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Pozzy's Putting game

Discoman

Par Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2006
Messages
133
Location
Santa Cruz, CA
Here it is I copied it straight from the PDGA board so, big thanks to those guys!

I realized i had been playing with the wrong points for certain shots so I will repost my score with da right rules. This game really does rock!

up tah New England, we swear by Pozzy's Putting Game.


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:

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.
:D :D :D
 
I've done something similar.

Mark off 10, 15, 20, 25 & 30 (because you always hear hit 30' and in).

For my game, it only requires 2 discs, but the more you have, the less walking you do.

Shoot 2 at 10'. If you make them, go to 15'. If you make them, go to 20'. If you miss, take them both back to the last successful two putt range. You have to make both putts at every stop all the way to 30' and back to 10' to complete the game.

If you're bad at 30', then it's a rough putt to make 4 in a row, and tense until you get around the 20' mark again.

Again - like Pozzy, it puts you in "stress" situations when you have to make 2 putts in a row, especially at the longer ranges. Once you can make all the putts without missing you should be doing pretty good on the course! :)

Thanks for posting the rules for pozzy - I'll have to give it a whirl.
 
I do something similar when I make time to practice my putts. I sometimes like to work in different heights and perspectives (i.e. move 90 degrees around the basket) instead of increasing the length. It's irritating as all hell to make all your putts from 15' and then take a step back onto a ledge and miss the first three from this "new" shot.
 
black udder said:
I've done something similar.

Mark off 10, 15, 20, 25 & 30 (because you always hear hit 30' and in).

For my game, it only requires 2 discs, but the more you have, the less walking you do.

Shoot 2 at 10'. If you make them, go to 15'. If you make them, go to 20'. If you miss, take them both back to the last successful two putt range. You have to make both putts at every stop all the way to 30' and back to 10' to complete the game.

If you're bad at 30', then it's a rough putt to make 4 in a row, and tense until you get around the 20' mark again.

Again - like Pozzy, it puts you in "stress" situations when you have to make 2 putts in a row, especially at the longer ranges. Once you can make all the putts without missing you should be doing pretty good on the course! :)

Thanks for posting the rules for pozzy - I'll have to give it a whirl.

Been doing something similar in the garage all winter long.

Marked 12.5, 15, 17.5, 20, 22 feet off on the floor. Make 10 in a row from each spot. Do it stagger stance and straddle. By the time I'm done, I've made like 300 putts (I miss the 10 in a row a lot at the 20 and 22 foot mark). Problem is it takes a while, so I'm down to doing it only like once a week.
 
Played a game of pozzys yesterday, I like it.

The real killer is the comeback putts from 50' right at the end of the game. I made 2 putts at 50' but one miss rolled to 30' away--yikes! The other misses were inside 20. I missed 2 of the 8 comebacks to drop my score from 65 to 25!

I could see a situation when to preserve a high score you might be laying up the last of those 50 footers--actually not unlike laying up a putt in competition that you could make with some percentage.

I'll play again when I have a chance.

cheers, mmm
 
black udder said:
I've done something similar.

Mark off 10, 15, 20, 25 & 30 (because you always hear hit 30' and in).

For my game, it only requires 2 discs, but the more you have, the less walking you do.

Shoot 2 at 10'. If you make them, go to 15'. If you make them, go to 20'. If you miss, take them both back to the last successful two putt range. You have to make both putts at every stop all the way to 30' and back to 10' to complete the game.

If you're bad at 30', then it's a rough putt to make 4 in a row, and tense until you get around the 20' mark again.

Again - like Pozzy, it puts you in "stress" situations when you have to make 2 putts in a row, especially at the longer ranges. Once you can make all the putts without missing you should be doing pretty good on the course! :)

Thanks for posting the rules for pozzy - I'll have to give it a whirl.
Did you get this from the Johnny Sias interview in Disc Golf Magazine? This is exactly what he recommends doing for putting practice, and what I've been doing since I read it. I like it and certainly agree that hitting 4 in a row from 30' is tough. Heck, sometimes hitting two in a row from 20' gets me! :roll: :p

One thing I've added to this is that when I miss, I take two other putters (that are already in the basket, or just extra) and walk over to where my missed putt landed, and force myself to make all three of them before returning to the game.


sleepy
 
In pozzy we trust.
This is a great way to practice absolutely. This is big way up heyah in New England! I can't imagine any aspect of the game that will split up pro's and Am's faster than good putting skills.
I've got my mach lite sitting in my little office ready to go for my breaks. I get 2 20 min breaks each day and must throw about 120 each day in a quiet section of our warehouse. The confidence that comes from practice is reassuring, and relaxes me(one) more so when I'm in the middle of a round. I guess the only drawback is that there is no wind. But that will change once the snow melts, and I can go outside.
 
We should start a thread that keeps a running tally of ppl's scores here. Like sticky it up. Cuz im about to start doing this on a consistant basis because Im about to start narrowing and editing my bag down again and getting back into throwing my Roc even more.

Would give us a nice place to make your own post that you can edit to add more scores, and keep a running average of points.
Would certainly help keep me motivated to score higher and higher
 
discgolf.com has a score tracker, you put in the course and your score. However that site is barely used, it would be nice to have something similar here.
 
