reprinted from here: http://www.nefa.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=495
Pozzy's Putting Game
First, a little on the background and concepts about the game. There are a bunch of objectives it accomplishes:
1. Repetitive Motion. Some people have criticized the game because it repeats the same putts over and over, and they prefer to play a game like HORSE, where you move all around, more like a real situation. Both have value for sure, but IMHO, to become a great putter, you first need to train your muscle memory, which involves serious repetition of the exact same motion.
2. Fun. Practice for the most part sucks and is boring. Most of us would rather play rounds. This game is very much a "game" which has a scoring system, so it's not just practice. You set a score, then keep trying to beat it.
3. Competition. In order to simulate the pressure of real tournament putting, this game has an element of competition. First, as you keep score, it becomes you against your best score, much like golfing is you against the course. But because the rules are uniform, you can compete against other people in different locations. For example, Jason, Mike D, and I used to have a competition where we'd say that whoever gets the highest putting game score when we meet at the next tourney wins and gets some cash or whatever. So for the few weeks before the tourney, I'm competing against Jason and Mike whenever I practice, and that definitely ups the pressure on my putts.
4. Don't over-shoot the pin. One of the worst things you can do while putting is to blow by the basket and miss your comeback putt. This game punishes you HARD for doing that.
5. Consistency. There are huge rewards for hitting all your putts, encouraging consistency.
So here are the rules to Pozzy's Putting Game. I haven't played in years, so if I screw anything up hopefully someone will correct me:
First, you need 10 putters, preferrably identical to your every day putter. Having less means you have to keep picking them up, which gets boring. Throwing 10 in a row keeps it fun and lets you work on the muscle memory.
Mark out 5 spots in a straight line from the pole hole, at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 feet. If 10 footers are a complete joke, then move it to 15, as we did after a couple months of playing. That in itself was proof of how well the game worked, as when we started it was hard to get all 10 in from 10 feet, and after a while it was impossible to miss one.
So once you have your game set up, bring the 10 putters to the 10 foot line. I'd suggest putting a chair or table beside you, so you can quickly grab them without bending down to the ground every time.
You shoot all 10 from 10 feet. Since there is no excuse for missing a 10 footer EVER, the only way you score is by getting all 10 in. If you get all 10, then you get 10 points. But if you miss, you LOSE 10 points for every one you miss. Harsh, because there is no excuse for ever missing a 10 footer.
This next part involves what to do when you miss. The same rules apply to putts missed from all distances:
Take all of your misses to whichever miss was farthest from the pin. If you missed more than 1, you're gonna pay by shooting the longest possible putts. When you shoot these back, you have to get them all in. If you get them all in, you don't get any more points. Why would you get rewarded for saving a putt you should have made in the first place? But if you MISS your comeback putts? You get screwed, and screwed hard, because missing a comeback putt is about as bad as it gets. So for every one you miss, you lose DOUBLE what that putt was originally worth. And if you then miss any of those putts, you lose DOUBLE what it just was.
In other words, don't miss those recovery putts, ever!
So all your discs are in. Now take all 10 to the 20' mark. These are all worth 1 point each. If you miss any of these (or any from longer distances) you don't LOSE any points, because you're no longer in the absolute gimme range. However, we still want to reward consistency, so if you hit all 10 of them, you get double points. So you get 9 points for 9, or 20 points for 10. As with the others, take all the misses to the farthest point and shoot them back. If you miss any, you lose 2 points for each miss. You then take those all to the farthest miss, and lose 4 points if you miss any. If you miss a 3rd time, just give up disc golf.
Now shoot 10 from 30 feet. These are woth 2 points each, so you could get 40 if you hit all 10. All the other rules are the same.
Then 10 from 40', worth 5 points each.
10 from 50', all worth 10 points.
I think the highest score I ever got was mid 80's, lowest was like -60 or something. I'd be curious what the all-time record is by now.
One round of this game takes about 15 minutes or so if I recall correctly. If you factor in missing maybe 10 or so per round, you throw about 60 or more putts per round. Play 4 rounds in one hour and you just threw 250 or more putts.
Oh, I forgot the most important rule. You can't quit in the middle of a round. If you do, you have to stop for the day. This is because once you get good, you may get like 60 points or something. Then in the next round, you miss one of your 10 footers, and then miss the comeback, and you're -20 and you know there's no chance in hell you'll beat 60. So the urge is to quit and start over. NO DICE. Finish the round and practice ALL your putts, or go home and watch tv because you're a quitting loser.
I really can't tell you how much this can help your putting game if you play it a bunch, especially for newer players who still don't have a solid, repetitive putting style down. It forces you to have one, and trains the muscles to do it over and over.
