Drill library · Short game

Eighteen Holes, No Three-Putts

Short gameHandicap 10+20 minrandom / pressureputting

Why this drill

An eighteen-hole putting round across the practice green, long lags to real holes, everything holed out — with one rule that gives the game its teeth: a three-putt ends your round. Lag quality under consequence, which is exactly what the course charges for.

Setup

One ball, the whole practice green. Invent eighteen holes as you go: every "tee" is wherever the last hole finished, every putt at least twenty feet where the green allows.

The drill

Play the round: lag from long range, hole everything out, count total putts. Two-putt is par; the occasional one-putt is a gift; a three-putt ends the round on the spot — note which hole you died on and start over. Surviving all eighteen is the badge; a full round at thirty-six putts or fewer means your lag game is course-ready. The death rule sounds harsh and is the entire point: on the course, the third putt is the one you remember.

One thought to take with you

Lag to a bucket around the hole, not a point — three feet past, three feet short, all of it is a tap-in.