Gimme Putts (God I hate them!)

[westcyderydin]

It should be a law that you can't get mad at someone else when you miss a putt that you thought should have been a gimme.  Isn't that the point....

And don't get mad at me when you give me a straight up hill 2 footer and I don't give you a 3 foot breaker.

[Duff McGee]

I hate getting paired up with randos and then having them hit my ball back at me when my ball is still 3 feet from the hole. Who would presume to do this? I would never touch another golfer's ball without asking.

[RGoosen]

I hate getting paired up with randos and then having them hit my all back somewhen my ball is still 3 feet from the hole. Who would presume to do this? I would never touch another golfer's ball without asking.

Definitely rude. I always ask "do you want to putt it?"

[Duff McGee]

Definitely rude. I always ask "do you want to putt it?"

I don't get mad and I act like I don't care because they never mean any harm but I can't fathom ever doing something like that. It's like being a dinner guest at someone's house and sticking your finger in some frosting the host is making to taste it.

[RGoosen]

I guess I'm one of those weird golfers that is laid back to the point that I don't get bothered or even hardly notice what the other golfers in my group are doing. I rarely know what anyone's score is after a hole. I'd probably just tell the guys thanks for the generosity, but if I started taking gimmes it might ruin my ability to hole short putts in a match, and then I would put the ball back and tap it in.

[Sticker]

New old guy here.  I learned to play the game many years ago from a great Pro Named Rick Acton (died about 15 years ago, rest in peace Rick), he made us putt everything... "everything" out.  There were no gimmees... ever.

I play with some guys who take gimmees, but they know to not touch my ball, in Ricks memory, I putt everything out.  Always have, always will.

Just an old guy.

[colin007]

New old guy here.  I learned to play the game many years ago from a great Pro Named Rick Acton (died about 15 years ago, rest in peace Rick), he made us putt everything... "everything" out.  There were no gimmees... ever. I play with some guys who take gimmees, but they know to not touch my ball, in Ricks memory, I putt everything out.  Always have, always will. Just an old guy.

Nothing wrong with that bro. That's a nice story.

[David in FL]

New old guy here.  I learned to play the game many years ago from a great Pro Named Rick Acton (died about 15 years ago, rest in peace Rick), he made us putt everything... "everything" out.  There were no gimmees... ever. I play with some guys who take gimmees, but they know to not touch my ball, in Ricks memory, I putt everything out.  Always have, always will. Just an old guy.

Hail to us old guys! Welcome to the site! :beer:

[Gunther]

When I first started playing regularly about 10 years ago, I connected with a group who had odd rules: birdie putts must be holed, par putts given within the leather, bogey putts given to about 3 feet and double or worse putts given from 3-6 feet. I'm sorry to say that I completely embraced this approach because I was a horrible putter, the short ones scared me. 3 or 4 years ago I connected with another group that putted them out, all of them. While nervous at first, playing with this group has done more to improve my putting than anything else I've done. I will still miss a 2 footer occasionally, but by and large, I have supreme confidence in any putt from 2 or 3 feet. This confidence permeates into all putts and my putting has improved dramatically as a result. Putt them out, it will make you a better golfer.

[Jon Hoover]

Grip and a Fist, that's pretty much the rule we play with I give more gimmes then i get usually, but most of my putts will just be a tap in anyways so usually i just tap it in. 2'-3' defiantly not gimmes and anything under par must be holed. Gimmes defiantly help speed up the game, it can take some people close to 1-3min to walk up mark align practice and putt a 12" putt that they will make 999/1000 times. If your playing with 4 people and they each have to take an additional lets say 1 minutes on maybe 10 holes each, your saving 40 mins at the end of the round. I guess that won't bother most of you who feel like 4+hr rounds are the norm, but it might save me from going insane waiting in the fairway watching people take all the extra time without missing any... Funny story me and a buddy got paired up with another 2 some younger guys like us, on the first hole he putts and ball is laying 3" from the hole so I hit it back to him and it was for a double bogey. He then precedes to tell me that they sometimes miss those so the prefer to putt them out, so now I always ask before giving it to them and since that day never had anyone say no.

[dave s]

Three schools of thought on the matter of 'giving opponents putts' during league rounds.

1. Last night the guy I'm playing has a 7 footer for triple-bogey.  I'm already in with a bogie.  I ask, 'John, what is that putt for?'  He says 7, I say pick it up.  Let's not add insult to injury and let's be honest here; giving a guy that putt for triple is not going to drop his hdcp by 3 strokes.

2. Same thing happened to me as the OP.  Opponent has a treacherous 3-4 foot downhill breaker for par.  It's the classic, 'make it, or you'll likely 3-putt from there.'  I say nothing, guy misses and has 10 footer coming back and misses that one too.  On the next tee he tells me, "You don't know how f'n pissed I am at you right now!"  I mean, this guy was fuming MAD!  The way I look at giving a putt in this situation is that if I'm pretty sure I can make the putt, (usually 2 feet or closer) I'll concede the putt.  If the putt is 50/50 or worse make rate for me, sorry buddy, you're going to have to putt that one.

