You can play this game with a buddy or two buddies (more than that might get crowded). Pick two holes on the putting green that you’ll be going back and forth to the whole game. Everybody putts to the same hole – a make is 3 points, a lip-out two-putt is two points, a two-putt is 1 point. Three-putts are 0 points. In order to win, you have to hit 21 points even. Can’t go over. A fun addition: if the guy ahead of you makes their putt and you pour it in right after, your make is 6 points.
For this game you need at least 3 players. Pick 3 holes on the putting green and each person stations themselves at one of the holes. Everyone begins putting simultaneously to a different hole and if someone makes they get a point and everyone rotates to the next position. If you all miss you stay put and use the other guys ball and keep putting until someone makes. Round and round it goes. First person to 10 makes wins. If there’s a simultaneous make, everyone stays put and there are no points awarded.
This game you can play by yourself. Pick one hole on the putting green and take out the flagstick, placing it two feet past the hole horizontally. Then place a ball your putter’s length away from the hole, and two more balls two more putter’s lengths away. Try to make all three or at least get them past the hole, but without hitting the flagstick. If you can do that on the first three keep going a putter’s length away from the last until you can get all six putts in or just past the hole. If you leave any putt short, start over. This will help you stop leaving putts short but control your speed so you aren’t blasting them 10 feet past either.
Jordan Spieth, one of the best putters in the world, uses this game to improve his accuracy. Find a dead-straight putt of eight to 10 feet. Place two ball markers about halfway between your ball and the hole. Set them just wide enough apart that a ball could roll between them. The goal is to hit putts that not only go through that “gate” but also go in the hole. You can also play against another player, using a point system – half a point for getting through the gate and a full point for making the putt too.
This game will lead to significant improvement with your short putting. Take 12 balls and place them all around the hole you are putting at in 2-3 foot intervals. 4 balls for each putt. Make the first, work your way back and once you make the first four, rotate clockwise to the next four. If you miss, restart the drill. See if you can make all 12 of these short ones.