Opinion & Analysis

The Wedge Guy: Thinking about gimmees

Published

5 years ago

May 19, 2021

Do you always hole out every putt? I mean even the shortest ones, under a foot? Should you?

Or do you play the way the vast majority of recreational golfers do . . . and “give” your buddies putts deemed “sure thing”. I’ve seen groups that give nothing, and others that are overly generous, knocking back 3- and 4-footers. Whatever floats your boat is fine, but let me offer another idea for you to consider.

In his wonderful book about the short game and scoring – “Getting Up and Down” – Tom Watson wrote that he always finishes the hole by hearing the ball drop, as anything less seems like unfinished business. He explains that his dad started him in golf on the putting green and told him to make the ball go in the hole. And to this day, that this part of each hole has always been his favorite.

How many of us think that way? Not too many, I would guess.

That, of course, gets you thinking about how much longer it would really take if you just finished each hole by tapping in. Hearing the ball drop. Really finishing each hole you started. It would certainly eliminate any discussion or disagreement of just what length putt warrants a knock-back and “That’s good” from you or your golf buddies, wouldn’t it?

And what is a “gimmee” anyway? You’ve seen it many times, a golfer puts his putter head into the hole to measure whether a putt is a “good” or not. If the ball lies in between the hole and the bottom of the grip, that’s generally considered “good”, right? But there really isn’t any law to define it.

And does guy with the long/belly putter get more freebies than the player with a 32” putter? Or a golfer using one of these extended long putter grips?

Wouldn’t it be easier if we all just holed out?

A bit of research into the notion of a “gimmee” reveals that “in the leather” originally meant inside the length of the grip on the putter, not the distance from the putter head to the bottom of the grip. That would make “gimmees” something under a foot in length, which might not be too bad.
But I’m going to take a fresh new approach and begin to hole out everything, even if just a few inches . . . and even if I’m out by myself practice/playing. I’m guessing this is going to bring a new feeling of completion to each hole in the round. And to each round itself.

What do you guys think?

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Terry Koehler

Terry Koehler is a fourth generation Texan and a graduate of Texas A&M University. Over his 40-year career in the golf industry, he has created over 100 putter designs and dozens of wedges. In 2014, he put together the team that reintroduced the Ben Hogan brand to the golf equipment industry with his TK 15 wedges and Ft. Worth 15 iron designs. Since receiving a U.S. Patent for his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” in the wedge category. In addition to inspiring multiple companies to emulate this sole technology, the performance of his wedge designs have stimulated all other companies to reposition some mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges. Terry is retired from his role as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf, and remains active in the industry as an independent designer and consultant. But his most compelling work is in the wedge category. Since he first patented his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” reflected in ‘tour design’ wedges. The performance of his wedge designs have stimulated other companies to move slightly more mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges, but none approach the dramatic design of his Edison Forged wedges, which have been robotically proven to significantly raise the bar for wedge performance. Terry serves as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf – check it out at www.EdisonWedges.com.

6 Comments

Radim Pavlicek

May 22, 2021 at 7:30 am

Gimmy is inside 1 foot.

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Joey5Picks

May 19, 2021 at 6:21 pm

Do this in match play when your opponent has a short putt: Ask “can you make that?” If there’s anything other than a firm, affirmative response, make him putt it. There’s doubt in his mind.

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MarkM

May 19, 2021 at 5:29 pm

I play a lot of club tournaments that require you to hole all putts, so when I play with friends or practice rounds I try to putt out everything to keep that part of my game sharp.
Regarding the Snead gimmee approach: In match play my strategy is to make an opponent putt their first 2-3 footer and see their reaction, and how confident they stroke it. If they waiver at all I’m not giving ANYTHING for the rest of the match.

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R.D. O’Reilly

May 19, 2021 at 3:46 pm

RE: The Wedge Guy: Thinking about Gimmees
I remember how Sam Snead use to tell the stories about how he handle gimmees in match play…early in the round he would give them freely, even on longer difficult breaking putts, then later in the round he would go silent and give absolutely nothing….so coming on down to finishing holes his opponent would have zero round experience on some shorter knee shaking putts and inevitably miss them…..

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Chuck

May 19, 2021 at 12:47 pm

I believe that it was Bobby Jones who advised that all young golfers should hole out every putt, all the time. Make it a rule with your kids; hole everything.
I think that’s good advice.
Also; Nicklaus’ routine before competition was to hit a bunch of 5-foot putts, making them all. He would not have been getting the best feel for green speeds or break by doing that. But what was important was the idea of making everything.
Personally, I hole out everything with two exceptions; formal match play particularly foursomes, and when absolutely necessary for pace of play.

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Chipster

May 19, 2021 at 11:32 am

I played for years in an amateur tournament series and could immediately tell who the new people on the tour were. They would invariably miss a number of short putts in each round – including one footers with a bit of break. Incidentally, these were reasonably good players (4 to 8 handicaps). I personally attribute that to not getting in the habit of making these putts during casual play. Anyone that has a tournament or outing planned where all putts need to be made should get into the routine of making all putts ASAP – as long as they do it quickly (continuous putting).

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