Gimme Putts (God I hate them!)

[fr0sty]

Gimmes are not all bad: They speed play, they eliminate people complaining about missing two-footers, and they relax the atmosphere a bit. In my view if someone wants to artificially depress their handicap by not putting things out more power to them, especially because the retort is simple.

Personally I always putt things out (even if someone tries to give me the putt) because that is the way it is supposed to be.

[sean_miller]

. . . speed play . . . artificially depress their handicap

That's what surprised me. My friend's feigned disgust when my putt was for a 7 and he'd be cheating his way along tee to green all frigging day - double standards are worse than gimmes any day.

[ajschn06]

I can't even remember the last time I took a gimme. Even if the ball is hanging on the edge of the cup, I tap it in, every single time. My playing partners aren't always the same. A few of them are hackers that will pick up 3-4 footers at times and drop a mulligan here or there. It bothers me a little, but we aren't in competition or anything, and even if we were, I still beat them..

[Chief Broom]

To the OP this guy is cry baby. I'd have laughed and told him that was why I refused to conceed the putt to him in the first place. In my league we'll conceed putts, but they have to be gimmies, if not you're going to catch flack for it from the other players and the league committee. There are guys who take liberties with this practice, but ultimately it'll be reflected in their league handicap (they keep their own handicaps for the stableford scoring used in league play). They also run the risk of someone objecting when they want to take a gimmie and the other players making them putt it out. There is a little money on the line in our league, but if I'm just playing with someone who wants a gimmie, then it's fine with me. I don't worry about bragging rights.

[Colinb913]

The only time we will give a gimme, is if the ball rims out of the hole, and stops within a grips length of the hole. I know, its a weird rule, but we did it like 7 or 8 times in one day, and we decided to play like that. Anything else you have to putt in.

[B-Con]

I putt everything out, I've only accepted a gimme once in my life. Last week I started as a single and then joined up with an elderly gentleman. I had a terrible chip approach that left me just off the fringe. I pulled out my putter and putted about 35 feet across a decent break and the ball stopped literally 3/4 of an inch from the hole. The guy said "nice putt!" and picked up my ball and tossed it to me. Oh well. That never happened again, or I would've asked him to let me putt it out.

[sean_miller]

I putt everything out, I've only accepted a gimme once in my life. Last week I started as a single and then joined up with an elderly gentleman. I had a terrible chip approach that left me just off the fringe. I pulled out my putter and putted about 35 feet across a decent break and the ball stopped literally 3/4 of an inch from the hole. The guy said "nice putt!" and picked up my ball and tossed it to me. Oh well. That never happened again, or I would've asked him to let me putt it out.

I've learned on this site that really seems to bother people - they need to hear the ball in the cup - like a sense of closure on that hole. I'm much more aware of the dangers of knocking a tap in back to the player - don't want any hard feelings.

[Jtjohns]

To this day, I do not undertand the concept behind gimme putts. If they are a "gimme", shouldn't it only take a second to walk up and tap it in? It's not slowing anything down and if it's missed, then it wasn't a "gimme" from the start.

[Deryck Griffith]

Giving putts and then not giving them is stragety isn't it? When I play in similar events, I prefer to putt EVERYTHING out. But if I get playing partners who like to play with gimmies, then what I do is give them some throughout the beginning stages of the round and when it really matters towards the end, make em' put it out. LOL. 70% of the time, they miss the putt because they havent hit it all day! :)

[NI4NI]

To each his own...if he's not a friend or at least a strong acquaintance who knows your wrinkles, then perhaps the first time it happens a simple friendly statement is all that needs to be made. Let him think he's a strong putter, and hope that you play him head-to-head in the club championship or tourney when it counts.

[fr0sty]

If they are a "gimme", shouldn't it only take a second to walk up and tap it in?

No. If you are left with a 2-foot putt and you take the time to asses, line-up, and go through your routine you will make that putt >98% of the time and take the better part of a minute accomplishing the feat. x4 golfers x18 holes that becomes significan time spent and that is why people argue for this on the grounds of improving pace of play.

