Golf betting guide: How to bet on golf in 2025, with betting tips and strategies
A guide to betting on golf, including sportsbook promo codes and strategies to learn how to bet on golf events, such as the U.S. Open.
Golf is one of the fastest-growing sports to bet on, with the PGA TOUR embracing betting in various ways across all platforms. Learning how to bet on golf can be intimidating, but this golf betting guide will help those interested learn some easy-to-remember strategies. If you're just starting out in golf betting or looking for new golf betting ideas, 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. The U.S. Open 2025 begins on June 12 at Oakmont Country Club.
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.
Here are some of the best sportsbook promo codes.
| Sportsbook | Welcome Bonus | Promo Code |
|---|---|---|
Bet $5, get $300 in bonus bets if your first bet wins | None required | |
Bet $5, get $200 in bonus bets if your bet wins | None required | |
Bet and get up to $1,000 in No Sweat Bets | None required | |
Bet $1, double your winnings your next 10 bets | CBSDYW | |
Up to $1,500 in bonus bets if your first bet loses | CBSSPORTS | |
Bet $5, get $150 in bonus bets win or lose | CBSBET365 |
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 in particular often has significant differences in a player's odds from one sportsbook 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 multiple books before placing a bet allows you to find the best odds and increase potential payouts.
How to bet on U.S. Open and 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. It is the same for the PGA Championship this week. 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.
Each bet will feature odds that let you know what the payout will be if it wins. For example, if you bet $100 on a player to win the tournament at +1200 odds (12-1) and they go on to win, you would profit $1,200. If you bet a player in a matchup where they are a -140 favorite, a $100 bet would get you $71.40 in profit (you would need to bet $140 to win $100).
The winner of a normal stroke play event will be the player who shoots the lowest score to par. For example, at the 2025 Houston Open, Min Woo Lee won at 20 under, while Scottie Scheffler and Gary Woodland tied for second place at 19 under. There are occasionally different formats that the PGA TOUR and other tours will play that are scored differently. For example, the Barracuda is the lone Modified Stableford points system tournament on the schedule, where the player with the most points wins. Points are earned for a player's score on each hole, with 2 points for a birdie, 0 for a par, -1 for a bogey, etc.
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 in 2025 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 TOUR 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 2025 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.
Double and triple chance
Double and triple chance bets allow you to bet on select combined odds of two or three golfers in the field. The value in the double and triple chance is that, on occasion, you'll find a combination where the double or triple chance odds are slightly better than if you were to just bet on the two players' outright odds.
At the 2025 Valero Texas Open, the combined odds of Fleetwood and Cantlay (+850) were slightly better than the odds of combining their outrights (+800).
Each-way bets
Some sportsbooks offer each-way bets, which effectively combine an outright winner bet with a placement bet (a bet that your golfer will finish in the top 5). When you make an each-way bet, your wager amount is doubled into two bets: a win bet and a place bet. One of the online sportsbooks that offers this type of golf bet is bet365. Here's an example of how a placement bet works:
At the Texas Open, Ludvig Aberg's tournament winner odds at bet365 were +1100, but you could place an each-way outright at +1000 that featured a quarter of those odds for places 1-5. What that means is if you placed a $20 each-way bet, your bet would be doubled ($40 total):
- A $20 to win bet at +1000
- A $20 place bet at +250 (a quarter of the +1000 odds)
The place bet wins if he finishes in the top five (with dead-heat rules applying).
Sportsbooks with each-way betting also offer a variety of other options. Sometimes you'll see a fifth of the outright odds on the place bet instead of a quarter (+200 instead of +250 using the example above). This allows you to shop around for a price you like. The value of each-way betting is similar to double or triple chance betting, in that you want to find a scenario where you get better odds on an each-way bet than you would just betting on a player as an outright winner and a top-five or top-10 finish.
That is not always the case, though. In the above example, you would be better off playing Aberg +1100 to win and Aberg +275 to finish in the top five rather than taking the each-way 1-5 bet.
As always, doing the math is vital to maximizing your odds and getting the best value for your bets.
Top finish/placement odds
Along with tournament winner odds, Top-X Finish bets are among the most popular golf bets, as they allow you to bet on whether a player will finish in the top five, top 10, top 20, etc. Some sportsbooks offer a portion of these markets on the main page alongside the outright winner odds, but a full list of options will be found under "top finish."
