Reading Greens

[kurtwainwright]

Recently I read an article in Golf Magazine about how missing your intermediate target by as much as the width of a tee can affect the final position of your ball by as much as 4 inches on a 10 foot putt.
The article goes on to give tips like, pick a single blade of grass to putt towards, etc. Here's my problem... uhh.. which blade of grass is the right one??

Wow! No wonder I miss so many 10 to 15 footers! Essentially, what I'm saying here is that I continue to have difficulty reading greens, which makes me 2-putt nearly every hole and sometimes 3 or 4-putt! If I can carve off 1 stroke per hole, my USGA handicap will be in the low teens, instead of 20~21 like it is now.

Assume for a moment that I can hit my intermediate target and my ball speed is spot on. For all you putt-masters out there.. any tips for me on how to read the green better? Drills?

[Mr Eagle]

hi kurt,reading greens will come with practice.when you arrive at the green try to imagine how the ball will roll towards the hole .The pace of the ball is as important as the line as a miss with the right pace should only leave a tap in.
There are many schools of thought on putting,my particular method is to set up square to my target line wether it be striaght at the hole or three foot either side,concentrate on the spot I want to hit,this could be anywhere along the target line (even past the hole)depending on the slope.Make your stroke and dont look up untill the ball drops in the hole,or at least a couple of seconds.Easy? well not quite but I make most putts under a foot !

Seriously though theres no secret just practice,practice, practice

[Craig Mac]

I don't know if this applies to you or not, but one of the biggest things that helped my putting was paying more attention to watching chip shots roll out. I use to look away when my shot would roll passed the hole, and now I watch the ball until it stops, this gave me the line so much easier on the putt since it basically traveled the same line past the hole. And if my chip shots stop short I can usually get a general idea of the slope of the green by paying attention to it. I also watch my partners putts to show what influences there might be in my putt. Having a better idea of what the putt will do will make aiming it a lot easier. And of course good ole fashion practicing always helps.

[atltony]

I completely agree with what craigmac said above. Reading a putt is like solving any other mystery...you want as much information as possible to help you make a decision. This includes approach shots, chip shots, other putts, etc. Anytime any ball is rolling near the hole you should give it your complete attention, noting how they react will greatly help in reading you putts.

[iacas]

Recently I read an article in Golf Magazine about how missing your intermediate target by as much as the width of a tee can affect the final position of your ball by as much as 4 inches on a 10 foot putt.

Read this:

Angles of Error . It's kind of frightening. Miss the right line on a 10-foot putt by 1 degree and, unless you have absolutely perfect speed, you've got no chance of making the putt.

[ChiChiIsMe]

Read this:

Thank for that Erik.......especially this:

Golf is a Hard Game

[iWALK18]

That is a really great article, and it explains perfectly the issue that faces long hitters. PM inbound Iacas...

[glebert]

I have recently improved my green reading by making two changes. First I get down much lower than I did, as close as I can comfortably to the level of the ball. The other thing I do is to read it once from right behind the ball, and then do it again from about 8 feet back. That is where I pick my target line and distance from.

Don't know if everyone does this, but one thing that I do is visualize the putt as the sum of vectors (I'm an engineer, go figure). I visualize one vector that points directly to the hole from above going down the slope. The length of the vector is proportional to the slope (the steeper the slope the longer the vector). The starting point of that vector is my target. I putt straight at that point (this is the second vector). If I did my vector sum right the ball ends up in the hole. At least in theory.

[Craig Mac]

If I did my vector sum right the ball ends up in the hole. At least in theory.

Or you just got lucky

I never really thought of that approach but it is a good one and makes sense. I had enough of vectors in college, you just brought up some bad memories

[srjorion]

Don't know if everyone does this, but one thing that I do is visualize the putt as the sum of vectors (I'm an engineer, go figure).

A word of caution: You need to be very careful after making a putt using this method. When you bend down to pick up your ball out of the hole, make sure you squat down with your legs and not bend too much at the hips. This will keep your spine tilted more towards the Y axis vs. the X axis. If you bend at the hips, you may extend your spine angle below the X axis. If you do this, your pens might fall out of your pocket protector and damage the green

(I kid, I kid! As an engineering degree holder myself I had to go there!)

[SwinginCaveman]

One thing that most people don't bother with is the grain of the green. It can impact the roll of the ball a lot more than people think.

If the grain of the green is going from right to left, for example, the ball is going to want to roll slightly to the left. Likewise, if the grain is coming at your face, the putt is going to be a bit slower and vice versa.

