow beginners guide to the three main types of golf bets bookies offer:

Win Golf Bets

The simplest of all golf bets is the “win” bet. Basically you bet on one golfer to win the tournament they're competing in.

Simply select a golfer to bet on and if he wins, you win your bet! These golf betting options are frequently referred to as “future” or “outright” golf bets.

This type of golf bet can also include whether a golfer will place in the top 3, 5 or 10.

This is a great way to bet on bookies odds on favourites albeit at slightly reduced odds but is perfect for betting using free bets. Betting lines or golf bets that look like this:

Rory McIlroy +1000
The favourite for this tournament is McIlroy at 10/1.
This means a £10 bet on him would pay out £100.

Match Up Golf Bets

In a match up golf bet (“head-to-head”), bets are based on which golfer will perform the best from a chosen two. Often the pairing is random and chosen by online bookies. Each match up will have a golfer listed as the favourite with a corresponding underdog.

Often bookies will randomly change around the pairings for one round, while others gauge performances for the entire tournament.

It is important to differentiate these two when preparing your golf betting strategy.

Definitely use free bets if you're trying this type of golf bet for the first time as it can take some time getting used to how the golf bet actually works.

PROP Golf Bets

Prop golf bets involve betting on virtually anything that doesn’t have to do with the actual tournament results. A popular prop bet is on how many majors a high profile golfer (e.g.Rory McIlroy) will win in a year. Prop golf bets are displayed by online bookies like this:

McIlroy
No Majors – (-180)
1 Major – (+300)
2 Majors – (+800)
3 Majors – (+5000)
4 Majors – (+10000)

Some prop bets are even based on the clothing a golfer might wear during a tournament.

Online bookies generally reserve prop bets for major golf tournaments like the US Masters with bet365, Ladbrokes and BetVictor usually offering punters the most variety.

bet365's free bet offer for new customers is a great option for betting in golf markets.

Prop bets could be about anything the bookie wants and are very popular with golf bettors looking to add a bit of fun to the free bets they place.

There are always plenty of golf events to bet on using free bet offers - no matter what time of year it is. A few of the most popular golf betting events include: the Masters, the US Open, The Open Championship plus many more.

The growth of online golf betting has paralleled the growth of golf itself and in turn the number of free bets a bookie offers for those betting on golf.

Golf bets can be as simple or complex as you want to make them, are a great way to enhance your love of the game and can be especially rewarding once mastered.