Explore the best golf betting sites and apps. Read expert golf betting tips and learn everything you need to know to start betting on golf today.
Golf betting is one of the fastest-growing sports to wager on, with the PGA Tour embracing betting in various ways across all platforms. Learning how to bet on golf can be intimidating, but this betting guide will help those interested learn some easy-to-remember golf betting tips. If you're just starting out in golf betting or looking for new golf betting ideas before The Open Championship and Ryder Cup, this page is for you.
Below, you'll find various types of golf bets defined, how to read golf odds, and more in-depth tips for becoming a smarter golf bettor.
Finding the best U.S. sportsbook for golf betting
Betting on golf starts with finding the right betting site. If you are new to betting, that also means you can unlock bonus bets using welcome offers. If top sportsbooks are going to offer bonus bets, one way to start out in golf betting is by using them instead of cash.
Finding the best golf betting odds
Utilizing multiple sportsbooks can also allow you to shop lines, as each sportsbook will feature different odds for each market. Golf betting in particular often has significant differences in a player's odds from one betting app to the next.
Some sportsbooks provide better prices on tournament winner odds, while others offer better numbers on top finish markets or matchups. Shopping around at multiple golf betting apps before placing a bet allows you to find the best odds and increase potential payouts.
How to bet on PGA Tour golf tournaments
The typical PGA Tour event begins on Thursday and finishes on Sunday, with players playing four 18-hole rounds (72 holes) to determine a winner. Most sportsbooks will publish odds for the upcoming week's event (or events) on Sunday night or Monday morning and offer a variety of options like tournament winner, finishing position, props, matchups and more.
LIV Golf plays three-day, 54-hole events and features both individual play and team play. The individual winner will be the player who shoots the lowest score to par over the three rounds, while the winning team has the best combined score to par over 54 holes.
Team events in golf betting
There are also tournaments where golfers assemble teams, like the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, that take place on alternating years. These USA vs. Europe or an International Team are match-play events.
In match play, players (or pairs of players) go head-to-head trying to win holes against each other, and the winning team earns their squad a point. The team with the most points at the end of the event wins the cup. For those events, you can bet on individual matches as well as the overall result/team to hoist the trophy.
New to the golf betting landscape is TGL, the indoor simulator golf league where teams of three golfers go head-to-head each week in match play. You can similarly bet on match outcomes in TGL and which team will win the championship by winning their playoff matches.
How to make different types of golf bets
There are many different betting markets you can choose to bet on PGA golf events each week, and here we will go through the biggest ones with explainers on what the odds mean in different markets, how you win different types of bets and some rules you should know about them.
Outright/tournament winner odds
The most common golf bet is the outright or tournament winner odds. This is where you simply bet on a golfer you think will win the tournament.
The tournament winner odds are pretty simple: the favorites at the top have shorter odds. For example, in the Texas Open, DraftKings had odds for Ludvig Aberg at +1200 (12-1) and Tommy Fleetwood at +1800 (18-1) at the top. The entire field of players in any tournament has odds to win, with longshots at the bottom sometimes having odds as long as +300000 (3000-1). There is no tie scenario in tournament winner bets, as any ties after 72 holes will be settled in a playoff until there is one winner.
There are some other markets under the tournament winner umbrella, as well.
Winner without markets
The "winner without" section allows you to bet on who will finish the highest in a tournament outside of a selected group of favorites.
Returning to the Texas Open example, Tommy Fleetwood, Jordan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama, Corey Conners and Ludvig Aberg were the five favorites removed from consideration, and you were left with changed odds for the rest of the field. Daniel Berger (+2800) finished third in the tournament and was the highest finisher outside the above group of five. A $100 "winner without" bet on Berger would have won you a profit of $2,800.
When is golf betting available?
Golf betting is available all year round as there are events in all 12 months.
The PGA TOUR schedule begins early in January, starting out in Hawaii, and it goes all the way through the Tour Championship at the end of August.
There are still events in the fall, though, as the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup takes place in September, and the PGA TOUR has a fall schedule of tournaments. These typically do not feature the top players in the world.