Printable putting games and the printable drills at oldduffergolf.com have been very popular. This article is the first in a series of new putting games. Let’s take a look.
Star game or 3 – 6 – 9 game
I refer to this game as the 3 – 6 – 9 game. It’s a type of star game where the focus is on accuracy, speed and breaking putts.
Printable copy of this game layout and score sheet in PDF format here.
How does it work?
I’ve been practicing this putting game every time I go to the local course practice green lately.
It is a star drill or game. I like to try and make all 36 putts. I never have made more than 28 of 36.
You start out by placing 12 golf balls on the green as shown in the image above. The black dots indicate golf balls.
I would suggest finding a location that gives you straight uphill, straight downhill, left to right breaking and right to left breaking putts.
One suggestion would be to use a target hole so you can determine how far past the hole putts may have gone whether or not you make the putt.
It is fairly straight forward.
Attempt all the 3 footers first. Remove those golf balls. Then attempt all the 6 footers. Remove those golf balls. Finally, attempt the 9 footers and then reset the game.
The game has 3 rounds of 12 putts. I perfect score is 36. One point for each made putt.
Note that the printable PDF has locations to keep score from Round 1, Round 2, Round 3 and the Final Total.
Conclusion
I would suggest finding a spot on your practice green where there is a reasonable break. By that I mean 1 degree or 2 percent slope.
Look for straight downhill putts and straight uphill putts. I use The Perfect Putter ball roller for this. You can do that same thing by roll golf balls with your putter.
Another tool might be a phone app that measures slope. I have several devices that measure slope, but phone apps work fine.
The layout doesn’t have to be laid out in perfect straight lines uphill and downhill. Frequently, the fall line changes above or below the hole. Find the straight line downhill and uphill.
I use quarter sized plastic ball markers to layout the putting positions.
It’s not necessary to use a tape measure for the distances. I walk it off in all four directions putting down ball markers as I go.