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Putt President

Image: FDGA / Jouni Kallio

Everyone putts, but only one can be the president – the Putt President.

Supplies

  • One or two baskets
  • Three putters per player
  • A marked putting spot for each pair

Preparation

  1. Divide the group into pairs
  2. Mark putting stations around the basket/baskets so that they form a chain (e.g. positions 1-7). At one end of the chain is the goal: the place of The Putt President. (see diagram)

Rules

  1. All players play a 3 disc putting competition against their pair. A tie is resolved using rock-paper-scissors.

The Putt Preseident with seven pairs and two baskets

  1. Once the winners of all pairs are clear, the players move on to their new putting stations:
    • Winners move one station closer to the President (the winner of the President’s station remains the President and stays in place).
    • Losers move one place further from the President (the one who loses at the last station stays in place).
  • If there is an odd number of players, three players start at the President’s station. They putt two discs (+ the necessary RPS) and the loser drops out of the trio.
  • In order to keep things organised, it is important that the pairs do not move to their new places until all pairs have a winner.

Variations – Putt President 2.0

  • You can vary the putting technique and use e.g. a straddle putt.
  • The putting stations don’t have to all be at the same distance from the basket, e.g. the President’s station can be furthest from the basket.

Amateur and pro contest

The challenge for any coach is to find suitable drills and competitions for players of very different skill-levels. Here’s one that works.

  1. mark a shorter and a longer putting place to every putting station.
  2. Split the players into pro and amateur divisions.

You can assign the players, or let the players choose their division. Amateurs always putt from the closer mark, pros from further away. The other rules are normal, with the two divisions playing together. That is, in one putting round, two amateurs, two pros, or an amateur and a pro can face each other at each putting station. When the game ends, the “top” players win their own divisions.

Pair bonus

If both players of the pair putt all 3 discs in the basket, they shout “Clean!”. In this case, all other pairs do e.g. 5 push-ups. The pair that played the clean competition will still decide the winner at RPS in the normal way.

Coach included

The coach can also participate in the putt president. A good handicap is that the coach only has 2 discs instead of 3.

Practice or competition putt?

Sometimes it’s ok to keep a faster rhythm in putting practice, so that everyone can putt 3 discs in a row. However, sometimes it is important to practice putting in a more competition-like setting. For that purpose, have the players putt one disc at a time (instead of putting all 3 discs in a row). In addition, the coach should emphasize proper concentration on each putt.