(I posted this on pdga.com as well, but originally got the idea from reading this thread -- I'd love to hear responses/thoughts from the folks who frequent this board.)
As a city dweller, I just moved into a townhouse with a basement, and I've been working on a modified version of the Pozzy Putting Game for smaller spaces. I have a small backyard and no good putting parks nearby, so the basement is my best bet for improving my rounds.
I am fairly sure that my 960s-rating comes from something like being a 920-rated putter, a 950-rated driver, and a 1020-rated recovery-shot taker after I kick off into the rough. I don't expect my drives to ever get to 1000-rated range -- I just don't have the arm for it -- but I think everyone has the potential to be a 1000-rated putter if they practice (I've just never practiced).
Anyway, for others who might be in similar, confined spaces, I thought I would share my miniaturized version of the Pozzy Putting Game, in case anyone else wants to compete.
My max range in the basement is 35' feet, so I've got tape at 15', 20', 25', 30' and 35'. It's got a six-foot ceiling, so it's going to force me to run the basket -- no loft putting practice for me. Also, because it is enclosed, there is no real way to practice comeback putts or roll-aways, since discs will always hit the wall behind the basket. So I have to eliminate the Pozzy penalties for comeback putts.
I decided to make it a game of percentages -- pick the percentage that I think I should hit at each distance, and penalize the score for each missed shot outside that number (use 10 putters at each distance to make it easy to track). Because every missed putt costs one stroke. I don't think penalties should be higher for missing a 15' putt than for a 30' putt -- they are worth the same on the course -- but you should be held to a higher percentage expectation the closer you are to the basket.
For me, at my current putting level, I'm setting the baseline at the following levels for each distance:
15' - 100% (each missed shot is -5 points)
20' - 80% (each miss less than 8/10 is -5 points; each putt above 8/10 is positive 2 points, double round points (to a total of 8) if you make all 10 putts)
25' - 50% (each miss less than 5/10 is -5 points; each putt above 5/10 is positive 3 points, double round points (to a total of 30) if you make all 10 putts)
30' - 20% (each miss less than 2/10 is -5 points; each putt above 2/10 is positive 4 points; double points (to a total of 64) if you make all 10 putts)
35' - 0% (you don't have to make any of these putts; every putt you make is worth 5 points; double points (to a total of 100) if you make all 10 putts)
So if you make all 50 putts, you get a total of 0+8+30+64+100: 202. Which seems like a good name for this variation: "Putting 202"-- sounds like a sophomore college course, which is basically what my putting needs.
A benefit I see to this way of scoring is that it places emphasis on at least hitting your percentages at each distance. And if you come in below your percentages, you really have to shoot well to make up for it at the greater distances. The reason that 35' out is worth 5 points is that -- at least for me -- anything I hit at 35' feels like a gift, and feels like it "makes up for" a missed putt somewhere else in the round. So this scoring system is close to how I feel scoring "feels" out on the course. To score ANY positive points, I have to exceed my minimum percentages.
Another benefit is that if you are playing with friends, it makes it easy to handicap players of different skill levels -- just raise or lower the required percentages for each distance. (If you're playing with a new player who isn't expected to hit all 10 from 15', use 1 point to score discs above the target %).
Obviously, based on some of the posts above, this putting regimen would be a joke to some folks who are already hitting high percentages at greater distances than 35' -- for me, however, I worked out the details for this game yesterday, and in five rounds, my cumulative score was negative, so I've got some work to do.
I plan to try these rules and percentages for a few weeks; my goal is to get to where I can score 50+ consistently; I think anything over 100 is a ridiculously good score. I think moving from sub-zero to +50 would add at least 25 points to my PDGA rating if I could match that performance on the course.
The last rule I steal directly from the original Pozzy game -- if you don't finish the game you started, you have to quit for the day; no bailing out just because you start out poorly. Push through and fight to recover -- just like a real round. I think this definitely helps the mental game.
If anyone wants to try 202 and post scores for me to shoot for, go for it. I plan to track some rounds and post the results as an exercise in self-humiliation.
Played four rounds before bed last night (5/29) scores: -40, -12, 8, 4
