Here is an invented 6th, a par 4. Mike has three feet for par. Tom, his opponent in their match, is in with a 5 and waves the putt away: “that’s good.” Mike picks up. Jess already has her par, Dave has a 6, and all four of them are in a skins game. Jess says she’d like to see it holed. If Mike’s putt counts, he ties Jess and the skin carries. If he misses, Jess wins it. Tom has just made a decision about Jess’s skin, and nobody asked her.
What the Rules actually allow
In match play, a gimme is a concession, and the Rules of Golf allow it. Under Rule 3.2b, a player may concede the opponent’s next stroke, a hole or the whole match. A conceded stroke counts as holed, the ball can be picked up, and the concession is final: it can’t be declined or taken back.
In regular stroke play, there is no such thing. Rule 3.3c says a player must hole out on every hole, and in a real competition a player who doesn’t, and doesn’t correct it before teeing off on the next hole, is disqualified. (Stableford is scored differently and doesn’t disqualify.) A gimme in stroke play isn’t a rule. It’s a house agreement, and it only binds the people who agreed to it.
One putt, three games
Most friendly rounds run more than one game on the same card. On Mike’s 6th, three of them care about the same three-footer. Suppose Tom has conceded it for the match, but Mike still holes out for the skins and the total. The concession stays final even if Mike misses and then holes the next putt.
| Game | Mike holes it | Misses, then holes next |
|---|---|---|
| Mike vs. Tom match | Mike wins: conceded | Mike wins: conceded |
| Skins, all four | Mike and Jess tie: carries | Jess wins the skin |
| Best Score total | Mike’s 4 | Mike’s 5 |
Tom could concede the putt in his match, and under the Rules that is his to give. He can’t concede it for the skins, where Jess and Dave have a say, or for a total-score game, where every stroke counts for everyone. The trouble starts when one sentence on the green settles three games at once.
A gimme is a gift from your opponent. It isn’t a gift from everyone else in the group.
What to agree before the first green
How GoLo handles it
In GoLo, one scorer enters one score per player per hole, and every game in the round reads that score. There is no separate number for the match and another for the skins. So the group’s agreement decides what the scorer types: if Mike’s gimme counts, he gets a 4 and the skin carries; if the group says putt it, the scorer waits for the putt.
If the round is scored as match play between two players or two teams, the scorer can also mark a whole hole conceded. That hole goes to that side in the Overall Match, the Nassau and any presses. A foursome playing separate matches inside one round can’t mark one. Skins and Best Score ignore the concession and keep reading the scores. If the scorer moves on without entering a score for someone, GoLo writes par for them, and Skins and Best Score count that par. For a casual game with an agreed pickup rule, enter that agreed score for the player who picked up. A regular stroke-play competition still requires holing out.
GoLo has no setting for conceding a single putt. A gimme goes on the card the way the Rules count it, as a holed stroke, and GoLo keeps the tally from there. The money changes hands outside the app.
Say it on the first tee
“Gimmes in the match only. If a skin or the total is live, putt it.” That sentence would have kept Jess’s skin out of Tom’s hands. If your group prefers a length, name it and the putter it’s measured with. Either way, agree it before anyone is standing over a three-footer.
The rest of what’s worth agreeing is in the first-tee checklist, and the other on-course argument about matches is pressing. Then see one round from setup to settle-up or get GoLo for the next one.
