Golf Handicapping Articles

PGA Tour Odds and Free Predictions: Shell Houston Open
by Alan Matthews - 3/30/2011

The field this week includes 10 of the top 25 in the latest Official World Golf Rankings, with four from the Top 10: Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Matt Kuchar and Steve Stricker. The other five are Francesco Molinari, Ernie Els, Hunter Mahan, Retief Goosen, Robert Karlsson and Louis Oosthuizen. But you also see guys who have had success at the Masters in the past playing this week even though they rarely do in regular PGA Tour events; players like Fred Couples and Jose-Maria Olazabal.

PGA Tour Odds and Predictions: Arnold Palmer Invitational
by Alan Matthews - 3/23/2011

This week’s PGA Tour stop, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, usually draws an excellent field because most players want to pay homage to Palmer and play in his tournament, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s at Orlando’s Bay Hill – about half of the PGA Tour pros live in or near the area – and also that it’s the second-to-last chance for players who haven’t qualified for that year’s Masters to do so. The Top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings following this tournament will gain entry into the Masters if they haven’t already by another method. The final berth will be reserved for the winner of next week’s Shell Houston Open

PGA Tour Odds and Golf Picks: Transitions Championship Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 3/16/2011

It’s a bit of an off week on the PGA Tour as many of the top names in golf, especially the Europeans, take this week off following last week’s big-money World Golf Championships event at Doral and next week’s popular Arnold Palmer tournament at Bay Hill. But this week’s Transitions Championship in the Tampa Bay area was able to lure world No. 1 Martin Kaymer, and he is the betting favorite at +750 on WagerWeb.

Golf Odds and Predictions: WGC-Cadillac Championship Betting
by Alan Matthews - 3/9/2011

It’s our second World Golf Championships event in two weeks, and this week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship has the best stroke-play field of the young season so far and is played at probably the best course so far in 2011: the Blue Monster at Doral.

PGA Tour Odds and Free Golf Picks: The Honda Classic
by Alan Matthews - 3/3/2011

The PGA Tour’s West Coast swing is a thing of the past, and the best part of the pros heading across country to start the Florida Swing is that you know the Masters and all those azalea shots on CBS are just a month or so away. This week the Tour visits PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens for the Honda Classic.

Golf Odds and Predictions: WGC Match Play Championship
by Alan Matthews - 2/23/2011

What’s not to like with this event? It gives bettors a little bit of a bracket fix just a few weeks before Selection Sunday in college basketball. And it almost always has the best field of the early golf season until the Masters. The tournament, which begins Wednesday at Dove Mountain in Marana, Ariz., pairs the world’s Top 64 players in the only official match play event on the PGA Tour schedule.

PGA Tour Odds and Predictions: Northern Trust Open
by Alan Matthews - 2/16/2011

Even with players like Ernie Els, Nick Watney and Tim Clark withdrawing earlier this week, the Northern Trust Open this weekend has the strongest field to date in 2011 on the PGA Tour. And there are likely two reasons for that: The fact that it’s being held at historic Riviera Country Club in the shadow of Hollywood, and because it’s a chance for top players, especially some Europeans who finally have come across the pond, to tone up their game before next week’s big-money WGC-Match Play Championship.

PGA Tour Odds and Predictions: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
by Alan Matthews - 2/10/2011

The PGA Tour stops at the best and most picturesque public course in America at Pebble Beach this week, but arguably the stronger overall field is over in the Middle East for the Qatar Masters – world Nos. 1-3 Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Tiger Woods are playing there.

PGA Tour Odds and Predictions: Waste Management Phoenix Open
by Alan Matthews - 2/2/2011

The PGA Tour makes a detour for a week from its California Swing to head to Scottsdale, Ariz., for the Waste Management Phoenix Open – quite possibly the worst tournament name in golf history. It’s not an overly tremendous field this week. Tiger Woods isn’t playing and most of the top European players are still overseas and playing in Qatar this week – many of them may not show up in the U.S. until the WGC-Match Play.

PGA Tour Odds and Predictions: Farmers Insurance Open Betting Picks
by Alan Matthews - 1/26/2011

The PGA Tour schedule shows that this weekend’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines outside San Diego is the fourth tournament of the season. However, let’s be clear: this event is truly the first golf tournament of any substance in the U.S. this season because both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are making their 2011 debuts. They are the only Top-10 players in the field this week.

