gimmies add up

What's worse is the guy who won't pick it up but stares you down waiting for you to give it to him.  If you don't say anything he may even let out a "is that good?".  So basically he puts you in the position of "give me this put or I'm going to think you're a prick".

I have no problem being a prick.  I'd answer him:  "I don't know dude, I haven't seen you make anything within 5 feet all day."

Q: Is that good?

A: Huh? The hole is over here bro.

LOL I like that response...

Q:  Is that good?

A.  What?  Your lag putt?  No.  If it was good you'd be a helluva lot closer to the hole.

I'm not sure I understand the context behind this. Is "that guy" you are referring to a complete stranger? If so, then I'll give him anything he likes. Hell, I'll give him a 10 footer if he asks me. I'll probably never see him again and his score is completely irrelevant to me, so why not make him feel a little bit better about his day?

If "that guy" is a member of my group, buddy or acquiantence, I'll still give him whatever he asks for. Although I will make a mental note, and in the event that he ever tries to brag about his scoring, I'll have a couple of good zingers ready for him.

If "that guy" is someone I am playing in a competition of any sort, I've usually made my decision about whether to concede the putt within  a few seconds. If he has to ask, the answer is almost always "no."

Like so many things in life, if you have the ask, then the answer is probably "no."

I don't believe I've ever actually heard someone ask me to give them a putt - definitely not a stranger.  Sometimes I'll get in my own world and not concede a 4-incher to a buddy and have gotten a little flack about that.

I try not to be a "rules Nazi" and in general don't care what other players do (as long as there isn't anything on the line).  I do ask they not "kick" my ball back to me when they think it is a gimme as I turn in all my non-practice round scores.  Most are OK with this but some feel it slows the game down.

That has to screw your putting mentality up

For friends, co-workers, etc we have a rule during non-tournament, non-money stroke play games: only 18" and in can be a gimme if you're putting for bogey or worse, otherwise you putt it.  We make the rule clear before we start when new people join us so we avoid those awkward "is it good" requests.

If a stranger joins us, and asks for a gimme we typically say if you're good with it, we are.

This is what we do on our weekly game.  Works well.

I frequently played with guys who played "in the leather" for $ and don't think it messes you up when you are used to it.  I could usually eyeball if something was good or not without measuring and would just putt it when I wasn't sure.  I think the guys that got screwed up were the ones that measured the marginal putts and then seemed to miss them more often when they were just outside.

My Uncle told me of the time he played with the club pro when he was younger.  They played a friendly of course since my Uncle was a 20 hcp at best.

On the first the pro offered to give my Uncle everything within 3' just to keep it interesting.

On the 18th my Uncle lagged to about 3' and waited for the pro to tell him to pick it up.  Of course, he didn't.

After my Uncle missed that putt, the pro played in.

When he shook the pro's hand the pro told him, "don't every let anybody give you anything on the course".

My Uncle took every stroke seriously after that.

A 3 foot gimme?

The only good is about 12" in my book. No guaranty after... the only shots I give outside of that is after a buddy has taken a beating on the hole..