Golf Betting Guide

Watch the Stats Like a Hawk

The stats published on www.pgatour.com and www.europeantour.com www.europeantour.com can tell you a huge amount about what a player is doing and what their strengths are. We find them particularly interesting when assessing an out of form player who might be about to hit a big finish.

The putting stats are especially interesting and one of them certainly carries a warning. Ignore ‘Putts per round’ completely as it gives no indication as to a player’s scoring ability. Often struggling players rank highly here because they hit fewer greens so their approach shot is a chip rather than a 5 iron.

‘Putts per green in regulation’ (Euro) and ‘Strokes Gained Putting’ are very, very important to the golfing punter. Proven winners have barren seasons and often poor putting is the culprit. If you find a successful golfer who’s putter has gone cold then keep an eye on the early season GIR and Strokes Gained Stats. We have identified two players who we feel could fall into this category:

Camilo Villegas and Kyle Stanley are two good young players who have had their fair share of problems on the greens. If you see an uplift in putting stats then both are well capable of winning again.

Alvaro Quiros falls into the same category. If he putts well then we feel he could come back with a bang. Well worth studying for the Middle East tournaments and we always feel he is tailor made for Wentworth where he can gobble up the par 5s (100-1 was available in 2012).

The Favourites - To Bet or Not!

None of our tips will point you towards Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy etc. When these guys are on offer at 8-1 when there are 144 runners we feel there is no value there. The stake is just too high to get an appreciable return.

We do not consider a tipster telling you to bet on Woods or McIlroy to be a tip at all! It’s more like stating the bleedin’ obvious!

We work hard to try to uncover value bets and hope that our hints and tips will help you to increase you success.

Beware the Ageing Golfer

We feel that golf is becoming more and more a younger man’s game. The days of grizzled veterans contending and winning championships are going to become rarer and rarer in our opinion.

Every year a new wave of powerful, confident young players come on tour making it harder than ever for the short-hitting oldies to compete.

It would appear that proven winners seem to show more nerves once they hit their mid 40s. Jim Furyk has had a torrid time when in contention over the last couple of seasons. He’s still got a great all-round game when on song (59 at the BMW) but will probably come from off the pace if he’s to win again.

Vijay Singh has not looked convincing when in contention this season but Steve Stricker has had another solid season from relatively few starts and we see another win or two in him.

Do not dismiss older golfers out of hand but be wary especially as they tend to be ‘name’ players and not available at value prices.