How do you tell the grain of the green? It's terribly simple. The grain of the green runs OPPOSITE your shadow. That's it. It's helped me lag a lot more putts closer to the hole and put a couple more per round in the cup.

[srjorion]

The grain of the green runs OPPOSITE your shadow.

Huh? What are you putting on, sunflowers

Your shadow is going to depend on where the sun is. None of the greens I putt on have grain that moves as fast as the sun does, and the grain changes depending on where you are on the green. There are some other ways to look for grain. Some grasses look shiney as the grain goes away from you and darker as you look into the grain. Also, another way to check for grain near the hole is to look at the cutout of the hole. One edge will look worn out. Draw a line from the flagstick to that worn out area and that's the direction the grain flows. A lot of time the grain will point towards water and/or downhill. Overall, while there are patterns that grain follows at times, it is unpredictible and you really have to check what it is doing along the line of your putt.

[iacas]

One thing that most people don't bother with is the grain of the green. It can impact the roll of the ball a lot more than people think.

What's someone in Cleveland, OH have to say about grain, really? Most of the courses you play likely have poa and bent greens, and they really don't have grain.

Grain was something I had to "learn" for the first time when I'd moved to Florida for a few years. Being back up here in the north again I'm glad not to have to worry about it.

How do you tell the grain of the green? It's terribly simple. The grain of the green runs OPPOSITE your shadow.

That doesn't make any sense. On courses and greens that have grain, it doesn't change from 7am to 4pm, but your shadow certainly does.

Also, bodies of water (which can affect the direction of the grain) don't move either. It's not always about the setting sun. P.S. Sunflowers, ha! Good one.

[glebert]

A word of caution: You need to be very careful after making a putt using this method. When you bend down to pick up your ball out of the hole, make sure you squat down with your legs and not bend too much at the hips. This will keep your spine tilted more towards the Y axis vs. the X axis. If you bend at the hips, you may extend your spine angle below the X axis. If you do this, your pens might fall out of your pocket protector and damage the green

LOL, that was good, you had me going all the way to the end.

[Socrates]

So many factors here, putting stroke (hands-shoulders), ball placement (forward-middle-back), speed

[WannaBeBogeyFree]

First, I would forget about the line of the putt and concentrate on developing your distance control. Your line will always be dictated by the speed of your putt. I'd rather miss my line by a foot than over shoot the hole by 4 feet.

Try this:
1st- Assume your putting stance (I'll guess that your feet are shoulder width apart)
2nd- Count in your head 1.. 2.. 1.. 2.. 1.. 2.. (and so on) with a steady rythm like a metranome. Use this rythm to swing your putter back and through. Now if you use the same rythm all the time all you need to do is change the length of your putting stroke to control your distances.
3rd- For your different distances, stroke the putter back and forthe to the insoles of your shoes. Then to the outsoles. Then to an extra foot width out side of your feet. Etc.
4th- Record your different distances with each position on the practice green before you play.

You now have an idea of how to control your distance. You will start reading greens much more efficiently when you can control your distances.

[kurtwainwright]

First, I would forget about the line of the putt and concentrate on developing your distance control. Your line will always be dictated by the speed of your putt. I'd rather miss my line by a foot than over shoot the hole by 4 feet.

I already control my distance just fine. I rarely overshoot the hole by 4 feet or more. It does me no good to putt for par and miss the hole by 4 inches to the left. Whether my second (or third) putt is 4 inches or 4 feet away, no matter -- it's still a bogey or double-bogey. I need help reading the green to shoot par-golf instead of bogey and double-bogey-golf.

There was a tangent there for a bit about grain. I'm in Missouri and we typically don't have much variation in grain on the greens I play on. A detail that I'd pay more attention to than green are pitch marks and taking into account the mushy donut around the cup from the previous foursome that trampled the soil with total disregard. Unless you're playing on a perfectly manicured putting surface, grain isn't a tremendous worry of mine for the time being. This is totally against USGA rules, but while I'm learning to read greans better I suppose taking a ball out of my pocket and rolling it by hand towards the hole might be a good way to learn also. I just better be careful that my pens and my protractor don't fall out of my shirt pocket when I stoop down for my cheater shot. (Yes, I'm an engineer also).

[itzzzberny]

i crouch down see where water will drain to when you pour water on the high point of the green.

i swear sometimes when i look for the line i can see it appear like path of a lighter shade of grass... just gotta pace it just right...

does anyone else get that when your lining up for your putts?