a. Allowing these “putter head-sized” putts to be picked up will speed up the game and prevent damage to the cup rim.
b. No one, but Bill Hunt, ever misses these putts.
c. Tapping the ball into the hole and then retrieving it takes up additional time.
d. Most of us leave the flag stick in while putting and retrieving a ball from the hole with the flag stick in results in damage to the rim of the cup.
A player’s playing partners must agree to the ball being picked up
Blah, blah, blah! Putt them all out.
Before "putting them all the way" I've seen 2' as gimmes. This would need to be strictly enforced if passed! The rules to this need to be spelled out specifically to any circumstance that could arise.
If a gimme rule is broken then I think BOTH players should be penalized one stroke each. THEY BOTH KNOW THE RULES! It's 2 person integrity! It's bad on a player to give an illegal gimme but just as bad for a player to accept it!!!
I agree that it makes sense to just pick up putts that are just inches from the hole. My concern is that it's likely to lead to some players giving longer gimmes.