A top finish bet is pretty simple. If you bet $20 on Jordan Spieth to finish in the top 20 (+130) at the Texas Open and he finished 12th, you would win $26 in profit. The most important thing to understand about top finish odds is whether dead-heat rules apply at the sportsbook you are looking at, because ties often come into play with top finish bets.
There are two types of top finish markets, including ties and not including ties. Some sportsbooks offer both, while others will just offer one or the other. You should look carefully at each book's rules and what it says on the page before betting, especially if you are trying to compare odds from one book to another.
If you opt for the including ties option, then you will win the full amount even if your player finishes in a tie for 20th with other players. In the example above, in the tournament winner section, you can see on DraftKings the top-five and top-10 odds next to the winner odds say "including ties". Those odds are going to have the chance for ties baked into them, thus being slightly less profitable than the top-five and top-10 odds that do not include ties.
Dead-heat rules
In the market that does not include ties, dead-heat rules will apply, which means your winnings will be cut depending on how many players are tied for the final position. Most sportsbooks will cut your initial bet by a certain percentage based on how many players are tied. Ties only matter if the player you bet on is tied for the position that brings in more players. That means if you have a top-10 bet and your player finishes T6 with three others, you won't lose any of your stake.
However, if you bet $20 on a player to finish in the top 10 at +200 odds and they finish tied for 10th with one other player (spots 10-11 on the leaderboard are tied), your stake would be cut in half. Here's what happens:
- Original bet: $20 at +200 to profit $40 for a total return of $60
- Dead heat with one other player applied
- Reduced bet: $10 at +200 to profit $20 for a total return of $30
- Final return: $20 original bet, $10 profit, $30 total return
It is possible to break even after dead heat rules are applied. Let's use the same example as above, but this time make it tied for 10th with two other players (spots 10-12 on the leaderboard are all tied). Now, your stake would be reduced to one-third of the amount wagered:
- Original bet: $20 at +200 to profit $40 for a total return of $60
- Dead heat with two other players applied
- Reduced bet: $6.67 at +200 to profit $13.34 for a total return of $20
- Final return: $20 original bet, $0 profit, $20 total return
It is also possible to lose money on a bet after dead heat rules are applied. Let's use the same example as above, but this time make it tied for 10th with three other players (spots 10-13 on the leaderboard are all tied). Now, your stake would be reduced to one-fourth of the amount wagered:
- Original bet: $20 at +200 to profit $40 for a total return of $60
- Dead heat with three other players applied
- Reduced bet: $5 at +200 to profit $10 for a total return of $15
- Final return: $20 original bet, $15 total return, net loss of $5
Betting on markets that don't include ties provides you with better odds, but brings the risk of having a player finish in a tie for that position, and you still don't profit.
In the above example from DraftKings, Aberg's top-five and top-10 odds (including ties) were +275 and +140. In the market that features dead-heat rules, +330 and +170 were offered.
You'll have to determine what is more important and valuable to you – maximizing potential winnings or minimizing potential headaches from ties.
First-round leader
Before a tournament, you can also bet on who will be leading after 18 holes. These odds are typically much higher than tournament winner odds for a few reasons. One is that the smaller sample size of an 18-hole bet opens up more volatility, as you will often see longshots end up as a first-round leader but fall back as the tournament goes on. Another is that dead-heat rules apply to first-round leader bets as well, and there are often ties at the top after the first round.
Finding value for first-round leader bets requires some research (and, of course, plenty of luck), but you can find some opportunities to hit a big win given how substantial the odds are for FRL bets. Some players are known for starting fast, have a great history at a course or are just in a favorable tee time for expected weather that will cause problems for an early or late wave.
Some sportsbooks, like bet365, will also allow you to bet before the tournament on who will lead after the second and third rounds. There are also often live round leader odds posted after the completion of each round for the next day's play throughout the tournament.
Matchups, head-to-head, three-balls and group betting
There are multiple different kinds of matchup betting you can make during a golf tournament, although the size of the market varies from event to event. Majors and signature events will have a far deeper matchup market available compared to a regular PGA TOUR event, and it's important to understand what exactly you are betting on with each one.
The first thing to understand is whether you're betting on a tournament or round matchup. Tournament matchups mean you are betting on all four rounds, while round matchups are just for that day's 18 holes. When looking at matchups, always make sure you check which designation it has between tournament and round.
