It's team golf season, which means the start of our annual tradition of bickering and strategizing over gimme putts. We've written about the topic of concessions in a variety of ways. It's worth your while to look back at this GamePlan video from last year's Ryder Cup about three sneaky tactics to get into your opponent's head in match play. And there's our user guide to the ins and outs of conceeding putts and then we published another, more critical look here at the topic.
Seemingly, though, there's always some drama that unfolds at these team matches around short putts, so this year, I've got a simple way to solve for it. And it involves some numbers.
We peered into stats from the 2026 PGA Tour season and looked at the putting stats from players at the 2026 Presidents Cup. Specifically, we looked at their overall make rate for each of their putts inside six feet, then looked to find where the dropoff is. Once a player's make rate on a putt distance dips below 95 percent—which means they're missing the putt one in every 20 times they try it—that's the gimme line. You can feel good about giving a player every putt inside that line, and should avoid giving any putts outside of it.
It's a lot of putts, and because some golfers are better than others at putting, everybody has their own gimme line. Here's how it shakes out.
Make them putt the short ones
Players with a gimme line three feet or shorter
- Corey Conners (2' 10")
- Ryan Fox (2' 11")
- Si Woo Kim (3' 0")
- Cameron Young (3' 0")
Four players—three Internationals and one American—have gimme lines at three feet or less. That means they're missing about 1-in-20 putts from these distances. Yes, they're still making far more than they're missing, but it's not an auto-gimme. If these guys roll one out to three feet or so, you should probably make them putt it.
Be nice, but not generous
Players with a gimme line 3½ feet or shorter
- Patrick Cantlay (3' 1")
- Tom Kim (3' 1")
- Adam Scott (3' 2")
- Sungjae Im (3' 2")
- Justin Thomas (3' 3")
- Min Woo Lee (3' 3")
- Nico Echavarría (3' 3")
- Scottie Scheffler (3' 3")
- Hideki Matsuyama (3' 4")
- Xander Schauffele (3' 4")
- Ryo Hisatsune (3' 5")
- Collin Morikawa (3' 5")
- Chris Gotterup (3' 5")
As you can see, this represents the bulk of players on both sides. They're still making more than 95 percent of their putts once they get past three feet. You can feel good giving them the shorter ones—but don't be too generous.
Pick it up
Players with a gimme line 3½ feet or longer
- Russell Henley (3' 7")
- Sam Burns (3' 7")
- Nick Taylor (3' 7")
- Wyndham Clark (3' 7")
- Jackson Koivun (4' 0")
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout (4' 0")
- Jacob Bridgeman (4' 3")
This is your good putter group. These guys basically make all their short putts. Bridgeman's 95 percent line extends outside of four feet, which is truly machine-like. Sure, you can make them putt the short ones to see if they miss—but it's probably a waste of everyone's time.