3.  When I'm not really familiar with an opponents game and putting, I'll say nothing for the first few holes.  If he's the type who steps up and continually rams in 2-3 footers, I have to assume he's going to do this for the rest of the round.  When he has an easy 2-3 foot straight putt, it's good by me.  He's not likely to miss.  Speeds up the game, too.

To the OP:  Insisting on, or trying to persuade your league partners to 'do it your way' is going to cause you more grief than anything else.  You're trying to get everyone else to see it your way and apparently, they're not interested.  Best to just give it up, relent and try to enjoy yourself.  Maybe you'll be the guy who doesn't have to putt that 7-footer for a triple.

dave

[Lihu]

Three schools of thought on the matter of 'giving opponents putts' during league rounds.

1. Last night the guy I'm playing has a 7 footer for triple-bogey.  I'm already in with a bogie.  I ask, 'John, what is that putt for?'  He says 7, I say pick it up.  Let's not add insult to injury and let's be honest here; giving a guy that putt for triple is not going to drop his hdcp by 3 strokes.

2. Same thing happened to me as the OP.  Opponent has a treacherous 3-4 foot downhill breaker for par.  It's the classic, 'make it, or you'll likely 3-putt from there.'  I say nothing, guy misses and has 10 footer coming back and misses that one too.  On the next tee he tells me, "You don't know how f'n pissed I am at you right now!"  I mean, this guy was fuming MAD!  The way I look at giving a putt in this situation is that if I'm pretty sure I can make the putt, (usually 2 feet or closer) I'll concede the putt.  If the putt is 50/50 or worse make rate for me, sorry buddy, you're going to have to putt that one.

3.  When I'm not really familiar with an opponents game and putting, I'll say nothing for the first few holes.  If he's the type who steps up and continually rams in 2-3 footers, I have to assume he's going to do this for the rest of the round.  When he has an easy 2-3 foot straight putt, it's good by me.  He's not likely to miss.  Speeds up the game, too.

To the OP:  Insisting on, or trying to persuade your league partners to 'do it your way' is going to cause you more grief than anything else.  You're trying to get everyone else to see it your way and apparently, they're not interested.  Best to just give it up, relent and try to enjoy yourself.  Maybe you'll be the guy who doesn't have to putt that 7-footer for a triple.

dave

I don't see why your opponent got pissed off at you. A 4 foot downhill breaker is not even close to being a gimme?

BTW, if we played a round, you would be forcing me to putt out anything more than a foot.

[DaveP043]

On the next tee he tells me, "You don't know how f'n pissed I am at you right now!"

I love playing this kind of guy!  Once I know he's that volatile, I'll even give him an occasional questionable putt, just to keep him off balance.  For myself, I figure that if i can't make this putt every time, I have no reason to expect you to give it to me.  If I CAN make it every time, I've got nothing to worry about.  I'm fine either way.

[DrvFrShow]

A four foot downhill breaker is not even close to a gimme. That's not even a knee tremblor. That's a hard putt. Putt it. If it's treacherous, putt it easy. And yes I've had those and ended up with an 8 to 10 footer coming back for a threep - I'm looking at you HC 18th green. So If I'm really tentative I may barely tap it and hopefully leave it short within a couple inches of the hole.

This year you don't want to give me a 1' putt. I can miss them.

[Duff McGee]

A four foot downhill breaker is not even close to a gimme. That's not even a knee tremblor. That's a hard putt. Putt it. If it's treacherous, putt it easy. And yes I've had those and ended up with an 8 to 10 footer coming back for a threep - I'm looking at you HC 18th green. So If I'm really tentative I may barely tap it and hopefully leave it short within a couple inches of the hole. This year you don't want to give me a 1' putt. I can miss them.

Haha my hell hole. I don't think I've ever even parred that hole, which is sad.

[Mac62]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave s

On the next tee he tells me, "You don't know how f'n pissed I am at you right now!"

I love playing this kind of guy!  Once I know he's that volatile, I'll even give him an occasional questionable putt, just to keep him off balance.  For myself, I figure that if i can't make this putt every time, I have no reason to expect you to give it to me.  If I CAN make it every time, I've got nothing to worry about.  I'm fine either way.

Guys like that are fun. We were playing a two-man scramble against a couple friends and they had a straight 2-footer left for par.  Normally we'd give it to them, but my partner and I were so occupied looking at our next shot that neither of us ever said anything to them.  By the time I looked up, they were lining up to putt it, so I figured "Let them putt it out".  They both missed and took a bogey on the hole.  One of the guys is very competitive and absolutely hates to lose, and he was so pissed he couldn't see straight.  His game came completely unraveled after that because he was so twisted up and seething about it.  They wouldn't even give us a two-inch putt for the rest of the round and he left immediately afterward without going up to the 19th hole for our traditional post-round beer.  We still tease him about it and everybody knows that if you're playing against him, all it takes is something little to get him spun up and his game will go in the crapper.

[DrvFrShow]

I just have an attitude that if I 3-putt like that I'll put a little extra heat on my drive on the next tee. It's not an angry shot. Usually works. I've been working on my temper this year.

[DaveP043]

Part of match play is understanding your opponent. If he gets upset that easily, it would be wrong NOT to take advantage of it.