With the 2019 PGA Tour season starting this week, I wanted to introduce everyone to golf betting. I want you to be able to learn what you are betting, have fun and of course make money!!!! In this two part series, I’m going to walk you through:
Part 1
Basic Golf Terminology/Questions/Vocab
Why bet on golf?
Part 2
Overview of my golf betting method
Description of my golf betting structure
Timing of bets
What info do I post for each bet?
FAQ
Basic Golf Terminology:
Par: an established expected score per hole. Par in aggregate for the round is the sum of all 18 holes. Most courses are a par 70, 71 or 72. A typical course will have 4 par 3’s, 10 par 4’s and 4 par 5’s. Most courses are a slight variation of this setup.
Birdie: one shot better than par on a hole
Eagle: two shots better than par on a hole
Bogey: one shot worse than par on a hole
Double Bogey: two shots worse than par on a hole
Basic Golf Questions:
What does -5 mean?
Scores are displayed in relation to par +/-
How long and when are events?
Most events are four 18 hole rounds that start on Thursday and end on Sunday.
How many players are in a typical PGA Tour field? What is the “cut”?
A typical field consists of 144-156 players. The top 70 and ties after the first 2 rounds make the “cut” and will be eligible to play the final two rounds. (there is a small exception to this called “MDF”)
MDF- occurs when more than 78 players make the cut after 36 holes and the event has an additional cut after round 3 to the number nearest 70th place.
How many players are in the same group during a round? How are pairings decided for rounds 3 and 4?
In most events, players play the first two rounds in groups of 3 and the last two rounds in groups of two. Exceptions: threesomes are used for advance notice of inclement weather or to allow for timing of TV programming especially early in the year when daylight is limited.
To make it equitable, players who play in the morning in round 1 will play in the afternoon in round 2 and vice versa.
Order of play for the final two rounds is based on reverse order of scoring with leaders playing last.
When is the PGA Tour Season?
The PGA Tour season is year round. A new season starts in October each year and ends in the following September.
October through December tends to have weaker fields as many players take some time off. The main part of the season kicks off in early January and you will see the top players playing then.
There are about 50 PGA Tour events per year and only a few off weeks each year typically in November or December. However, many of the other tours that we will be betting still have events during those off weeks.
Golf Betting Definitions:
Outright: also known as a bet to win the entire tournament
3-Ball: When players are paired together in groups of 3 to play, books may set lines for players to be the low score in their group.
Head-to-Head Matchup (HTH): Matchup of one player versus another. The lowest score wins. There are 2 types of matchups, Tournament and Round-by-Round.
Tournament: This matchup lasts the entire tournament which is typically four rounds. Winners are determined as such:
If both golfers complete 72 holes, the lowest score wins.
Ex. Tiger Woods finishes at -5 and Jordan Spieth finishes at -8. Jordan Spieth wins the matchup.
If both golfers do not complete 72 holes, the player who completes the most holes wins.
Ex. Phil Mickelson is +5 after 36 holes and misses the cut. Dustin Johnson made the cut and finished at +2. Dustin Johnson wins regardless of his score in the final 2 rounds since he made the cut and Mickelson did not.
Round-by-Round: This matchup is solely for one round. Winner is the player with the lowest score for that day.
Top 10 Wager: Bet placed for a player to finish in the top 10 at the end of the event. Books may pay this out differently so check your book’s rules to see if “Dead Heat” applies.
Ex. Bovada pays the full amount regardless of whether you are in a tie for 10th or solo 10th etc. Other books may split the payout as such: 4 way tie for 8th would pay 75% of the original payout.
First Round Leader (FRL): This is a bet on who will be leading after the first round. Payouts for these bets are split if multiple players in first. This is called the “Dead Heat” rule.
Why bet on golf?
Golf is one of the most difficult sports to handicap due to the large amount of data and knowledge needed that changes every week.
Each week you have 100+ players competing individually against each other on a different course. Each course and event is different and may favor one player over another. This in turn creates difficulty for books to accurately price every single golfer or bet that they post each week.
With my vast knowledge and expertise, I have been able to consistently beat the books and determine where the value lies each week.
Golf is a fun 4 day sweat with a potential for large payoffs. There are a ton of different types of bets to make each week but most people love picking a player to win. In how many sports can you put $20 on a single outcome at 100-1 and win $2,000?
We make money doing it.
In my 33 weeks working at Elite Sports Betting in 2018, we profited a total of 90 units with a 9.4% average ROI per week. We had 11 weeks where we won 10+ units and only 1 week where we lost 10+ units.
Part II:
Part II will cover:
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Overview of my golf betting method
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Description of my golf betting structure
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Timing of bets
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What info do I post for each bet?
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FAQ
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to me in any of the Elite Sports Betting chat rooms or Twitter @friedeggpaulie