From the Clubhouse: Could five foot gimmes become a part of handicapping in the UK?

Did you know if your ball lies on the green, and is no more than five feet from the hole, there is a Rule of Handicapping that allows you to pick it up and add a stroke to your score?

In this week’s From the Clubhouse podcast, in association with TaylorMade Golf, Steve Carroll and Tom Irwin delve deeper into the concept of ‘most likely score’, which can be used when a hole is started but a player does not hole out.

They consider how it’s used in match play and fourball formats, Tom talks about his experience of it dominating golf in the United States and, with elements of this already in play in Ireland, the pair consider if we ever might see it come into force in the UK.

Elsewhere, the duo look back over events at St Andrews where a bit of paving close to the historic Swilcan Bridge sent social media into meltdown, and brought an ultra-quick about-turn, and Steve gets a dressing down from Tom for his post hole-in-one etiquette. Was he wrong to not get the drinks in when he had an ace?

It’s bound to be controversial and, as always, we’d love to hear your views!

Listen to us get stuck into gimmes, the World Handicap System, and hole-in-one etiquette

You can listen in the player below, or click the button to be taken directly to your preferred podcast platform.

What do you think? Could fourball and match play become part of WHS in the UK, and could you ever get your heads around gimmes counting for handicap in competitions? Let me know with a tweet.

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