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Golf Random Irritations

Picking up one of our seniors and a committee member to boot for not bothering to rake his footprints in a bunker. I was on the putting green and watched his 4-ball play a hole nearby. As he had not bothered, I walked round, raked it (and it was a mess where he had played) and then walked past the green telling him not to worry as I had done it for him (about a nine on the sarcasm scale).

What hope is there if someone in a position of authority in the club cannot even do it? But I did report it to the Pro/GM who has said "he will have a word".
 
Hitting 80 in tough conditions on Wednesday

To hitting 93 in perfect conditions on Saturday

I am the most inconsistent 8 handicapper in the world I reckon
 
banjofred said:
Looked at the vid. Nothing I don't already know. The two things I do wrong....1. because of all these videos, I've tried to keep my hands/wrists pretty still in the swing....just doesn't work for me and I've gone back to using a more active hands which has helped a bit. 2. There is a term analysis paralysis that is my biggest issue. I work on soooo many different things that it messes me up. I can hit some pretty decent short chips if just stop trying so blasted hard. If I just relax and take the swing it solves most of the problems....but I try to control things too much. Being "careful" usually dooms all my swings.....
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I have suffered badly, and still suffer, from this as I try and sort my faults.

I spend too long at address checking all I feel I must do (new) and as a result tension builds in my mind and body and I invariably make a real mess of the subsequent shot. I must disconnect my thinking from the shot almost as soon as I address the ball, so I must do my thinking and getting a picture and feel for the shot I want to play before I take my stance, then I step to ball and take stance and address ball and then trusting what I have worked on in practice, and with less than a very brief pause to look up and check my visualised target line to connect me to my target, I hit it.

To prove to me that I can do this, that over the ball I don’t have to think, think, think - my pro has me on the range standing looking down the line of shot, then walking up and hitting the ball only pausing to stop walking. He wants me to prove to myself that I can hit the ball well without any thinking at address so will also have me walking to the ball and not pausing at all - Happy Gilmour style.
 
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My knee randomly flaring up every couple of months meaning its a painful struggle to walk 18 at the moment.

Going to have to book into physio at work this week and see what they think.
 
For years I have played in the Dorset County championships and have easily got into the field of 60 players with a handicap of 3. In past years 6 and 7 handicaps have easily qualified to play. The highest handicaps are ballotted out. Last year I was ballotted out when my handicap index was 2.7. I’m not entering this year as I am on holiday but have looked at the start sheet out of interest. The highest handicap is 1.3?‍♂️ These fields of really low handicaps only seem to have happened since the introduction of WHS. Maybe I’m being cynical but it seems odd that the required handicap to make the field of competition has become much lower than it has been in such a short time.
 
Gimmies....

I've never been a fan. I've always had the reputation for not giving them unless they are a foot or less. I've always thought of them as something that has always been abused by a lot of golfers.....but usually in the act of trying to "be nice" to other golfers. It always seems to start with short putts...but as time goes on the gimmies get longer and longer until they finally get a little silly. When I changed to the new club at the end of March I joined two groups. The smaller group still gives putts up to around 18 inches, which I can kind of live with since it hasn't gotten any longer than that. The larger group was giving putts out to about 3 feet and I think a little more than that. The first few times I played and someone said to "take it"...I just kind of looked at them and said something like "You gotta be kidding me, I miss these all the time". Evidently I must of stirred something up with other people as well....when I played with them last Saturday they were back to putting everything out. I played with two other guys in this group last week....one wasn't too happy about having to putt things out and didn't think it was very "nice". The other guy (somewhat younger) just said that he was fine with it since the rollup/swindle was supposed to be a group that was interested in being social, but with a slight competitive twist. I thought that was a good way of putting it.

Just my opinion....but if it's a gimmie....you shouldn't have to think about it, you should be able to just walk up and tap it in without having to think about it. It should literally only take an extra couple of seconds to put that ball in the hole....so it shouldn't slow things down at all.

