Like the famous scotch whisky, the game of golf has a particular affinity with Bonny Land. In fact, gold traces its origins to the eastern part of Scotland in an area close to the Scottish capital city of Edinburgh. In the early days, players used to try to hit a pebble over dunes and around some form of the track using a bent stick or a club. The game became popular among the Scots, and many shunned their military responsibility to defend the country against the English invaders. This led the then Scottish King to ban the game in 1457. Most Scots ignored the ban and continued to play their favourite game, and it was only in 1502 that golf gained the royal seal and approval from the King to be played freely across the land.
The royal endorsement gave the game a great impetus to spread across the European continent. The English borrowed the game, and Mary Queen of the Scots introduced the game to the French. At the time, one of the most popular gold courses was the Leith near Edinburgh. This golf course hosted the first international golf match in 1682 when the Duke of York and George Patterson representing Bonny land managed to beat two English noblemen.
Fast forward as we make our way to a list of casinos not on Gamstop, just to bet on golf. The love for the sport never dies.
Golf: A game of gentlemen
Golf became an official sport when the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith Club was established in 1744. Duncan Forbes penned the rudimentary rules of the game, and even today, they sound familiar to golfers and fans. The Scottish embryotic games spread worldwide.
Similar to the exportation of football, the former British Empire helped to carry and introduce golf throughout the Empire. The game mushroomed in India, where the first golf club outside Britain was set up in 1802 – Bangalore. Other colonies followed included the Royal Curragh in Ireland, Adelaide in Australia, the Royal Montreal in Canada, Cape Town in South Africa, St Andrew’s in New York, and Royal Hong Kong.
Golf takes the US by storm
The arrival of the game in the United States prompted the establishment of the United States Golf Association; today, there are over one thousand golf clubs in the country. With the financial support of commercial sponsorships and a well-oiled management structure, the United States is today portrayed as the hub and centre of professional golf globally.
With the advent of the internet and the creation of online gaming, golf, like other sports, attracted the attention of gaming operators. With international golf tournaments held across the globe, punters can place their wagers on players and the outcomes of the competitions. However, online golf is not limited to international tournaments. Operators offer a wide variety of how to play golf online for entertainment and a spicy game for a small wager. For golf fans urged to play golf online, platforms offer plenty of different games that require the necessary skill and mental strategy.
Online golf tournaments to binge on
Online golf games are generally based on the points earned whilst others value the scoring alone; statistics like the player being the first on the green or nearest to the hole or providing bends and slopes up to the action during a hole or round.
The number of players required to play depends on the game chosen. Sometimes two players, but certain games require three or four players simultaneously. Flexibility is the name of the games, and operators offer games that can be played with a set number of players. Adjustments and variations can be made to accommodate the number of players; however, each game has a minimum number of players required to function.
Wolf is among the most popular golf games requiring skill, talent, and strategy. Wolf is a point-based game; a player can play with three or four other players. Before the commencement of the game, a batting order or line-up is established, which the players must abide by throughout the game. Each player gets tagged as the Wolf four times, and the player with the minor points is usually allowed to be the Wolf for the final two holes. In the game, the Wolf can opt to have a partner. If the Wolf chooses a partner and the team wins, they get two points; if they lose, the other team will get three points. On the other hand, if the Wolf decides to play alone as a Lone Wolf and wins, he will get four points; if he loses, the other players will get two points. The player with the most points at the end of the rounds wins and gets paid a pot, or a per player contribution decided before the initiation of the game.
The Nassau golf game is three games immersed into one. Bets are available for the front nine, the back nine and the 18-hole game. Each bet is considered separate and scored individually through a stroke play with or without a handicap or match play with or without a handicap. One can have more than two players or teams in the stroke play model, and one can play in the team stroke model, and all score counts are combined. In match play, one is limited to two players or teams only. Setting bets in this game is quite simple; however, the Nassau can get much more complicated, complex and expensive if played with the concepts of Press and Adjust. Press resonates a bet a losing player or a team can place at almost any time in the match, and the wager is usually equivalent to the bet they are losing. The Adjust mechanism is a bet created in a match-play after the front nine bets aimed at enabling the losing team a better opportunity of winning a separate back nine bets.
The Daytona is a two against-two game, and team scores are double-digit. If you make a four and your partner makes a five, this counts as forty-five. If the opponents make a five and a six, their score will be fifty-six. In this case, eleven, the difference between both amounts will be the winning points. In Daytona, players can use the birdie mechanism where their score is inverted.
Again, the Umbrella is a two-against-two game, with six possible points available on each hole – two for a low score, one for the closest to the pin, and one for the birdie. If one side manages to procure the six points, it’s called an Umbrella. The total win is double to twelve, like opening an umbrella.
Other golf games to enjoy and master the game
Other golf betting games which are very popular and can interest punters and golf fans include the Hammer which can get very nasty as much as people fighting it out with hammers; the hole-by-hole opt out where a player can wave the white flag ending the match; also, Skins which gives punter great flexibility as long as one keeps track of all the changes and can be played by any number of individuals or teams.
As usual, the options are almost endless and at the end of the day, it is up to the punter and/or player to decide which golf game best suits their interest.