How to Play 'Putts by the Yard'
In Putts by the Yard, golfers in a group keep track through the round of the length of all the putts they make. Make a 3-yard (9-foot) putt on the second hole? Write down three under your score on the scorecard. Make a 15-yarder (45-footer) on the seventh hole? Mark a "15" below your score.
At the end of the round, each golfer adds up his or her total yards of made putts. The results are compared, and the golfer with the most yards of made putts wins the game. (You can also pay out the differences in yards made if you are wagering on the game.)
Golfers don't generally think in yards on the green, but rather in feet. And you can play this game as "Putts by the Foot" if you prefer (and if you want higher numbers and potentially higher wagering amounts). But how do golfers sometimes measure putts on the green? By stepping them off, by pacing them off. And in golf, a pace roughly equals a yard.
Another type of pace, pace of play, is very important to pay attention to in Putts by the Yard. Because you do need to pace off each putt (in case you make it), you need to be very careful about playing quickly and making sure not to delay play for groups behind you. You also need to be careful not to trample on each other's putting lines when pacing off distances.
Putts by the Yard is best played among golfers who know each other well and are friends. That way, everyone can (hopefully) agree that each one in the group is properly pacing off lengths, and that nobody is trying to shorten their pace (shame on you!) to add yards.
If your group is agreeable, you can also guesstimate distances and count yards by acclamation. Maybe on the first hole you have a putt that looks about 12 feet to your eye. So you announce to the group, "4 yards." In a friendly group playing a friendly game, that should be enough for agreement, which will help speed up play. Only if one of the other golfers objects would, in this case, you have to pace off the distance.
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Sources:(Book titles are affiliate links; commissions earned)
Bohn, Michael K. Money Golf: 600 Years of Bettin' on Birdies, Potomac Books Inc., 2007.