Masters and British Open Odds and Futures Betting Predictions
by T.O. Whenham - 1/21/2011

It’s Jan. 21. The Masters doesn’t start until April 7. The British Open doesn’t tee off until July 14. The only good reason to be thinking about the two events is if you are looking for tickets. Still, Bodog has odds set on much of the likely field in both events. Normally it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to bet now on an event so far away when so much can change between now and then. The golf season has only barely started, and many of the big names are still on the sidelines, so we have no idea what form they are going to be in, or which young guys are going to rise up this year.

Golf Betting Odds and Predictions: Abu Dhabi Championship
by Alan Matthews - 1/19/2011

It’s certainly not often that we preview a European Tour golf tournament here at Doc’s, but this week’s Abu Dhabi Championship deserves its own look. Most true golf fans and bettors would argue that this tournament is the true start of the new golf year, even though the Euro Tour has officially had four tournaments already (for some reason they start the new “season” in December across the pond) and the PGA Tour’s third event teed off on Wednesday.

PGA Tour Odds and Predictions: Bob Hope Classic
by Alan Matthews - 1/18/2011

The Bob Hope Classic has one thing that no other PGA Tour event does: it’s the only five-round, 90-hole event (obviously barring a playoff that could add to that total) on Tour. Unfortunately, this also used to be one of the most popular events on Tour, but it’s now mostly being avoided by golf’s big names – although the Hollywood types still often play in the pro-am portion.

PGA Tour: Sony Open in Hawaii Predictions and Betting Odds
by Alan Matthews - 1/12/2011

Even though it is a full-field event, it’s still a bit watered down in terms of the world’s top talent. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson aren’t playing. And most of Europe’s top players have stayed overseas, again not wanting to use their limited starts available on the U.S. tour until the bigger events. Thus players like Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Paul Casey and Graeme McDowell (who did play last week) won’t be teeing it up in Honolulu. Just two players from the world Top 10 are in the field: Americans Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk.

PGA Golf: Hyundai Tournament of Champions Predictions and Betting Odds
by Alan Matthews - 1/5/2011

The short PGA Tour offseason is officially in the bag as the new golf year tees off with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions starting Thursday at the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Maui. Here we will provide some predictions for the tournament along with betting odds for players of note.

2010 PGA Championship Predictions with Betting Odds and Picks
by T.O. Whenham - 8/10/2010

The PGA Championships get underway at Whistling Straits on Thursday just as the PGA is in turmoil. Neither their biggest names nor their supposed rising superstars are playing very well as a whole, and there are far more negative headlines than positive these days. Few people can tell you from week to week who is winning tournaments, but most can tell you the most intimate details of Tiger’s life. That’s obviously not ideal. The PGA will be looking to use the final Major of the year and then the Ryder Cup to take the spotlight off the drama and back onto the players. Here are eight random PGA Championship predictions and observations as we get ready for the tournament (PGA Championship betting odds are from Bodog):

2010 British Open Betting Odds and Predictions
by T.O. Whenham - 7/14/2010

This year’s edition of the Open Championship, widely but incorrectly known in North America as the British Open, tees off before most of us will be awake on Thursday morning from the legendary St. Andrews Old Course in Fife, Scotland. Anyone who has paid even a little bit of attention to golf over the last decade knows that odds on the best golfers, and especially Tiger Woods, have consistently been ridiculous.

2010 Players Championship Odds and Predictions
by Matt Severance - 5/5/2010

It’s golf’s “fifth major” this week as the PGA Tour returns to Florida for the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass outside Jacksonville – of course the Stadium Course is home to the famed island green 17th hole. This week’s stop also has the biggest purse of any tournament and offers more points in the world rankings than any other stop.

2010 PGA Quail Hollow Championship Odds and Predictions
by Matt Severance - 4/28/2010

The PGA Tour returns to full relevance this weekend in Charlotte at the Quail Hollow Championship because, let’s face it, most casual golf fans and bettors only pay attention when both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are in the field as they are this weekend for the first time since the Masters. Overall, 11 of the Top 16 players in the world are playing this week.

Handicapping 2010 Masters Golf Odds
by Matt Severance - 4/7/2010

I guess I can understand why Tiger Woods has opened as the commanding +325 favorite on WagerWeb’s Masters golf odds to win this week when you look simply at all the numbers: Tiger is one of just three players in history to win at least four green jackets; his career scoring average of 70.91 (in 58 rounds) is easily the best at Augusta; and he holds the tournament record for lowest overall score with is epic 18-under 270 in winning the 1997 Masters by a record 12 strokes.