What you should know about conceding a putt

Nicklaus and Jacklin - sporting concession

A beautiful, sexy woman was playing the round of her life with three men-friends and when they reached the 18th green she faces a 25 foot putt to break 80 for the first time.

As she replaces the ball in front of the marker and looks at the line, she declares: "If one of you reads this putt correctly and I make it I will take you home, and while playing you with champagne, will make mad, passionate love to you."

So, the first player steps up and says: "I think it breaks right to left and you should start the putt about three balls outside the right edge."

The second says: "No way! The putt actually breaks only slightly right to left. Don't give up the hole and start it just inside the right edge."

The last guy steps up to read the putt, walks all around the green, checking all the undulations and slopes. After a few seconds he picks up the ball, turns to the woman and says, "Don't you know a gimme when you see one?"

It made me laugh when I first heard it and it also serves as an introduction to the question: What is a gimme putt? How long should it be and is it legal?

Technically, a gimme is American slang for a putt that is conceded in matchplay. Your opponent deems it so short you could surely not miss it, so picks it up or requests you do the same on the assumption that you would hole it, anyway.

How far's a gimme?

It may look like it would speed up play but it is in conflict with the Rules of Golf which require that in strokeplay each golfer continues play until their ball is in the hole.

Accepting "gimmes" is fine in a social round of golf but don’t do it in strokeplay competition. You can be disqualified, if you don't replace the ball (Rule 18-2 i), add the appropriate one-stroke penalty and complete the hole.

You should also know that even in matchplay, sportingly picking up an opponent's marker could prove premature and you could lose the hole or halve it when you think you might already have won it.

For example in a match, A holes a putt for a four and, believing he has won the hole, picks up the marker for B's ball (when B also has a putt for a four).

'That's close enough - you don't have putt that'

The penalty for picking up the marker is the same as the penalty for picking up an opponent's ball - one stroke. But once Player A has holed out and B is left with a stroke for the half, if Player A thereafter incurs a penalty, the hole is halved (Rule 2-2). However, if B had a putt to win the hole when A picked up his marker, A would be penalised one stroke and B would now have two putts to win the hole.

And once you grant a concession, you can't withdraw it (unless you've deliberately been given wrong information, in which case, your opponent loses the hole).

Remember, too that the Rules don't allow you to agree in advance to concede all putts within a certain distance.

Don't agree gimme length in advance

Golf is recognised as perhaps the last bastion of sportsmanship - especially since the recent sledging episodes in the Ashes cricket series and the stubborness of some batsmen to 'walk' when clearly snicking a catch - and the gimme is a key factor.

Apart from when an opponent has two 'straightish, flat' putts to win a hole from about 10 feet, the longest putt I'll give in matchplay is probably 20-24 inches though that's probably a little over-generous on some of the bumpy greens we might face at this time of year.

The traditional length is about 1ft 6 ins (about one-third of a metre in 'new money') - equivalent to the length of the old leather grips entwined around early putters.

However, in some betterball matchplay games, I've even conceded a player's chip, especially if he or she is already 'out of the hole' and their partner has a putt on a similar line to halve it or win it .

Nicklaus and Jacklin after that 1969 concession

Nicklaus said later: "I'm amazed at the attention that got because at the time I didn't think it was a big deal, I simply thought it was the right thing to do.

"It didn't make any difference to the result because we were going to retain the Cup either way, so I didn't want to take the chance that he might miss the putt and have his stature diminished. Tony was a hero and, as the Open champion, was so important to the game in Britain."

It was a magnanimous gesture and underlines the respect and sportsmanship that golf engenders.

But next time we meet, if your knees or hands show the slightest signs of shaking, I'll still want to see that two-footer holed!