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I'm playing good or bad then all of a sudden the "other guy" starts giving me the gimmee's..even when they aren't in gimme range. Now when I play good I can understand this to an extent..but when I'm playing bad and he starts to give me gimmees I take it as an insult. I know he want to move on but heck I paid too man..let me finish my hole.

Any comments/suggestions?

Just say i want to finish everyhole, or say wait before he can hit it away to. I don't mind the short gimme putts, but sometimes some guys will give you some long ones.

I've had that happen to me, too. Some people are so anxious to get moving even if it means waiting on the next tee for the group in front of you, that they'll give you a lot of putts. It annoys the heck out of me because there's no need to rush as long as we're staying directly behind the group in front of us.

I don't get the entire concept of 'gimmie' putts. OK, I get the 6-12" variety, but the 2-3 footers--why take them? I'm teaching my kids to play and we NEVER take a putt. Isn't putting the ball in the hole the entire idea? The entire effort of getting the ball from the tee box to the cup shouldn't stop once you get a foot away. If you want to pick up a 6 incher, fine. But outside of that, you're cheating. At least that's how I look at it.

Maybe I'm crazy or warped by the golf in my area, but we aren't that crowded that the 5 seconds it takes to line up and hit a 2 foot putt will matter to the group behind me. If it does, they should chill.

Let's start a campaign to let all basketball players not have to shoot once they get close to the basket and call them 'gimmee' lay-ups. Or when a football team gets to the 3 yard line, let's just give them the 6 points.

Sorry to get off topic, but it's a weird concept to me. In your case, I'd do what Junior said and just tell him you finish all your putts. You paid good money to play golf, you might as well get the full experience.



Brad

The basketball and football example really gets it into perspective what a 3 foot gimmie is, i never really thought about it like that, but you are right.

A friend of mine picks up a lot, too, usually after missing two tries. Makes me feel kind of funny, because I want to putt the dang thing 'til the bitter end. I get satisfaction from hearing it drop into the hole.

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I finish out just to hear that sweet sound! A few threads back, people asked if they had any superstitions and I said I didn't have any. But this reminded me that I do. Sometimes when I have a gimme, my playing partners will say pick it up and I always just tap it in, because if I get hit head on by a mack truck going home or croak before teeing off the next hole, they can bury me and say "Well, at least he made his last putt!"

Match play is the only time you can receive a gimmee, if your oppent concedes the put. In stroke play if you don't finish the hole you are DQ'd. That is the rules of golf, so if you take a gimmee in stroke play you are not suppose to post the score for your handicap either.