I play with some people who do not understand the concept of counting the strokes until the ball FALLS INTO THE HOLE. When GRAVITY takes over and the ball FALLS INTO THE HOLE, THEN, you have finished the hole. Not when you reach across the hole with a backhand swipe and miss by 4 inches. I know this subject was brought up before, just ignore me, but I recently played with a guy who bragged to me that he was a 10 handicap. Not once did he ever put the ball actually IN the hole. Using his theory, I'd be a scratch player.

when I play with most of my friends there are many holes where we will just have gimmies because we know each other's skill at putting pretty much and 6 inches from the hole is not rocket science at that point.

Tho most of us finish and hole out anyways.

And again I always thought it was "within the leather" for gimmies.

What kind of "gimmies" are we talking here? 2ft. or 6ft.? I don't know anybody that will mark and line up a 2 footer. Even the most strict guy I play with, (who carrys a rule book in his bag) will measure the leather and pick it up if it's inside.

There is a differnce if it's for par to win the hole or for an outright birdie, but who isn't going to concede the leather for bogie or worse?

It's a valid point Merlin, but that's my $0.02.

Gimmies are BS - If the Putt is that easy just knock it in

I will concede a Putt of less than 6 inches most times - but inside the leather? That could be a foot & 1/2 - Come on I have missed and I have seen others miss putts of that length many times.

I agree with you Merlin - I play with a guys sometimes. He is about a 10 - he never 3 putts because he always reaches across and rakes the ball toward the hole if he is within 5 feet.

He would miss some of them if he putted out

Also - there is a difference between being givin the putt by your opponent & Giving yourself the putt.

I agree. It's just being lazy. Our group always putts out cause we play putting games involving money, but we've seen guys who are 4 and 5' out giving themselves the gimmie. Why not just give yourself an automatic two putt every hole.

I totally agree with you on that.... In our weekly tournament, I watched a guy miss a 5 inch putt for the money. He was standing over it and MISSED. Measuring with a club is just silly. Bending down to make a so called measurement takes longer than just tapping it in and just makes a mockery of the OBJECT of the game. "Getting the ball IN THE HOLE".

My girl just likes the sound of the ball hitting bottom. I played in a tourney last week where a guy missed from 3' by 18". He then raked the ball back toward the hole and missed!!! Then he missed the 6" tap!!! Tough way to go from Birdie to Double. Make your putts. Gimmies are for lazy people.

when my group of friends play together we usually allow gimmes because 99% that putt is going in, and its not a big deal. I dont want to make friends putt out all day because it gets to be a drag and to me can make you look like an a**. If the course is busy you can really slow the pace if you line up and read 2 footers all day.

For all the talk about slow play on this board I find it odd that so many are putting everything out.

That being said when we play money games we putt out unless its for a score that doesnt affect the outcome of the hole/game. (double, triple, etc..)

IF YOU PICK UP A SELF-GIVEN "GIMME" MORE THAN LIKELY YOU ARE AFRAID OF MISSING THAT PUTT, NO MATTER THE LENGTH, WHETHER IT BE 8" OR 24"! If you're playing for "nothing" then who cares? Scores shouldn't count, who wins what shouldn't count, and by all means handicaps shouldn't count! Buttttt..... "Gimme's" should only be picked up when the partner whom you are playing against instructs you to "pick it up". In the case of playing against more then one person EVERYONE in the game must agree on the "gimme". If one person disagrees then it must be putted out! That particular loose rule has led to more arguments than I care to count. RULE OF THUMB, as the pro's do: Putt it out! You miss it, it costs you a stroke. It doesn't slow the game down if everyone putts out. It only pisses off the guy who actually missed the 14-incher when he KNOWS he could have made it, if only he hadn't been made to putt.

well if you take the time in a foursome to line up every two foot staight in putt you probably increase your playing time at least half an hour.

I played with 3 other guys today. We putted out everything and finished a 6000+ yd. course in 3 1/2 hours. We all shot in the 80's and one guy shot 90. We just don't take 5 minutes to line up and putt from 2 feet out.

If it is a putt you have to line up - it's not a gimmie in my book.

IMHO - Putting out is not a primary cause of slow play - It's all the time people waste between shots - not being ready, Not knowing when it's your turn, playing strict honors when the person who has honors isn't ready to hit. Not getting someone up on the tee box imediately when you arrive at the tee box.

I played behind a foursome Friday that fell way behind - they would pull up to every tee box and mull around (BSing, Washing their balls, stepping off yardage, checking the wind) for 2-3 minutes before anyone got up to hit - If you waste 2 minutes on evey hole - that adds 40 minutes to the round

We finally skipped #10 and got by them - never saw them again.

That's the stuff that slows play - it usually isn't the actual act of golfing itself.

I also a gree with the poster that said there is a difference between being givin a putt by your opponent and taking a putt -

A two foot putt is a stroke, A 250 yard drive to a wide open fairway is a stroke. From now on I'm just going to drive out 250 yards or so and drop a ball and claim a gimmie, since I usually hit one somewhere around there.

hmmmm... I usually hit it around 230....a two foot gimmie is probably the same as 20 yards on the fairway, so from now on I'll start bumping the ball 20 yards

Seriously though....while me and my friends don't play gimmies....for those that do I have some questions....do you give the same two foot gimmie on a "flat" green and a green where the cup is on the edge of a severe slope? or where the green is really fast? You're just cheating yourself when you do this. Your putting stats are not accurate and although most of you believe that your'e gonna make the putt 95% of the time, what about the other 5%? Your handicaps are probably wrong too. Do you give yourselves gimmies on the mini-putts? And what about tournaments? If everyone plays ready golf and lines up their putts while the other guy is putting, it doesn't increase the time on the green. Instead of taking those gimmies, just putt it out and consider those strokes as practice strokes so when you golf in a tournament you won't miss those 8" putts..... JMHO

Thanks, you got my point, I don't hit regularly 250 either, nor do I, always, make the 2 foot putt. That's the challenge.