Pozzy's Putting Game

[Donovan]

I got this off another site and wanted to share it here.

Pozzy's Putting Game:


First, you need 10 putters, preferably 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 going to 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 worth 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.

Then 10 from 50', worth 10 points each.

[Three Putt]

I used to play Theo's game, but here is the thing...I missed most of those putts over 30 ft. I never really developed any confidence because I got used to missing putts. When I'd get in a tournament, I'd expect to miss a 30fter because I missed them all the time in practice.

What I have started is a program where I putt 15 minutes in the morning before work, 15 minutes at night after work. I use 2 putters...that big stack of putters is gone. If you have 10 putters, you don't concentrate. Who cares if I miss? I have 9 more! 2 discs makes me focus more. I set up where I feel comfortable that I'm going to drill the putt and execute it over and over for 15 minutes. Two putts...get them out of the basket and repeat. I don't practice 40 or 50 ft putts because I'm just going to reinforce the fact that I can't make them consistently and I'll be even less confident when faced with one in competition.

When I started I was only 15 ft away from the basket, but the repetition and the success has helped my confidence. Now most days I'm back to 30 ft. canning that putt over and over, and I don't have to go miss all those 40' and 50' putts that you take in the Pozzy game. Now when I'm in a tournament I expect to hit that 30fter. It has helped my putting a lot more than heaving 50ft prayer putts and trying to track the math of Theo's game.

[Donovan]

I did try this today and scored 22 my first time out.

Three Putt - I really like what you are saying about the 40 and 50 foot putts. I made only 1 of the 40's and none of the 50's. I agree that this could create a bad mental game.

It's just like when I used to teach ball golf. work on your 3, 4, and 5 foot putts to build confidence and leave those long ones to others. If you practice the long putts, just practice consistent speed and not trying to make the long putt.

I wonder if we just played this game at 10' 15' 20' 25' & 30'? I would imagine that would build confidence and help you really get accurate. Any thoughts?

[bikedoctor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq_bh_GtjtQ

Three putt has the idea. I believe these techniques are grounded in ball golf but confidence (or the lack of it ) is universal.

I have started this program I found on you tube.

Kev.

[Donovan]

OK so I played this again but used the 10,15,20,25,30 distances. This was much better. I found my confidence growing. Not only with the shorter puts, but also the further distances got easier because the difference in distance was only 5 feet and sure enough, I improved with each round.

10 9 6 4 4 = 91
10 9 9 4 5 = 107
10 10 9 8 5* =118
*=miss return putt

I missed my last shot back from 30 feet UGG! Still the 25-foot putt started felling like the 20-foot putt. Putting close to 50% from 30 feet is a good sign because I felt like I could make it more every time I stepped up to it.

This was real fun and took hardly any time at all to do. I think once you have a "no miss" round or come real close to it, all you need to do to make it tougher and still not lose the confidence part of this, is to just start at 15 feet instead of 10 so you end up at 35 feet for you long putt.

Anyway, this will most certainly be my putting practice regiment for now. I t is fun and did add the pressure to the putts.

[Olorin]

I'm an innovator and a reviser, so I often tinker with games like this.

I think it's important to identify the main benefits of these games. To me, one of the greatest training benefits is eliminating 3 putt holes on longer putts. I saw immediate improvement and changed my style to make this happen. With that as my goal it really helped right away!

But to focus on that goal I changed the name to "Come backer" and only play it from the longer lengths of 32, 40, 48 ft. (These are 12, 15, 18 paces for me.) I do 3 sets of 10. 32-40-48, then 32-40-48. I don't expect to make many of these putts under any conditions, so it doesn't hurt my confidence to miss them. The key for me is just to eliminate 3 putts, and these lengths work really well for that.

[Olorin]

I'm also working on a revised version of the Pozzy game to focus on making putts in a range that I should make more of. The training goal for this game is to make putts, but a side benefit is still not to 3 putt.

I pace the lengths and do 2 sets of 8-10-12 paces. Seems to work pretty well and has already increased my confidence. I hope tol write up the rules and post it to the files section in DG Resources in the near future...

[Donovan]

Originally Posted by Olorin

I'm an innovator and a reviser, so I often tinker with games like this.

I think it's important to identify the main benefits of these games. To me, one of the greatest training benefits is eliminating 3 putt holes on longer putts. I saw immediate improvement and changed my style to make this happen. With that as my goal it really helped right away!

But to focus on that goal I changed the name to "Come backer" and only play it from the longer lengths of 32, 40, 48 ft. (These are 12, 15, 18 paces for me.) I do 3 sets of 10. 32-40-48, then 32-40-48. I don't expect to make many of these putts under any conditions, so it doesn't hurt my confidence to miss them. The key for me is just to eliminate 3 putts, and these lengths work really well for that.

That is a good way to practice these longer putting situation. Thanks bro.

[ERicJ]

Originally Posted by Donovan

I did try this today and scored 22 my first time out.

Three Putt - I really like what you are saying about the 40 and 50 foot putts. I made only 1 of the 40's and none of the 50's. I agree that this could create a bad mental game.

Tried for the first time tonight. Pretty much the same story: 23 first round, 14 second (missed a 20pt come-back), and 40 for the third round.

Originally Posted by Donovan

I wonder if we just played this game at 10' 15' 20' 25' & 30'? I would imagine that would build confidence and help you really get accurate. Any thoughts?

I'll probably try that next time too. Not much point in trying to hit the 40' & 50' putts when I'm only making 3 or 4 (of 10) at 30'.

ERic

[Donovan]

Yeah brother, I found that for confidence and consistency the shorter Pozzy's is better.

However there is something to be said for learning longer distances. You need knowledge of the disc flight for 50, 75, 100 foot distances to give yourself a chance at hitting these. I am starting to think that what needs to be learned is the disc path and touch for the big distances and not focus on the ability to sink the really long attempts. That is where the real value is.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?