Definition: In golf, "concession" is a match play term that can refer to a putt, a hole or even the match itself.
- Putt concession: When an opponent concedes your putt, he is telling you that your putt is good - you don't have to actually hole out. See "conceded putt." Putt concessions happen all the time in match play.
- Hole concession: Let's say your opponent striped his drive down the middle of the fairway, then plunked his approach right in the middle of the green. You, meanwhile, put two balls in the water and needed three strokes to hack out of thick rough. Clearly, you've lost the hole already. In a hopeless situation like that, you might just go ahead and concede the hole. A hole concession is a waving of the white flag on an individual hole in match play: I give up, you win this hole, let's move on to the next hole.
- Match concession: Same as hole concession, except you are giving up on the entire match. It's important to note that while hole concessions are nothing unusual (although it's uncommon for a hole to be conceded before reaching the green), match concessions are very rare and considered bad form. Maybe you lost the first eight holes of the match. No doubt you're going to lose the match - but you should still keep playing (and keep trying your best) until your opponent actually does close out the match.
If you ever see the term capitalized and preceded by "the" - as in "The Concession" - then the reference is to a famous incident at the 1969 Ryder Cup involving Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin. And there is also a golf course in Florida, codesigned by Nicklaus and Jacklin, called The Concession.
