That old line, “Character is what you do when nobody is watching,” can be easily adapted for golf.
Character is the score you write down after scooping up a five-footer that didn’t matter for the match.
Most golfers know this situation. Your partner is in for 4, but you have a tester left for 5, and since the group behind you is gyrating in the fairway, you’re told to pick up your putt and just write down a score. Full disclosure: I’ve given myself putts like that because my ego savors the sound of the lower score. If I make it a habit, however, it comes at a cost.
Since the World Handicap System seeks to make it as easy as possible for all types of golfers to post scores, it has to account for a breadth of scenarios, and this is one of them. Of course, it would be cleaner for everyone to play every hole to completion, but when four-ball is the game, not every stroke matters, and a manageable pace of play suggests you don’t grind over the last irrelevant details of a hole.
The World Handicap System tells players to write down a most likely score in these situations, and even provides guidelines based on where you are. For instance, if you are inside 5 feet, the next one is good. If you are between 5 feet and 20 yards, add two or three strokes “depending on the position of the ball, the difficulty of the green and the ability of the player.” It goes on—3 to 4 strokes outside 20 yards, etc. —but you can see we’re already wading into subjective waters, because an assessment of the difficulty of a shot and their own ability is likely to be different from one golfer to the next.
Golf Digest’s Drew Powell has detailed the harsh truth about gimmes, which is we’re way too generous when considering the success rate of 80s and 90s shooters from short range. According to Arccos Golf data, an 80s shooter like me only makes 57.1 percent of 4-foot putts—hardly a foregone conclusion.
Is this really a big deal? It can be when you aspire to keep an accurate handicap that you can carry into competition. Our season-long Golf Digest Match Play is approaching the semifinal round, and I got knocked out in the quarters by a far superior golfer who was giving me a bunch of strokes. The fact that I played well that day and still lost on the 17th hole suggests I could have used a few more.
Had I not conceded a few putts to myself on occasion, I likely would have been better off.
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Speaking of the Golf Digest Match Play, the video below discusses how the World Handicap System can accommodate a wide assortment of players, as evidenced by members of our staff who have contended even if relatively new to the game. It also addresses why “I don’t have a handicap” is becoming an increasingly lame excuse.
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Also, Luke Kerr-Dineen and I discuss gimmes and handicaps on the latest Golf IQ podcast.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