Here's a very important point about gimme putts: They are not allowed under the rules. Gimmies cannot be used in any round of golf played under The Rules of Golf, at least not by golfers who want to claim they are abiding by the rules. A golfer who does claim a gimmie in a round of golf played under the rules — a tournament round, a handicap round, any round in which golfers are supposed to be abiding by the rulebook — is actually committing a penalty.
 
banjofred said:
Gimmies....

I've never been a fan. I've always had the reputation for not giving them unless they are a foot or less. I've always thought of them as something that has always been abused by a lot of golfers.....but usually in the act of trying to "be nice" to other golfers. It always seems to start with short putts...but as time goes on the gimmies get longer and longer until they finally get a little silly. When I changed to the new club at the end of March I joined two groups. The smaller group still gives putts up to around 18 inches, which I can kind of live with since it hasn't gotten any longer than that. The larger group was giving putts out to about 3 feet and I think a little more than that. The first few times I played and someone said to "take it"...I just kind of looked at them and said something like "You gotta be kidding me, I miss these all the time". Evidently I must of stirred something up with other people as well....when I played with them last Saturday they were back to putting everything out. I played with two other guys in this group last week....one wasn't too happy about having to putt things out and didn't think it was very "nice". The other guy (somewhat younger) just said that he was fine with it since the rollup/swindle was supposed to be a group that was interested in being social, but with a slight competitive twist. I thought that was a good way of putting it.

Just my opinion....but if it's a gimmie....you shouldn't have to think about it, you should be able to just walk up and tap it in without having to think about it. It should literally only take an extra couple of seconds to put that ball in the hole....so it shouldn't slow things down at all.

Here's a very important point about gimme putts: They are not allowed under the rules. Gimmies cannot be used in any round of golf played under The Rules of Golf, at least not by golfers who want to claim they are abiding by the rules. A golfer who does claim a gimmie in a round of golf played under the rules — a tournament round, a handicap round, any round in which golfers are supposed to be abiding by the rulebook — is actually committing a penalty.
Click to expand...
When I play with my mates we're very generous with the gimmes, but that's because our rounds are not counting for anything so who cares. I mean, to the point that if someone's had a bad hole they might just pick up a 4 footer out of rage and give it to themself - not bothered. In matchplay however I rarely give anything outside of a foot. I just can't get into the kind of mind games of it, and our greens are all on slopes so plenty of two-footers are easily missable. But one thing I agree with you on - can't stand people who moan about not being given putts. If you're given one, it's a courtesy, if not, the aim of the game is to put the ball into the hole, so just get on with it? I do suspect that people who moan about not being given two-footers are just the people who are really nervy over two-footers. :LOL:
 
banjofred said:
Gimmies....

I've never been a fan. I've always had the reputation for not giving them unless they are a foot or less. I've always thought of them as something that has always been abused by a lot of golfers.....but usually in the act of trying to "be nice" to other golfers. It always seems to start with short putts...but as time goes on the gimmies get longer and longer until they finally get a little silly. When I changed to the new club at the end of March I joined two groups. The smaller group still gives putts up to around 18 inches, which I can kind of live with since it hasn't gotten any longer than that. The larger group was giving putts out to about 3 feet and I think a little more than that. The first few times I played and someone said to "take it"...I just kind of looked at them and said something like "You gotta be kidding me, I miss these all the time". Evidently I must of stirred something up with other people as well....when I played with them last Saturday they were back to putting everything out. I played with two other guys in this group last week....one wasn't too happy about having to putt things out and didn't think it was very "nice". The other guy (somewhat younger) just said that he was fine with it since the rollup/swindle was supposed to be a group that was interested in being social, but with a slight competitive twist. I thought that was a good way of putting it.

Just my opinion....but if it's a gimmie....you shouldn't have to think about it, you should be able to just walk up and tap it in without having to think about it. It should literally only take an extra couple of seconds to put that ball in the hole....so it shouldn't slow things down at all.

