We have all done things on the golf course we might regret. I’m not talking about the C-word, mainly because C-worders aren’t bothered about C-wording.
You might have snapped a club. You might have NR-ed after a poor start. This sport can send you to some dark places.
I was on the cusp of a dark place on the golf course recently, but mainly because daylight was running out, and our round was interminably slow.
My colleague and I had a work match play fixture to fulfil, so we headed to a popular Yorkshire venue after we put our laptops down one evening. We started at 5.12pm, and we wouldn’t have finished before 10pm.
Here comes the regret part, perhaps something of which we weren’t proud. We reached the 16th tee with light fading, and we still had two holes to play. On the 16th were two other groups and, while we couldn’t see the 17th and 18th holes, there were probably three groups apiece on those stretches too.
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Conceded holes: Is there anything wrong with making an agreement?
We decided to make a gentleman’s agreement on the 16th tee, as we couldn’t face playing two more holes on what became a golfing version of circa 6pm on the M25.
I was 1 down. If I lost the hole, I’d concede the match. If I won or halved the hole, we’d walk in and determine the winner through other means. Rock, paper, scissors may or may not have been involved.
We halved the hole, having virtually been unable to see the pin from the fairway. We walked back to the car park and dealt with the result in accordance with our agreement.
Now, we aren’t proud of this, and it’s obviously not the way to end a round. But it had to be done.
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The rules say that although a player is allowed to concede a hole to their opponent at any time before that hole is completed, or concede a match at any point before the result is decided, a player and opponent are not allowed to agree to concede holes to each other to shorten the match.
Strictly, if they know that the rules do not allow them to make concessions in this way and start the match without cancelling the agreement, both players are disqualified. But if the players are unaware that this is not allowed, the match stands as played.
Look, this wasn’t strict. We enjoyed the match but, ultimately, we weren’t playing for the town hall clock – no one is at our level.
Our patience had snapped – not to mention the genuine threat of not being able to play the final holes due to darkness.
I’ve heard stories before, not exactly like this, of players choosing to concede holes for whatever reason. Maybe a race against light, maybe one player had plans later, or maybe there was pouring rain, and the group had had enough.
It felt a bit wrong. It felt like we should’ve marched on behind the queue of three-balls to shuffle along to the finish line – the way the game is meant to be played.
I suspect plenty of you will tell me we should have finished properly. I also suspect quite a few have quietly done exactly the same thing, for one reason or another.
However, it was a ‘desperate times and desperate measures’ situation, and I’d have done it again.
Have you and your playing partners ever agreed to concede holes in a match? Tell us in the comments below!
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