The reason I ask is because I was wondering if you ever felt guilty for not giving your opponent a short putt. I played Jim Marnie on Wednesday and as we trudged our way around the front nine our match was fairly close. Yeah, we gave each other a few tap ins and a few short putts but when it came down to the last hole that is when I began to think. Jim had about a 3-4 foot putt, I was one hole up and two strokes down but more importantly I didn’t know how my teammates were doing, were they ahead or were their matches close too?
I holed out first from off the green and a gimmie putt for a bogey 5 and Jim had a mile to go for par and to halve holes and take three. His lag putt veered a little right and he a had about a 3-4 ft. putt for bogey. I knew I couldn’t pick up the two strokes to take 4 but if he missed this putt I knew my team might benefit from this one extra hole we could win. I felt a little guilty for not giving him the putt.The putt lipped the edge of the cup and I won the extra hole as opposed to halving the last hole.
When I got home I was tallying the scorecards, I noticed it came down to just one hole between our team and Jim’s team. I felt bad but then again I was glad our team took holes. If not, then we would have halved holes and we would not have had that extra point.
I do remember a few times over the years when 1 point decided who played in the championship round or not.
So, my question is will this change the way you play your match against your opponent. Please leave a comment to open discussion.
No funny comments about me starting to think at the ninth hole. LOL
depends on the situation. i have no problem giving short birdie putts but other people do. if i’m way up in the match i might be more prone to give them or if i thinks it’s an easy putt. left to right putts are not so if it’s 3 feet or further then the answer is no.
Depending on how my opponent is putting will
determine if i will give him a short putt,if match
is close and it’s not a tap in there will be silence.
I will not feel guilty at all.
I agree Bill. If my opponent is putting well then I may give it to him. But, if he is struggling then I won’t.
I agree with Bill and Bob. But I think if the game is out of wack then there’s no reason to move the game along and give the put. I’ve played where my put is less than five inches and no giveme. No names will be given. So now you wonder why the game is slow. I won’t give in by giving the person the short putt either.
Hey I feel guilty as hell, but I get over it, in a few seconds, especially if he misses. lol
That’s putt not put. One other thing. Why do we use tracking devices when it doesn’t help particular people. Doesn’t the rules say something about that?