Here's a very important point about gimme putts: They are not allowed under the rules. Gimmies cannot be used in any round of golf played under The Rules of Golf, at least not by golfers who want to claim they are abiding by the rules. A golfer who does claim a gimmie in a round of golf played under the rules — a tournament round, a handicap round, any round in which golfers are supposed to be abiding by the rulebook — is actually committing a penalty.
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ginmies are used in matchplays and social rounds only

As it’s a social round then there will be many things at play that aren’t within the rules of golf or handicap rules etc so it shouldn’t ever really matter

And they have always been part of matchplay

I have also never come across anyone using gimmies within a club Strokeplay comp
 
banjofred said:
Gimmies....

I've never been a fan. I've always had the reputation for not giving them unless they are a foot or less. I've always thought of them as something that has always been abused by a lot of golfers.....but usually in the act of trying to "be nice" to other golfers. It always seems to start with short putts...but as time goes on the gimmies get longer and longer until they finally get a little silly. When I changed to the new club at the end of March I joined two groups. The smaller group still gives putts up to around 18 inches, which I can kind of live with since it hasn't gotten any longer than that. The larger group was giving putts out to about 3 feet and I think a little more than that. The first few times I played and someone said to "take it"...I just kind of looked at them and said something like "You gotta be kidding me, I miss these all the time". Evidently I must of stirred something up with other people as well....when I played with them last Saturday they were back to putting everything out. I played with two other guys in this group last week....one wasn't too happy about having to putt things out and didn't think it was very "nice". The other guy (somewhat younger) just said that he was fine with it since the rollup/swindle was supposed to be a group that was interested in being social, but with a slight competitive twist. I thought that was a good way of putting it.

Just my opinion....but if it's a gimmie....you shouldn't have to think about it, you should be able to just walk up and tap it in without having to think about it. It should literally only take an extra couple of seconds to put that ball in the hole....so it shouldn't slow things down at all.

Here's a very important point about gimme putts: They are not allowed under the rules. Gimmies cannot be used in any round of golf played under The Rules of Golf, at least not by golfers who want to claim they are abiding by the rules. A golfer who does claim a gimmie in a round of golf played under the rules — a tournament round, a handicap round, any round in which golfers are supposed to be abiding by the rulebook — is actually committing a penalty.
Click to expand...

Our weekend roll ups always putt out. If there is cash up for grabs you need the scores to be accurate and as you say one persons gimmee another would see in. Holing out gets rid of any arguments
 
I'm not a fan of them, bearing in mind that sticking the ball in hole is the entire purpose of the sport.
The problems arise when it's expected rather than gratefully accepted.
 
Isn’t the whole point of golf to get the ball in the hole?

I’ve seen many people pick up the ball for a gimmie thinking they are 2ft away. In reality they are closer to 4ft.

I’ve said it before, the same people who want gimmes are the same people who poop their pants as soon as there is a scorecard in their hands.
 
I would also hope that anyone who isn’t using gimmies and putting out every round is also putting the cards into EG ?
 
HomerJSimpson said:
Our weekend roll ups always putt out. If there is cash up for grabs you need the scores to be accurate and as you say one persons gimmee another would see in. Holing out gets rid of any arguments
Click to expand...

I used to play in a social saturday stableford roll up for money. Gimmes were encouraged to keep pace of play to around 3 hours on the understanding that the sunday medals were slow and for handicap. We never once had any dispute about score or winnings.

I suspect it’s certain types of people rather than the format that causes problems.
 
Liverpoolphil said:
I would also hope that anyone who isn’t using gimmies and putting out every round is also putting the cards into EG ?
Click to expand...
Exactly what I've been trying to do. Trying to put a score in pretty well every time I play, bit of a hassle....since IG wants you to take photo's etc....hasn't killed me yet.

Tried to put one in yesterday....be we were flooded off the course just before 9 holes....
 
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