Beginners' Golf Betting Guide - Betting Strategies and Tips

Known as a game for the rich and elite, golf is one of the most respected sporting disciplines in the world. But even if you're not a member of the powerful and wealthy and don't get an invitation to golf from your boss, you have another option for enjoying the sport. You've probably guessed by now that it's golf betting. With the advent of online sportsbooks, golf has gained its rightful place among the pro sports like football or tennis for betting. And to make money with golf betting, you need to create your own smart betting strategy. Like many other beginner bettors, you probably want to have all the information you need about golf betting at your fingertips. Being a beginner means having very little idea about the betting markets available and how to choose the right sports betting platform. We've put together this beginner's guide to online golf betting to give you all the knowledge you need for a fast start. After reading this post, you'll learn how to bet on golf, how to pick the most popular betting markets and get useful tips to help you quickly raise your level. 

How to Bet on Golf

Before we cover golf betting, let's start with the basics. If you haven't played golf before, the clubs, balls and holes may be confusing to you. Essentially, golf is a game where individuals or teams compete by driving a ball into a particular hole by hitting it with a club. The winner is the side that was able to complete the course with several holes for the minimum number of strokes with the club on the ball. 

Now that you understand what golf is all about, it is time to start betting on this exciting - albeit not overly spectacular - game. There are some major tournaments with the PGA being perhaps the most popular. The easiest bet you can make is on the outright winner of the tournament. For example, you select a golf star with a +900 odds of winning. If you wager $10 on the chosen athlete, your winnings will be $90, or the equivalent in another currency, if you win. If you opt for a less obvious favourite, the odds can be as high as +30,000 or even better, which corresponds to a payout of 30 to 1. 

Should you choose single-player betting, you'll find that there are odds available for other sports like football or ice hockey. For instance, if you bet on a golfer with odds of -120, you would have to wager $12 to win $10. Odds with a negative value include the bookmaker's margin, which is the percentage of the winnings the bookmaker takes for himself as a commission. There are a lot of betting markets in golf betting, and you need to understand them so you can spend your bankroll wisely. So, here are the basic betting options, so you can quickly get to grips with them, even if you are a complete beginner to golf betting.  

Outright Winner

The easiest - and at the same time the riskiest - option in golf betting is to predict the winner of the entire tournament. Thanks to the advent of online betting platforms, you can easily pick your favourite and make a potentially lucrative bet in just a couple of clicks. But be aware that there are plenty of athletes in the world of golf, so picking who can win a tournament is a very tricky task. On the other hand, betting on a clear tournament winner can be a great option for those who want to win big money with a minimum investment. Since an outright winner is the easiest bet, it's a good place to start for any newcomer. 

Head-to-Head Bet

Golf tournaments are competitive events in which several golfers attempt to complete a stretch of holes in a minimum number of strokes. Many online bookmakers, including VipArabClub, offer a bet where you have to decide the winner among the two selected competitors. This essentially means that you wager that the number one athlete can do better than the number two. And if your prediction is correct, you win your bet even if your favourite doesn't finish first in the competition. In simple terms, in head-to-head betting, you pick one golfer to outperform another. Since golf tournaments are played over several rounds, you will have the option to make several head-to-head bets, which is also an advantage. 

Prop Bets

As a fast-growing market, it covers many events in golf competitions and tournaments, such as hole-to-hole results or whether a player can make the cut or not. To enjoy this betting market to the full, we recommend choosing major golf tournaments like the British Open Championship and the Ryder Cup. 

First-Round Leader

If you don't want to wait until the end of the whole tournament to find out if your outright winner bet plays out, you can opt for the shorter-term option of a first round winner bet. That means, after just 18 holes, you'll know if your prediction holds true or not. Notably, some bookmakers such as VipArabClub offer odds for this bet as high as they do for the outright winner bet. 

Live Betting

The days when we had to go to an offline bookmaker's office to place a bet on an event are over. Thanks to advanced iGaming platforms like VipArabClub, it is now possible to place bets while watching sports. Just go to the sports betting section of the VipArabClub website and you will find that apart from the traditional pre-match betting there is also live betting available. Online bookmakers have popularized live betting on various sports including golf. Moreover, VipArabClub offers live broadcasts from many major sporting events such as golf tournaments. This means that you can check how the top golfers are doing before you place your bets straight from the action. 

So, the live betting section still lets you bet on who wins the first round or the overall tournament. Keep in mind, though, that depending on what's happening on the golf course, the bookmaker will change the odds in real-time. Last but not least, live betting opens up a lot of additional betting options, so it can be a really exciting experience. However, if you are a beginner, we recommend starting with low-risk pre-match betting. Only switch to live betting when you feel comfortable with golf betting.  

Helpful Golf Betting Tips

When you bet on golf without considering the performance statistics of individual athletes or teams, you turn betting into something akin to gambling. This means that the outcome will depend solely on chance. However, professional bettors prefer to take a more responsible approach to golf betting, considering many of the factors listed below:

• Current form. Just because a golfer has had great results in past games, it does not mean he will shine in the current tournament you wish to bet on. It means you need to know more about the current form of your favourite to make more informed betting decisions. So, just like when you play gambling, golfers can go through winning and losing streaks. You need to take a closer look at how your favourite player performed to find out what drove him to hit a losing or winning streak. Quite often, a golfer's successful performance is simply because he played on a very weak competition course.
• The length of the course. You should also pay attention to how long your favourite has been playing well. This way you can identify players with a clean approach and a strong motivation to win.
• Weather conditions. From rain that makes the grass wet to fierce winds that can alter the ball's trajectory significantly, results depend largely on the prevailing weather conditions. If you are interested in head-to-head markets or prop odds, you should find out what the weather will be like when the game round takes place. Bad weather can play havoc with even the most experienced golfers. For example, some seasoned pros are only able to perform at their best in perfect weather conditions. Furthermore, hot weather can also alter your game, so don't neglect the weather factor if you want to make potentially lucrative golf bets. 

Last but not least, you need to choose a reliable sports betting platform that offers really profitable odds. Today's online betting market is oversaturated with sportsbooks, so choosing a really good website can be a daunting task. Among the many iGaming platforms available for Arab bettors, VipArabClub stands out because of its many advantages. 

Firstly, VipArabClub is a fully legal iGaming platform licensed by Curacao eGaming, the authority in the world of online gambling and sports betting. Secondly, this platform has a simple and intuitive user interface, which is a real boon to novice sports bettors. Thirdly, VipArabClub provides fast and secure financial transactions, which means you will receive your winnings quickly and in full. Finally, VipArabClub offers plenty of bonuses and rewards to its new and returning players. When you join VipArabClub, you can get a generous welcome gift, which will be a great boost to your initial bankroll.