If you are playing casual golf this is a no "blood, no foul" situation. If you are competing in a stroke-play event, that's different.

[zeg]

No. If you are left with a 2-foot putt and you take the time to asses, line-up, and go through your routine you will make that putt >98% of the time and take the better part of a minute accomplishing the feat. x4 golfers x18 holes that becomes significan time spent and that is why people argue for this on the grounds of improving pace of play.

We've had this discussion at some length fairly recently, but really, either the gimme is a tap-in, or there's a real chance you're going to miss it. In the first case, it takes no time to tap it in like the OP suggested. In the latter, it's really not a "gimme" at all. So I don't buy that logic as a real justification; I don't believe that the average golfer makes 98 percent of 2-foot putts. I know you're just guessing a number, but if you really did sink 98% of 2-footers, you ought to be able to sink 50 in a row 2/3 of the time you try on the practice green and 100 in a row more than 1 time in 10. I'm not the world's greatest putter, but I'm hard pressed to get past 20 in a row if I'm not just grooving the same 2-foot putt again and again. That probably puts the success rate at no more than 90%, at which point you're probably going to miss one a round or more...

That said and numerical pedantry aside, I don't have a problem with gimmes, but I don't like the rationalization. If you think it makes your friendly game friendlier, by all means do it, but it probably IS affecting your score a bit. In my opinion, it's a small enough time, even with lining it up, that it doesn't justify bending the rules. (This, in contrast to a drop plus two strokes in place of stroke and distance for lost/OB; that can save 5 minutes or more in a single event, so I think there's a stronger justification.) Plus, for me personally, expecting to putt close and pick up screws up my game. I stop thinking about making the putts. The ball rolling in and dropping in the cup helps me recover from any bad strokes on the hole---I want to go to the next tee thinking about success, not a missed putt, and a made putt, no matter how short, is a success (after all, even Tiger has blown the short tap-ins). And, finally, even if you normally play gimmes, remember that they aren't gimmes, they're really giveyou's. It's up to your playing partners, not you, to decide, if you're playing competitively. If not, why would you give a damn whether your partners agree to it? If you don't expect the gimme, you won't get pissed when not given, so as a competitor, just expect to have to make the damn putt. I really can't understand the mentality of the guy in the thread kick-off... how can you care so much that you get upset by not being given a putt, but not enough about the competition to actually play it?

[montru]

Generally I like to make every putt and to "play the ball down". the league I play in give outragious putts and play prefered lie's even in the rough which I totally dissagree with, when we are playing and I have a bit of a bad lie, the guys say to me that they don't understand why I don't move it, I just say that if you never hit a ball from a bad lie how are you ever going to get bettter.

[sean_miller]

Generally I like to make every putt and to "play the ball down". the league I play in give outragious putts and play prefered lie's even in the rough which I totally dissagree with, when we are playing and I have a bit of a bad lie, the guys say to me that they don't understand why I don't move it, I just say that if you never hit a ball from a bad lie how are you ever going to get bettter.

"Preferred lies" are just that aren't they?!? Lies. Why not just tee it up?

[montru]

............... Why not just tee it up?

I did say that one time, it didn't go down that well.

[sean_miller]

I did say that one time, it didn't go down that well.

The next time I golf with someone who fluffs all his lies, I'll toss him a tee as we approach our balls in the fairway or rough.

[microcrayfish]

I will try to putt everything out when I can, occassionally if I hit a long one in close it'll get hit back at me and given but there's not a lot I can do about that and I don't complain. I don't mind people taking gimmes. I don't play in any leagues and my playing partners and I never play for money and usually just play the course and not each other so it doesn't bother me at all if someone wants to give himself putts.

I gotta say though, the guy the OP was playing against is a complete idiot, he complains about not being given a gimme after he misses the putt, gee ever think that the fact you miss a putt means it obviously wasn't a gimme, some people...

[rickp]

Sorry, no such thing in our group. You will think your playing with mime's if your looking for "it's good" from us, make the putt!!!