The BasicsFixed-odds betting is the most familiar form of betting for most golf punters. Bookmakers offer a wide-range of markets to bet on including the outright winner market, where big priced winners are common. Odds are represented as either fractional (20/1) or decimal (21.0) where the profit on a successful bet is a multiple of the stake by the odds.
Coral's Winner Market Odds
Most fixed-odds bookmaker sites look similar to this, with navigation to events on the left side-bar, the selections and odds in the middle and the "bet slip" displayed at the top of the right side-bar. Odds are fixed at the time you place your bet, unlike horse racing where you can take a starting-price, so once a bet is confirmed you will know your potential returns. |
The Markets
Fixed-Odds bookmakers offer a multitude of markets on the Majors, PGA & European Tour Events along with other world tours. For Fixed-Odds betting, the three most popular markets to bet on are the Outright Winner, Two & Three-balls and the Place markets.
Tournament Outright Winner : Backing the winner of a golf tournament can be one of the most rewarding challenges in golf betting. Bookmakers quote odds for the whole field with odds typically ranging from 5/1 to 500/1; with winners often in triple-figures. Bookmakers give the choice to back either "Win" or "Each-way" (win and place) with Each-way bets a good option when backing a player at a bigger price. The place terms for Each-way betting will be displayed on the winner market page - typically the number of places are the first 5 and the place odds are a 1/4 the win odds. Dead-heat rules will often apply to the places - see our betting calculator page for more details on how to calculate returns.
Place Betting Market : Sometimes you might want to back a player to perform well in a tournament without feeling they will win. Most bookmakers will offer odds on Top 5, 10 and 20 which can give you a good chance of a return on outsiders who might play well without contending.
BetVictor's Outright & Place Market
For the most part, bookmakers will derive their odds based on the win odds so this can create opportunities if you believe a player is more likely to place than their win odds would suggest (for example players who are consistent but have a poor win record)
2 & 3 Ball Betting Markets : Two and three-ball betting allows you to bet on players in the groups they play in a tournament. It's common to put together a number of players in multiples, giving the potential for bigger returns on your bets.
Ladbrokes' 3-ball market
Two and three-ball betting can make for an interesting challenge as you are betting on a one-round performance. Which can mean selections may not only be influenced by the relative merits of a player (course & form) but also player's tournament position (such as close to the cut, leading a tournament or coming off a high/low round) |
Advantages Of Fixed-Odds
Plenty of Markets : Fixed-odds bookmakers have steadily increased their coverage of world tours to the point where they cover all the main world tours (including some of the 2nd and 3rd-tier feeder tours) Exchange and Spread betting companies are restricted by liquidity and interest to only the Euro and PGA Tour whereas Fixed-odds Bookmakers will price-up a wide range of tours.
Competitive Markets : With a wide choice of bookmakers, fixed odds betting allows you to "shop around" to get the best price. This can also mean getting improved place terms on Each-way bets and Money-back offers including Acca Insurance on 2/3-ball accumulators (see the golf page on Bookie Radar for the latest offers)
Back Multiples : Unlike Spread and Exchange betting where you can't combine selections on golf bets, fixed-odds betting allows for big returns from small stakes when you back accumulators. Not only can you back acca's for a day's 2 & 3 balls, you can also back a "transatlantic double" on the winner of the week's PGA and European tournaments with the chance of landing a big return. |