Green Reading Quiz

[mchepp]

Originally Posted by iacas

90° or across the slope, straight up or down it, etc. Get thee to an AimPoint clinic Michael. :)

It is on my list. Will do it before the summer is over.

But, another question, how does knowing how long a 20' putt takes to get to the hole make you a better putter? I am not sure what that has to do with green reading. I guess the point is to explain that most don't know?

[hanalei]

43 and i 3 putt twice on average... TMI...

[Jefferey13]

I don't think that quiz is very good. Some ambiguous questions on there. It says slope amount is the biggest influence on puts? What if you're hitting straight up the hill? Then it has no influence on the putt. Where as if I was hitting across the slope on that very same hole, it would break. And then stimp being higher than ball speed? I mean it would have to be "at a stimp difference of "X" stimp has more affect than ball speed being changed by less "Y" %." Stimp of 11 compared to a stimp of 11.1 won't have more affect on break than ball speed where one put I slowly roll it in with tons of break and on the next one I muscle it through.

Or how about this:

How much does the break increase when you increase the length of the putt from 5 feet to 10 feet?

Answer: Triple the amount

A long putt will always break more than a short putt.

Answer: False

Those answers both can't be correct. You'd need to change the first question's answer to "impossible to know, could be more or less depending on the situation" for the second question and answer to be correct.

I hope no one feels bad about not scoring well

[Topper]

53

I need work here.

[Mr3Wiggle]

73.  I don't consider myself a good green reader, so this makes sense.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by mchepp

But, another question, how does knowing how long a 20' putt takes to get to the hole make you a better putter? I am not sure what that has to do with green reading. I guess the point is to explain that most don't know?

I already answered that. People think downhill putts are fast , but in reality they break more because they're hit with less speed. Putts hit firmer have less chance to break (i.e. uphill putts).

Originally Posted by Jefferey13

It says slope amount is the biggest influence on puts? What if you're hitting straight up the hill? Then it has no influence on the putt.

Yes it does. Do you hit a putt up a 1% slope harder than a putt up a 4% slope? If all else is equal for each of the factors, slope amount has the largest influence on putts. That question, I believe, is designed to show you that it's not necessarily about things like grain, which has almost no effect at all on the break of a putt. If you slightly mis-order a few you get them "wrong" but you're still better off than some people.

Originally Posted by Jefferey13

And then stimp being higher than ball speed? I mean it would have to be "at a stimp difference of "X" stimp has more affect than ball speed being changed by less "Y" %." Stimp of 11 compared to a stimp of 11.1 won't have more affect on break than ball speed where one put I slowly roll it in with tons of break and on the next one I muscle it through.

That's not a similar difference: a <9% difference in stimp speed versus, what, a 20% difference in your ball speed?

Compare the same amounts and stimp matters more: a 20% difference in stimp affects putts more than a 20% difference in ball speed.

Originally Posted by Jefferey13

How much does the break increase when you increase the length of the putt from 5 feet to 10 feet?

Answer: Triple the amount

A long putt will always break more than a short putt.

Answer: False

Those answers both can't be correct. You'd need to change the first question's answer to "impossible to know, could be more or less depending on the situation" for the second question and answer to be correct

Those questions are fine. You're asked to give the best answer, and the increase in distance is along the same line, not changing positions on the green. The long putt always breaking more isn't talking about putts on the same line.

It's a generality versus an absolute. If you're a good test taker you know that when the words "always" and "never" are used the answer is almost always false because things are rarely "always" or "never." And when asked a general question, like "same, double, triple" then you have to go with the one that's most often the case.

Oh, and here's an example. Imagine a 1 foot putt that's straight up the hill. It breaks 0". Double the length of the putt, and it breaks three times as much: 0". The long putt did NOT break more than the short putt, so that simple thing alone satisfies both components.

More commonly, though, a 5' putt breaks 3" and a 10' putt along the same line breaks 9". Yet I could go to 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 feet and find a putt on which you'd play no break at all on the same green.

The test did have some weirdly worded questions. The time it takes for a putt on a 4% slope didn't used to have the word "downhill" which is important, because an uphill putt of the same length on the same slope takes a lot less time to get to the hole. But the quiz was cleaned up before you guys saw it.

If you score under an 80, consider going to an AimPoint clinic. I teach 'em, but very, very few of you are near me, so look up an instructor near you and ask for some help.

[Leftygolfer]

47.  The first question was tricky.

[Topper]

I listen to golf announcers constantly proclaim the affect of grain during their tournament broadcasts.  Please don't tell me that understanding grain isn't critical to putting.  I don't know if my heart is strong enough to substitute science in lieu of another golfing urban legend.  And I'm not bringing my Magic 8 Ball to the course anymore either cause you'll probably tell me that it's not critical for club selection.

Originally Posted by iacas

Yes it does. Do you hit a putt up a 1% slope harder than a putt up a 4% slope? If all else is equal for each of the factors, slope amount has the largest influence on putts. That question, I believe, is designed to show you that it's not necessarily about things like grain, which has almost no effect at all on the break of a putt. If you slightly mis-order a few you get them "wrong" but you're still better off than some people.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Topper

I listen to golf announcers constantly proclaim the affect of grain during their tournament broadcasts.  Please don't tell me that understanding grain isn't critical to putting.  I don't know if my heart is strong enough to substitute science in lieu of another golfing urban legend.  And I'm not bringing my Magic 8 Ball to the course anymore either cause you'll probably tell me that it's not critical for club selection.

