Reading putts

[bendport]

I'm intrested to hear about how people read putts.  I'm an apex putter so when I read a putt I end up having to multiply my initial read by around 2.5 to get the correct line.  I would then pick a point on this line around 18 inches past the hole and focus on this point as I putt.  Does anyone else do this or something different?

[saevel25]

That is an interesting theory on multiplying by 2.5. Where did you come up with that? I would like to see the math on that one. Also, I would think that might change significantly depending on the green speed.

For me, I try to find were the putt is basically vertical (no break). Then I read the tangent line. Basically I read the putt by imagining what the ball will do. I will then trace the line of the putt with my eyes from the hole back to the ball, and ball to the hole getting a tangent line. Basically I find a point on that line about 1-3 inches in front of the ball. It is close enough to the ball to be considered a tangent line. Basically I never say, "Oh putt 12 inches to the right of the hole". From there I will just line up to that spot and putt away.

Also, I never try to putt to 18 in past the hole.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/46450/putting-capture-speed

Read up on capture speed, and you might start trying to make putts just die in the hole. Basically if you hit a putt 18 in past the hole, you effectively reduced the hole's area by nearly 70%. Basically you take away all the chance the ball has to catch the edge of the hole.

[MS256]

I've never been trained to read greens. Not that I'm anti-education but just haven't done it.

I was always good in math classes and had to do basic math and trig a lot on the job but it was more of a necessary evil to me and not something I enjoyed. Maybe that's why I just look at the line and see the slopes and avoid any math. I don't get the direction of break wrong very often but I do miss more putts on the high side than I would like, but very seldom ever miss a putt on the low side.

I'm not sure if the cause of my missing too many putts on the high side is because I can't read the break or if it's just simply that I subconsciously add a little extra because I hate to miss on the low side with a passion.

If I know the correct read I don't miss many makeable putts so green reading is the area in putting where I could use some improvement.

[boogielicious]

AimPoint method for the read. Then I pick my starting direction based on the total amount of break.  If it is going to break 20", I aim my putter at a point 20" from the cup.  I don't even think about the apex.  I only visualize the hole break of the putt and what part of the cup the ball will enter.

[bendport]

Thanks that's an interesting read, and I'll deifnaitely give it a try!  I think all of the info I quoted was from Peltz, including the multiplying your intial read by 2.5.  If I recall he once did a survey at a big amateur event in the U.S. and gave 1000 golfers(I cant remember the exact number), 3 different putts to hit of varying distances and slopes and 85-90% of them under borrowed and missed on the low side of the hole.  He classified these people as apex putters and worked out that when this type of golfer looks at a putt, because their head is down for the first part of the putt, they imagine that the ball has rolled straight for the first 2/3rd's of the putt and only actually started to turn on the apex of the slope towards the hole.  As a pose to reality where the ball starts to turn from the moment it is hit.  Due to this fact he said to multiply the intitial read by 2.5 and I must admit, it does work well for me.