The term is a transparent modern compound from the sport of golf, formed in the 20th century. It directly combines the cardinal number 'three', with its ancient Indo-European lineage denoting quantity, and the specialized verb 'putt', meaning to strike a golf ball lightly on the green. The logic is purely descriptive and procedural: it literally means "to putt three times." This compound exemplifies how technical jargon evolves through the straightforward combination of existing English words to precisely label a specific, undesirable outcome in the game, moving from a literal action count to an abstract noun denoting a scoring error.

Structure: three (number) + putt (golf stroke) - three: From Old English þrīe, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch drie and German drei, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin tres and Greek treis. Functions as a numerical quantifier. - putt: A specialized golf term, a variant of the verb put, of Germanic origin. In this compound, it functions as the core action, specifying the type of stroke.