GD COMMUNITY
Does it Count? We asked our staff if you can call it a career round if you took gimmes
Max Adler, editorial director: A career round matches the career. If you’re a tournament player, it must occur in a tournament. If you’re a recre- ational golfer known to play by a certain wiggle of rules, the round must be strict- ly completed within that wiggle. If your reputation is you tally a round by how many shots get airborne plus how many beer cans are left in the cart, please tell me about your career round but don’t take too long. Call it what you want because your audience knows. Stephen Hennessey, managing editor: I have personal experience on this one. I had to add a huge asterisk to my career- low 80 because my 10-footer was hit back to me on the last hole since my putt didn’t matter for a match. It wasn’t until we added up our scores after the round that I realised that putt would have been for 80. It sucked to tell that story for years until I matched that 80 recently without
gimmes. You can count your career-low round with gimmes if you want, just know that you’ll be judged for it. Joel Beall, senior writer: I understand these little debates are supposed to be light-hearted, but some are so fundamentally wrong they make me question the very fabric of who we’ve become. Can you call it a career best if you took gimmes? That’s like asking if you can call yourself a chef af- ter microwaving a Hot Pocket. What’s next? Are we going to let people claim they ran a marathon if they took an Uber for the last six miles? Will we allow someone to say they climbed Everest if they took a selfie at base camp? Stina Sternberg, vice president, Golf Digest Studio: You can definitely call it a career round if the gimmes you took were short, easy kick-ins. If any of them were longer
than two feet (or if they were downhill/ sidehill sliders), then no. I’m of the firm belief that golfers know exactly where the line is between a definite gimme and a putt that would have been a lit- tle tricky. If you don’t putt out on the even slightly tricky ones, the round is unofficial. Sam Weinman, digital editorial director: Can you call it a career round if you take gimmes? Sure, you can CALL it whatev- er you want, especially since most golf rounds in our modest worlds are sig- nificant only to ourselves. Personally, I don’t want to cloud the satisfaction of a low round with any nagging “Yeah, but I raked that one . . .” doubts. As long as the dream is still alive, I’ll putt everything out knowing I want a record showing to stand under scrutiny.
Christopher Powers, senior writer: No.
18 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRIC A
JUNE 2026
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