I never thought this would be the case, but nowadays I would consider myself something of a contrarian.
On a fairly regular basis, I find myself questioning concepts that I have always previously considered to be the norm, and wondering whether it is time to re-visit and re-assess whether they are still relevant, applicable and/or useful in today's world.
On my hit list for this particular article is the notion of gimmes. Now, before I lose you completely here, I am not referring to friendly concessions between pals in your weekend game (I am all for that speeding up the pace of play!).
I am specifically referring to gimmes in the professional game in match play events such as the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup.
While I fully understand the concept of conceding a putt that you feel is essentially ‘unmissable’ by your opponent has traditionally been seen as a noble and sporting gesture highlighting the 'gentlemanly' side of the game, in recent years I feel things have taken a sinister turn.
In every Ryder, Presidents and Solheim Cup I can remember over the past decade, I have seen repeated petulant incidents of disgruntled players giving sly looks and even placing their putter on the ground to measure a short putt that they have just been forced to finish to highlight their disgust to their opponents.
This to me goes against everything the gimmie was designed to achieve and only serves to increase unnecessary ‘needle’ or spite within matches which we all know need very little encouragement to spill over into unpleasantness.
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In the 2024 Presidents Cup, for example, Tom Kim dropped his putter to the floor to theatrically measure the length of a 3-foot putt that he was asked to hole out by Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.
He didn’t stop there, however, proceeding to wave his arms and shake his head like a scorned toddler while leaving the green to further demonstrate his displeasure. This display led to a fairly fractious and ill-tempered encounter that at times bordered on outright childish.
As ridiculous as it sounds, I have observed similar instances of concessions (or not as the case may be!) causing significant arguments and even violence within amateur club golf also. Behavior like this has led me to the opinion that gimmes at any competitive level should be a thing of the past.
If players cannot be trusted to use them in the intended spirit or understand that it is not up to them to determine what should be conceded, then I say we take it out of their hands and make them putt everything out, as we do in strokeplay.
If a putt is that 'unmissable' then tapping it in should take no longer than scooping it up - problem solved!