Erik said that it has little affect on the BREAK of putts.  When I hear the announcers on TV (which I take with a grain of salt because they can't even estimate short distances properly on their broadcasts) it seems that they are mostly talking about how the grain affects the SPEED of the putts.  Grain pointing across the line of your putt is not going to push it sideways.

At least, that is how I took what he was saying.  We don't have bermuda greens out here so I don't really know much about grain personally.

[MEfree]

Much better the second time around after reading this thread and watching a few of the AimPoint videos a few days ago, but yesterday was my worst putting round of the year with 4 three putts in 9 holes

[bmccain]

47.  pretty much what I would expect.  I putt based on what I feel and can never explain it, not a bad putter though.  When a playing partner asks me what I see in his putt I simply say "I dont have a clue and you are better off putting blind folded than taking my advice.  The aimpoint stuff seems very interesting, is it worth the money and time?

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Topper

I listen to golf announcers constantly proclaim the affect of grain during their tournament broadcasts.  Please don't tell me that understanding grain isn't critical to putting.  I don't know if my heart is strong enough to substitute science in lieu of another golfing urban legend.  And I'm not bringing my Magic 8 Ball to the course anymore either cause you'll probably tell me that it's not critical for club selection.

You can listen to golf announcers say all kinds of stupid stuff if you know what the truth is.

The truth is grain has almost no effect on the break of a putt. It has a lot to do with speed - SUPER grainy greens can play like they're stimp 8 into the grain (uphill) and stimp 10 down-grain (downhill), sometimes even a little bit more (never more than +/- 1.3 or so on the stimpmeter), but have virtually no effect on the break.

Get thee to an AimPoint clinic!!!

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Erik said that it has little affect on the BREAK of putts.  When I hear the announcers on TV (which I take with a grain of salt because they can't even estimate short distances properly on their broadcasts) it seems that they are mostly talking about how the grain affects the SPEED of the putts.  Grain pointing across the line of your putt is not going to push it sideways.

At least, that is how I took what he was saying.  We don't have bermuda greens out here so I don't really know much about grain personally.

That's exactly right.

Though grain going across your putt will pretty much always mean the slope is across your putt too. Grain grows downhill, after all.

Originally Posted by bmccain

47.  pretty much what I would expect.  I putt based on what I feel and can never explain it, not a bad putter though.  When a playing partner asks me what I see in his putt I simply say "I dont have a clue and you are better off putting blind folded than taking my advice.  The aimpoint stuff seems very interesting, is it worth the money and time?

Perhaps the best $200 you can spend on golf. Even if you get half of what you should from the class it's money well spent. Seriously. I'm saying this knowing full well you don't live near Erie, so you won't be giving it to me.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by iacas

Though grain going across your putt will pretty much always mean the slope is across your putt too. Grain grows downhill, after all.

And I read that from a post of yours recently in another thread and somehow still got that question wrong on the test.  Oy.

[utztech]

I scored 53 also, it seems to be a very common score.  I think that is because the quiz was poorly designed.  Half the questions were true/false and contained tip-off words like "always" and "never".  The other half of the questions were really hard and only someone who had studied the specific material would be certain of the answer.  I generally knew that slope affects break the most and grain affects break the least, but I could not put all 6 in the correct order.  I knew pin placement was 3 or 4%, but chose 3%.  I knew generally the ball will accelerate on slopes above 5% on quick greens, but chose 6% for my answer instead of 7%.  You get the idea, these specific number questions are not something people would know the exact answer unless they happen to have studied the material before.  And all the true/false questions were easy.

I also read the uphill break question as "uphill putts never break".  It did not occur to me than anyone would think a putt could break uphill.  If you have that misconception, just quick the game now.

[Double Bogey]

53.  I too missed the "uphill break" question much like Zeph and others did.

[Mr. Desmond]

I need an Aimpoint Clinic.

[Beachcomber]

I need an Aimpoint Clinic.

I've been thinking about doing one for awhile too. My biggest concern was it would slow my pace of play. But Erik and others have said that is a misconception on my part. I guess I just need to bite the bullet, spend the cash and do it? My thought is that I'm putting pretty well right now. Not many 3 putts at all. But it would be great to increase my one putts. And to the defense of Aimpoint, I haven't heard any negative comments about it from anyone who took the course(s). Mark Sweeney who's covering Socal now since Jason left?

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

I've been thinking about doing one for awhile too. My biggest concern was it would slow my pace of play. But Erik and others have said that is a misconception on my part.

I guess I just need to bite the bullet, spend the cash and do it? My thought is that I'm putting pretty well right now. Not many 3 putts at all. But it would be great to increase my one putts. And to the defense of Aimpoint, I haven't heard any negative comments about it from anyone who took the course(s).

Mark Sweeney who's covering Socal now since Jason left?

Ask Mike about it today.

Go see Craig Farnsworth - http://www.aimpointgolf.com/instructors.asp