Head-to-head matchups
The first type is head-to-head matchups, which is simply which player will finish higher on the leaderboard than the other. For tournament-long matchups, oddsmakers will typically pair players who fall into the same tier off the tournament winner odds sheet (i.e., favorites against favorites, longshots against longshots) to keep the odds relatively close. The round matchup pairings will vary, but often pit players playing in the same group against each other, especially once you get to the weekend, and players are paired up by their score.
There are also different markets offered within the head-to-head matchup category. If there are just the two players listed as betting options, a tie results in the bet being pushed. If there is a third option to bet on a tie, a tie is a loss if you bet on the player. If you bet a tournament-long matchup and one player misses the cut and the other makes the cut, the player who makes the cut wins the matchup, no matter what they shoot on the weekend.
Matchups will give you a chance to back both golfers you expect to play well, while also allowing you to fade (bet against) players you think will struggle for one reason or another.
Three balls
There are also tournament three-balls (or trios) and round three-balls offered, which operate the same way as matchups. Round three-balls are typically offered for the first two rounds and allow you to bet on the groups playing together. Tournament three balls often put three players from a similar tier together for the full tournament.
In tournament three-balls, you'll typically see all three feature plus-money odds that are close to each other. Round three-balls, however, can have one player as a favorite and others as longer shots. The value of three-balls is that it gives you another market to wager on players you think will play particularly well in a given event. In the event of a tie, dead-heat rules apply (see section above). Here's an example of a tournament trio from the Texas Open:
- Ludvig Aberg (+165)
- Tommy Fleetwood (+175)
- Corey Conners (+180)
Group betting
Beyond three-balls, there are also tournament groups that oddsmakers will put together. There are typically five players from similar tiers of the tournament winners' odds sheet, and you can bet on which of that group will finish highest on the leaderboard. In the event of a tie, dead-heat rules apply (see section above).
Nationality bets
Given golf's international nature, there are always players from all over the world playing in each tournament. Oddsmakers will often group players from the same countries or regions and give odds on who will finish highest on the leaderboard. These odds work the same way as group betting, but the options for these groups can be extremely broad (top American, top European, etc.) to very narrow (top Swede, top Dane, top Korean). In the event of a tie, dead-heat rules apply.
Tournament props
Sportsbooks will put together various prop offerings for each tournament, and, like matchups, the prop market depends on the caliber of the event. Majors and signature events will have more options, while the regular Tour event typically features a few choices that are the same week-to-week.
There are typically hole-in-one props on whether someone will make an ace during the event (some books will also break this prop up and let you bet on whether a hole-in-one will happen by round). There are also usually over/under options for winning score (what the winner will shoot over four days) and/or winning margin (how much the winner will beat second place by). Wire-to-wire winner is also a popular offering, where you can bet whether someone will be the leader after every round and win (they don't have to be leading at all times during the tournament, just at the completion of play every day).
Tournament props are, typically, not the most favorable, but there are times where you can find edges on things like winning score based on weather projections that could impact how hard or easy the course plays that week.
Player props
You can also bet on what a player individually will do in some of those same markets, from hole-in-one to wire-to-wire winner. Some sportsbooks will also offer props on player scores for each round, where you can bet an over/under on what they'll score on a given day. For those bets, it's important to understand what par is for that course (typically 70, 71 or 72) and what the weather conditions will be when the player is playing, which could impact their round.
There are also props for whether a player will make or miss the cut. The cut for most golf tournaments typically happens on Friday after the second round. For a standard PGA TOUR event, the top 65 and ties make the weekend, while the rest of the field (about half) will be sent home. Some events have different cut rules, so be sure to check those before making these bets.
When you pick a player to miss the cut, you're betting on them not making it to the weekend, while a make the cut bet is wagering on them to still be playing on Saturday and Sunday.
Golf major championship futures
The four major championships are the tentpoles of the golf calendar, and they take place in April, May, June and July. The tournament winner odds for those tournaments go up well in advance and shift constantly based on player performance and betting action. The ever-fluctuating nature of the major future odds can provide an opportunity to get value on a player by betting on them early.
Like any tournament week, should you put a futures bet on a player who ends up not playing in the tournament at all due to an injury or pre-tournament withdrawal, that bet will be voided as no action.
Can you parlay wagers in golf betting?
