How to bet on freemasons with sticks

Ok golf is not exactly my favourite sport - better than motor racing and ice skating maybe but apart from the Open and the Masters I struggle to take much interest. Those clothes, the saloon bar image, the rather old fashioned attitudes to women, shorts and wearing jeans, and now players and clubs which enable the top players to hit the ball so far that the best courses are no longer a challenge.

In my previous job there were always a significant number of keen golfers who took every opportunity to play the sport which us non-participants called 'freemasons with sticks' (as it happens with some justification.

I do though occasionally have a bet on it though. It is one of the few sports where there are regular 100/1 winners and even Tiger Woods in his pomp would go off 3/1 plus.

Obviously at those prices picking the winner is difficult but there are some factors which can help. Golf is very much a form game with players having hot (and cold) streaks). The trick is to spot the player who is showing signs of coming into form but is still a decent price. Also horses for courses probably applies more to golf than to .... well ..... horse racing. A golfer who has played well at a course before tends to play well at it again - put simply his game suits a particular type of course.

Then there is the competition amongst the bookies which has led to improved each way terms. A quick glance on oddschecker reveals that most online bookmakers are offering e/w 8 places 1/5th the odds for this week's Genesis Invitational (at which most of the top players are competing). Boylesports are a stand out 10 places.

The best opportunity though for a decent each way bet is at the Masters. The field size (92 last year) is smaller than for other tournaments, and some of these cannot possibly win. Any previous winner gets an entry so, for example, Sandy Lyle turns up every year to shoot his 80. It really is possible to confidently rule out more than half the field, so suddenly the each way terms look extremely generous when effectively you have only 20 or so realistic contenders. 

Oh and I must mention another podcast. Rather naffly the Racing Post call it The Sweet Spot. It's presented by Bruce Millington and the tipping is done by Steve Palmer who as well as knowing everything there is to know and more about golf, is also very funny (although perhaps not always intentionally). The podcast is well worth a listen and is released on a Tuesday afternoon, so you hear Palmer's tips (which are generally shortened by the bookies) before they appear in the Post itself that evening. I do not back them blind but the longer priced ones are usually worth a 2nd look.