• We'd like to take this opportunity to wish you a Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas from all at Golf Monthly. Thank you for sharing your 2025 with us!

Matchplay Concessions

Junior

Tour Winner
Joined
Apr 1, 2007
Messages
5,321
Visit site
If its early on in the match and there is a 1 footer but its a downhill left to righter do you concede it hoping to get one in return ??

If someone looks at you early on in the game expecting a concession do you give it to them? To me its a sign of them not wanting to hole the putt !

What tactics you use ? Where's the line in the sand drawn from to being sporting to being a unsporting. . . .
 
Asking someone to hole a 1 footer will lead to bad feeling in the game, I would say anything inside one and a half feet is a gimme, outside that depends on the player but I would give putts up to 2 feet without thinking about it, any longer might give em but not if I absolutely have to win the hole near the end of the match.
 
Birdieman.
IF u r giving 2ft putts,lets have a game.
Just lately i`ve gone to pieces with my putting,everthing seems to go right of the hole don`t know why,indeed yesterday it got the better of me and I broke the damn putter,not intentionally (I don`t think) but I was trying to take a bend out of the shaft,trying to make things better and went a bit to far.Hey-ho,anyone recomend a putter that works(at both ends).
 
I'm too generous when it comes to giving putts. I won't give anything that will beat me though, unless it really is just a tap in. I don't expect to be given anything in return. I go out in a match thinking I have to hole everything as don't want to be bothered if someone doesn't give me anything. In alot of cases my generousity rubs off on the opponent, at least till the business end of the game.
 
Not really played much competitive golf yet but is the giving of putts not all part of the tactics, give a few long putts early on if they do not matter so as the eye is not in for the shorter ones that matter later in the round etc.
 
I get around this by not being in the close proximity of the oponent so either he putts out or has to speak upo, mumbles dont work with me.
 
I generally mix up the concessions give a few two footers early on then make my opponent make a few 18" putts-makes my opponent think about it on every hole.
 
In our wednesday 4ball our motto is "give them F all". I have played senior cup and barton sheild now for a number of years and I'll tell you nothing is given in those match's.
 
aint played any comps but i dont really give anythin outside of a foot. I dont see the point. they will never learn. I also dont take anythin outside of a foot, especially if its a presure putt because ya got to learn to deal with them and sink the ball. In a comp, i would probably not give anythin unless it was an unmissable 1 footer, and if it was down hill, i would just look away and pretend to be cleanin my ball :D Am i mean???
 
Generally in the earlier part of the match I would tend to give putts of 18-20" or less as I don't want my opponent to get the feel and confidence of short putts and usually your opponent is fairly generous in response. If however I wouldn't fancy it, then I don't give it. Later in the match it is a different story.

Sometimes though your opponent will practice putts after the hole has been played in which case the above goes out of the window. Then make him/her putt everything.


but I was trying to take a bend out of the shaft,trying to make things better and went a bit to far.


Teetime 72. Beware of falling foul to Rule 4 (clubs) 4-2a. Disqualification!! :( :(
 
Anything under 18 inches and it's given....until the last 6 holes. In friendly games, I tend to give all sorts.
Call me wierd (and people often do!) but if I scrape a win in a friendly by forcing my opponent into 3 stabbing easy 2 putts, then it would be a hollow victory. Give 'em plenty, get some in return, win comfortably, and it's a sweet result.
t.b.h. if there's no way my opponent would miss the thing except for pressure, I don't play that card very often, unless it the most serious of matches.
 
Have to say in the first 6 holes I wouldn't be giving any 1 foot downhill putts. I want to see what my opponent has in the locker. If he misses the first one and has say a 18 inch-2footer in close succession I'll normally see that in too.

After that I'll normall concede most putts within 2 foot until around the 14th or 15th where I'll make hime hole one again. After so many concessions its amazing how many people will suddenly miss a relatively simple one.

In matchplay (competitions not regular roll ups where I'll concede most putts to keep the game moving) I don't expect to be given anything and therefore give nothing in return.

Call me unsporting but if it is a club match or official club matchplay event I am going all out to win and I see making people hole a few short ones as part of the art of matchplay
 
I'm usually pretty generous with putts, always giving 2 feet or so, but it does depend on whether it's for a half or a win. If it's for a win, I want it holed.
 
Top