Parlays in golf betting are available but have some restrictions. Sportsbooks will not let you stack bets on a single player into a parlay. You can't bet on the same player to win and finish in the top five, top 10, and top 20 in a parlay. You also cannot parlay props with any other bets (i.e., a player to win and a hole-in-one prop).
Combining different players into a top finish parlay is available at some sportsbooks, along with parlaying matchups and nationality bets. If you think four players are all going to end up in the top 20, you can parlay their top-20 odds together.
Some sportsbooks will even put together curated top finish parlays in a special section. Just use a parlay calculator to make sure the pre-packaged parlay is offering fair odds vs. each player's odds in the actual placement market.
As always, it's important to understand that parlays bring greater risk (hence the increase in odds), and you should be mindful of that when placing bets and use lower betting units.
How to live bet on golf after a tournament begins
Golf is a great live betting event because there's a reset after each round and sportsbooks will offer refreshed odds throughout the tournament. Tournament winner odds are constantly refreshed, even during play, and you can make bets throughout the tournament up until the end on who will win.
There are also new round matchups and group betting options put up after the conclusion of each round for the next day, allowing you to pick players head-to-head against their playing partner.
Micro golf betting
Beyond those markets, some sportsbooks offer live in-round betting options that allow you to wager on individual hole outcomes. You can bet on what a player's result will be on a hole (birdie, par, bogey or worse) or which of two players in a group or pairing will have the better result on that hole.
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.
A pair of limited field events are also on the schedule in December.
Tips and strategies for how to bet on golf
From a strategy perspective, there are several resources out there for betting on golf to provide you with insights and information that can help you make smarter bets.
Using advanced golf statistics and modeling
Websites like SportsLine offer statistical information on player performance, and golf modeling services are also available to create predictive models for each tournament. Understanding trends, both in how a player is performing at the moment and past history at a particular course, is important to being a smart golf bettor.
Course knowledge and player fit
Course knowledge is perhaps the most unique thing about betting on golf compared to most sports. The closest comparison is baseball, where ballpark dimensions differ, but the golf courses played on the PGA TOUR differ wildly week to week. Knowing which players have performed well (or poorly) at certain courses and events can give you an edge in finding value for not only a winner or top finish bet, but also in picking matchups.
Each course also has a unique profile in the sense that different stats are more meaningful for certain courses. Some are difficult off the tee, so driving accuracy could be more important. Others are second-shot courses, where the challenge is finding greens and the right section of a green, which means ball-striking is paramount.
Golf is also territorial in the sense that courses in different regions have different grasses that play differently, and knowing which players are more comfortable in one area than another can help you find edges. Some thrive on the West Coast and poa greens, while others are from the South and prefer the Bermuda grass they play in Florida and Texas.
Weather/wave advantages
Golf tournaments are also often beholden to the weather, and understanding what impact the weather may have on an event and when it will happen is also quite important to betting on a tournament.
Player tee times on Thursday and Friday are announced early in the week (typically Tuesday), and each player will go off once in the morning and once in the afternoon on the PGA TOUR.
Where a player falls in the AM/PM or PM/AM waves can have a big impact on their performance. If the forecast is for a calm Thursday morning but for winds to pick up considerably in the afternoon on Friday, players in the AM/PM wave will likely be at a disadvantage.
Injuries
Injuries can also pop up throughout the golf season, and there can be chances to fade a guy coming back from an injury or playing through one in the matchup market. Keeping an eye on injury news is always good to both avoid picking someone who may not be at their best, but also to find some value betting against them.
If someone hasn't played in a while due to a wrist injury or has remarked that they're playing through a shoulder issue, you can try to take advantage by picking a matchup against them.
Golf betting bankroll management
The most important thing for any sports betting is bankroll management, picking betting units, and understanding how much risk you're taking on in any given week. You should not be betting the same amount on longshot tournament winners that you are on favorites, and you need to always be mindful of how many tournament winner bets you are placing, as you can only win one of them.
With how many different markets there are to bet on for each event, you can easily end up with a very large betting card across winners, top finish, matchups, group betting, and props, not to mention live betting.
Bankroll management is vital to getting through the golf season, as you will go through highs and lows depending on whether you hit a big pre-tournament winner or have a rough week. Make sure you are budgeting out how much you can bet on a tournament, and if you plan on live-betting through the weekend, make sure you are budgeting for that as well.
