Golf Poll

[Horses_Patoot]

I thought this poll might be appropriate!

[Art]

Why bet on Golf?

This 1/13/03 article summary comes from King Creole at www.playbook.com.

It’s EASIER to handicap…. predict…. And “CASH IN” on winners in PGA Tour golf matches than in ANY team sport!!! Sound outrageous?

With the PGA TOUR season getting cranked up, here’s the skinny. The philosophy is that if you believe you have the right side in a golf matchup, then the odds are significantly HIGHER that you will actually cash a winner than if you felt the same way about any team-oriented sporting event. How many times have you handicapped a sports event… lost that sports event, and then said “You know what,….. We had the RIGHT SIDE today, it just didn’t work out because of that turnover at the end of the game”? Or maybe it was that controversial referee’s decision at the end that did you in… Or that fluky play that the other team lucked into that cost you a W. These things happen a lot… even when you ARE on the right side!!

You can’t handicap turnovers…..You can spend hours and days forecasting a game (and most handicappers do). And when you come up with what you feel is the right side, you’re still not guaranteed success! Because there are still way too many things that can go WRONG! Then, all your preparation, discipline, and hard work go right down the toilet.

First off, we start with the ultimate killer: The TURNOVER! When it happens at the most unlikely of times, it can turn a winner into a loser!. A turnover is not planned or anticipated…. It just occurs…. And you can’t predict when.

What about referees and officials? With that whistle, they can STOP play at any time! How many football games have hinged on a controversial call at the end of a game? Even when the refs consult on a call or go to the instant replay, they still might not get it right! How many times have you said, “They got to the ref” or “The ref’s in the bag”? Yes, we joke about officials on the “take”, but at least you should understand how much power they wield in determining the outcome of a game! And don’t forget, they’re human too……. Mistakes WILL be made! And you can’t handicap them! No Refs in golf. The pros police themselves.
The biggest factor is the human element! Any time you have a team sport, how do you achieve victory? When the majority of the guys on your squad work together with individual efforts that result in a win. The key is that you have multiple people who must succeed collectively. With success dependant on more than just one person, the odds of predicting an outcome just got that much tougher! If we take this thought to its logical conclusion, we would then surmise that the fewer people involved in a sporting event, the EASIER it is to predict. Therefore, our foundation for the outrageous claim is set!

LET’S TALK GOLF! A golf matchup is a wager that is created for any PGA Tour golf event. On any given Monday, following the results of the previous week, most Las Vegas and offshore sports books release a series of wagers for the upcoming tournament. One type of wager is the odds to win the tournament. Odds are placed on the top 40-50 guys in the field on winning the tournament. This, generally speaking, is NOT a good wager. The reason is that there are approximately 150 players in a golf tournament. The odds of you picking the winner are NOT very good! And don’t throw that TIGER thing at me either. The oddsmakers make Tiger Woods such a big favorite that there is no line value on him, at all. The other type of golf wager is the GOLF MATCHUP. In this format, anywhere from 8-16 “matches” are offered each tournament…… matches in which ONE golfer is paired up against ANOTHER golfer in a “who will do better over the 4-day event” format! Depending on who is matched up against whom, you might see odds of pick ‘em all the way up to about 2-1. Most of the time, a favorite will be anywhere from –110 to –190. This “money line” type of bet is also used in some hockey and baseball wagering.

Now comes the rub! First off, we’re WAY AHEAD OF THE GAME in that all we have to do is pick ONE GUY over the other! There are only two guys involved in our golf match.

Are there any TURNOVERS, ERRORS, FUMBLES, or INTERCEPTIONS in golf? No way! And guess what? With none of these potentially catastrophic events to affect the outcome of our wager, our chances for success just got better! And back to the officials… How many times has a golf event been decided by a controversial rules official’s decision? You could probably count how many times ON ONE HAND in 100 years! With virtually nothing to worry about in that regard, our odds have increased again! Our match doesn’t end until the ball falls into the last hole! Finally, there are NO teammates that must ALSO succeed in order to achieve success. And with us zeroed in on only ONE individual rather than a group of players, our entire handicapping process just got easier and faster.

There are no clocks in the game of golf. And what about the actual DURATION of a golf tournament compared to another sporting event? A golf event takes place over about 5 hours a day for a four-day period. That’s a 20-HOUR LONG sporting event versus a 3-hour sporting event. See where I’m going here? The best team doesn’t always win in a one game, 2-hour event…. but the BETTER team usually wins in a playoff-type “best out of” 3 or 5 (or 7!) game format. The longer that the series goes on, the higher the odds that the cream will rise to the top. That’s why a 7-game series is the ultimate. The same can be said for a golf match. Anyone can fire a 63 on a Thursday but a 4-day event tends to “even out” scores so that the better PGA Tour match players emerge victorious. With a 20 hour “equalizer” in place, now all we have to do is focus on the better match player that weekend.

In conclusion, you must agree… that with an equal amount of pre-event handicapping that your chances ARE INDEED better of cashing a winner. Fewer things can go wrong! A much smoother ride throughout the sporting event! Less bumps in the road… less hurdles to jump! And on a side note, an appreciation of all the dastardly things that can happen in a team event!

A couple of other match-type events worthy of comparison to golf would be boxing and tennis matches. But both sports bring up possible “human error” areas that make it a little bit tougher to handicap. In a boxing match, unless there’s a knockout, the outcome is still decided by three human beings. Any sport involving a subjective-type judgement would fall into this category. Tennis would be another one with its matches involving officials, boundaries, and human decision-making. It brings us all back to golf and PGA TOUR golf matchup wagering… You’ve read the argument… What do you think?

PGA Tour GOLF MATCH- UP golf .

The profits are THERE! ….For SHARP players!

"Why should I have my money tied up 4 days?" asks a losing player who knows nothing about money management! This is a poor excuse and is indicative of poor money management. With a little research and a little planning, betting golf head-to-heads can make you a more profitable bettor and make rainy Sunday afternoons a little more exciting. It comes down to this: Matchup Golf is the simplest form of gambling and every tournament is on television.

[Horses_Patoot]

Art, this Poll was established to see what the general consensus was on the Golf service.

Now we have this long post endorsing it. It is sort of like having henchmen at the entrance of the voting booth don't ya think?

[Art]

Some forms of gambling are better than others. Craps, in many ways of playing it, is the best Casino play (the house cut is minimal). Most sports gambling is not so good as these plays in craps - you will lose 5% of every amount you bet, over the long haul, in straight plays in Football and Hoops.

I believe that Golf bets, on match-ups only, is the best way of sports gambling and that horse track plays are the worst (in term of house profits on the plays).

If you think that betting on Golf is a losing venture then tell us why.

If you think that betting on Golf could be a good way to gamble, but that I should not tell other forum members this, then tell me why.

If you think my advice on Golf betting should not have been placed on your Golf poll regarding Golf service costs, then tell me why.

[BOOK'N]

its 204 pacific has the damn golf match gone off yet if so then, post it please so everyone can watch i think it would benifit everyone plus i dont have to see great people bicker over something so small l8r

[BettorsChat]

I believe it has been posted over at bettorstalk page 2 under bounty hunter sports

[Horses_Patoot]

Art,

I believe you missed my point. I will try to simplify this for you. This is a POLL. This is not a forum to endorse or criticize the golf service. Your response is once again nothing but an endorsement.