What is Putt-Kew?

Answer 1

Putt-Kew is a Golf related fun game which started in 1990 as a game between a father and his 9 year old son at a holiday resort.

Since that time, they worked diligently to develop a simple game that would have a few objectives:

It had to provide useful practice opportunity for golf enthusiasts, especially those who do not have the opportunity to be members of a golf club

It had to be realistic to golf, unlike many fun games which may use similair balls and clubs, this game had to provide a challenging way to play a subset of golf in smaller space, quicker, and yet not deviate from the true game in the area where it focuses.

It had to be attractive to non-golfers as well as regular players, to provide these separate groups with an opportunity to actually play together with both groups enjoying their participation.

The game that evolved from this turned out to be very appropriate to the goals, but the one major constraint was that having chosen the putting angle as the focus, the greens proved impractical to maintain where the game is played frequently. The holes needed regular moving, and the green in itself required almost 24/7 maintenance and care.

In 2005 the decision was taken to investigate the possibilities of using a synthetic green. The son was sent off to review the possibilities in the USA, and once a suitable green type was tracked down, a first synthetic version was installed in Pretoria, South Africa.

The synthetic green proved to be totally within the requirements of the game - it did not react too favourably to chips to the green, but on the green itself the reaction and feel was quite acceptable compared to the real thing. Since the game was purely aimed at putting, it was a case of getting the undulations realistic, get the surface to be as close as possible to a bent grass green, and the stimp to be similair to that on the local club greens or perhaps just a bit faster (like on a championship touring green)

In 2007 the original designer retired from his IT job, and decided to promote the game and get it played in a wider circle. The original prototype site is still in regular use as it is in the grounds of a guesthouse.

A second playing green was installed in Pretoria at a different venue, and a few more are in the planning stages, hopefully to be ready for public use during the coming summer period of 2008.

Putt-Kew has a set of 11 rules, a few regular players, and is now the registered trademark and name of a company dedicated to the expansion of the game.

A league also exists, and game results are recorded in view of enabling players to keep track of their standing in the league rankings. Players also have access to a website where the top scores are regularly updated for review.

To summarise: Putt-Kew is a game focused on 40% of the game of golf which is the putting, played on a suitable synthetic or natural green called a table, in which players compete in turns to sink 18 holes in as few strokes as possible, followed after sinking the 18th ball, by then sinking the 19th ball first. The player who sinks the final (19th) ball is the game winner. For league game purposes, all strokes are recorded on a scorecard similair to that used in golf, and registered on a Putt-Kew games database.

Putt-Kew is a golf related fun game which started in 1990 as a game between a father and his 9 year old son at a holiday resort.

Since that time, they worked diligently to develop a simple game that would have a few objectives:

It had to provide useful practice opportunity for golf enthusiasts, especially those who do not have the opportunity to be members of a golf club

It had to be realistic to golf, unlike many fun games which may use similair balls and clubs, this game had to provide a challenging way to play a subset of golf in smaller space, quicker, and yet not deviate from the true game in the area where it focuses.

It had to be attractive to non-golfers as well as regular players, to provide these separate groups with an opportunity to actually play together with both groups enjoying their participation.

The game that evolved from this turned out to be very appropriate to the goals, but the one major constraint was that having chosen the putting angle as the focus, the greens proved impractical to maintain where the game is played frequently. The holes needed regular moving, and the green in itself required almost 24/7 maintenance and care.

In 2005 the decision was taken to investigate the possibilities of using a synthetic green. The son was sent off to review the possibilities in the USA, and once a suitable green type was tracked down, a first synthetic version was installed in Pretoria, South Africa.

The synthetic green proved to be totally within the requirements of the game - it did not react too favourably to chips to the green, but on the green itself the reaction and feel was quite acceptable compared to the real thing. Since the game was purely aimed at putting, it was a case of getting the undulations realistic, get the surface to be as close as possible to a bent grass green, and the stimp to be similair to that on the local club greens or perhaps just a bit faster (like on a championship touring green)

In 2007 the original designer retired from his IT job, and decided to promote the game and get it played in a wider circle. The original prototype site is still in regular use as it is in the grounds of a guesthouse.

A second playing green was installed in Pretoria at a different venue, and a few more are in the planning stages, hopefully to be ready for public use during the coming summer period of 2008.

Putt-Kew has a set of 11 rules, a few regular players, and is now the registered trademark and name of a company dedicated to the expansion of the game.

A league also exists, and game results are recorded in view of enabling players to keep track of their standing in the league rankings. Players also have access to a website where the top scores are regularly updated for review.

To summarise: Putt-Kew is a game focused on 40% of the game of golf which is the putting, played on a suitable synthetic or natural green called a table, in which players compete in turns to sink 18 holes in as few strokes as possible, followed after sinking the 18th ball, by then sinking the 19th ball first. The player who sinks the final (19th) ball is the game winner. For league game purposes, all strokes are recorded on a scorecard similair to that used in golf, and registered on a Putt-Kew games database.