Im doin this right now, except instead of 10,20,30, im doing 10,15,20,25 and 30 for the moment. Wanna hone in on what im doing wrong.

first round was a negative 8 or so. Was kinda half ass keepin score.
2nd round I got a 25. THis was when I started to realize a couple of things about my putting. Instead of pumping the disc back and forth and releasing around my waist, I brought it up to my chest, and almost gave the front of the disc a few degrees of nose up.
It seemed like a lot of throws from my normal stance were aiming low for the basket.
But the simple change started really hitting the center of the pole consistantly.

I went from making 1 at 30', to making 5.
Im goin finish a few more rounds. WOOO!
see if I can become even more consistent in only one practice session.
 
So when you coming down to otter land so I can give you your Wizard? :) Neat game, I'll need to try it as round-preps.
 
I've played Pozzy's 8-10 times in the last week and best score so far is 71. I'll say again that its the comeback putts that will kill you. Roll away just one putt from 40' or 50' and your score can come down faster than a straddle putt drop shot.

I find that this regimen forces me to give equal time to 20' and 50' putts that I often neglect when free putting around a practice basket. I naturally focus on the 25-40' range.

BTW after the first couple of rounds, I've been starting everthing at 15, then 20, 30 etc. Seems a little more realistic, and productive.
 
thread revival GO!

Anyone else playing this regularly? I'm going to try and make a habit out of playing a few times a week. If anyone else is also, we should start posting our scores as a kind of friendly competition...I think it'd be good motivation.

Last night was my first round...using 11- and 12-time KC Pro Aviars @ 175 grams. 29 degrees outside. Total points: 44

I only hit one each from 40 and 50 feet (was trying to putt them all without a step-through or jump and had some distance issues), but I didn't miss any of my comeback putts from any distance (none ended up further than 20' out).

Who's got next?
 
Dude, that game kicks mega portions of a#$. I got like -10 and then 125 or something. so basically I got 115 overall. I like this game, thank you very much for telling me.
 
Yesterday when it was getting dark I had my best pozzy game ever. By a long shot. Total score was 149

breakdown

10 at 15 (I don't do 10')
10 at 20 (double pts)
7 at 30
9 at 40 (wow!)
6 at 50 (double wow!)

Whats more, I hit metal on all the 40 and 50 footers and never had a come back putt longer than 10'

Whhooo hooo

BTW previous best game was 84.

cheers, mmm
 
damn....thats WAY better than my best (60). Nice puttin!

My last round was deep in the negatives (-155 or something like that). I didn't hit any 50-footers, and one of the misses caught an edge, started rolling, then the wind caught it and it ended up around 70 feet out. Needless to say, I didn't hit any of the comeback putts :(
 
Went out last night for another round...much better than my last, but didn't top my best so far.

9/10 from 15' :(
8/10 from 20'
5/10 from 30' (but missed one comeback putt)
3/10 from 40'
2/10 from 50'

Total: 49pts

I'm finally starting to get a feel for those 40 and 50 footers. I have to incorporate a small step-through from 40' and a small jump putt from 50' to give myself a good shot at it. I think 30' is the distance I need to focus most on, since I don't really expect myself to hit anything longer very often.

Best of all about last night was my Roc practice. I take 10 Flat Top Rocs all at 175 grams and throw on a soccer field from about 320' to my portable basket, usually 4 or 5 rounds. Last night I was getting 7-8 / 10 within 20' from that distance, and all of them were on pretty straight lines[/b]
 
Finally took the time to write down the rules and played my first real round today.

I scored -15. :oops:

I actually missed a 10-footer. :x That was a wake-up call to take these seemingly easy putts serious.

And then from the 20-footers, I missed one of the comeback putts. :evil: Might have to finally fix those broken links in the basket. For the rest of the round, though, I turned the basket on its axis so that I wasn't facing anymore broken links. I figured that my practice basket would reinforce good technique even more but now I'm not so sure. The disk hit the right side of the chains (where one of the links had broken and now was free space), hit the pole and kicked out of some more free space on the left of the pole. If the chains had been there I think the putt would have stuck. As it was, though, it counted against my score.

The rest of the round was so-so, winding up with me not hitting any of the 50-footers and missing one of the comebacks.

I'm about to go play another round while it's still daylight.

*follow up* 2nd round went much better. Made three 40-footers and didn't miss any comeback putts. Still missed one 10-footer, making me think that I should slow down and focus more. I have time for one more round so I'll see if I can top my new record of 27.

*follow up* 3rd round started out like the 2nd round, same make % from 10' and 20'. 30' wasn't as kind this time while 40' close to the second round. 50' feels weird. I'm still figuring out how I want to approach this distance from a technique standpoint.

*follow up* 1st round of the day, scored a 27. Didn't miss any 10-footers. :D Hit most of my 20-footers and was feeling good. I even flirted with a new personal record but somehow missed two comeback putts at the very end to drop me down to 27. I'm really enjoying the feedback from this game. I've shored up my 20'-and-in game and am starting to figure out my distance plateaus. I think that I'll soon be $ within 30' thanks to the wrist extension article. After that, I'll see about these 40 and 50-footers. I haven't quite figured out the timing of the wrist extension with the weight-shift or the nose angle--a lot of the putts lofted up extremely high to sit down or hyzer by the basket but none were legitimate runs.
 

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