"Break" is Over Rated

[gregsandiego]

It's been my observation that when putting, and my buddies say something like "left lip", or "breaks right" they tend to over estimate said break and compensate too much. It could also be that they're just not that good at reading the green.

So I think if in doubt aim straight for the hole and you'll do better.

Thoughts?

 

[Pretzel]

3 minutes ago, gregsandiego said:

It's been my observation that when putting, and my buddies say something like "left lip", or "breaks right" they tend to over estimate said break and compensate too much. It could also be that they're just not that good at reading the green.

So I think if in doubt aim straight for the hole and you'll do better.

Thoughts?

 

Putts are very rarely dead straight, meaning a putt aimed at the dead center of the hole has a lesser chance of going in than one that is properly aimed to account for the slope of the green.

That said, most golfers cannot accurately start their putts on line, or allow the visual distortion of the line of a putt (created by standing over the ball rather than behind it) to affect where they attempt to hit the putt. In that case you would be almost equally likely to hit the putt in from initially aiming dead center when compared to aiming at the left edge.

The most likely answers are that your buddies cannot effectively read greens or start their putts on their intended line. Both are skills that most infrequent golfers do not possess at a high level.

[saevel25]

6 minutes ago, gregsandiego said:

It's been my observation that when putting, and my buddies say something like "left lip", or "breaks right" they tend to over estimate said break and compensate too much. It could also be that they're just not that good at reading the green.

So I think if in doubt aim straight for the hole and you'll do better.

Thoughts?

 

There is only two straight putts for any given hole position. Straight downhill and straight up hill. If I look at my Aimpoint charts there are 62 putts you might get away with hitting straight at the hole. Probably more if you break it up into degree increments. This is broken into 30 degree increments. There are 960 combinations printed on my charts from STIMP 8-12, and 5 feet to 20 ft (at 5 ft increments). 

6-7% of putts are an inch inside the edge or straight at the center. 

A good rule of thumb. If you have a relatively flat putt, and you are inside of 5 ft then hitting it straight is OK. 

 

[iacas]

I think there have been plenty of studies and things that demonstrate that amateurs under-estimate break by about 2-3x.

This backs up my experience teaching 500 people AimPoint, too. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen someone guess MORE break than the putt actually breaks (we start the class by having 3-5 people put tees in the ground where they would aim - so over 100 people now). So… roughly 0% of people over-estimate break in my experience.

Putts break a lot.

[gregsandiego]

1 minute ago, iacas said:

I think there have been plenty of studies and things that demonstrate that amateurs under-estimate break by about 2-3x.

This backs up my experience teaching 500 people AimPoint, too. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen someone guess MORE break than the putt actually breaks (we start the class by having 3-5 people put tees in the ground where they would aim - so over 100 people now). So… roughly 0% of people over-estimate break in my experience.

Putts break a lot.

You're screwing up my theory, and whole premise for a book by the same title....

[Pretzel]

13 minutes ago, gregsandiego said:

You're screwing up my theory, and whole premise for a book by the same title....

I'd hate the let the facts get in the way of a good book, carry on.

[iacas]

15 minutes ago, gregsandiego said:

You're screwing up my theory, and whole premise for a book by the same title....

Is it a comedy?

[Mr. Desmond]

57 minutes ago, gregsandiego said:

You're screwing up my theory, and whole premise for a book by the same title....

Well, I also thought I knew something about golf before I arrived at this site.

Stick around and read ... do ... use the power of the force... lol.

[SavvySwede]

1 hour ago, gregsandiego said:

You're screwing up my theory, and whole premise for a book by the same title....

Though nearly everyone under reads the break, most people will also instinctively push/pull the putt further up the slope to compensate without realizing it. That's the reason why aiming at the hole works better than it should for a lot of folks.

[Ernest Jones]

I think that for a lot of people, not being able to hit their line is costing them more putts than their reads, but that's just a suspicion, I have nothing to back it up.

[SavvySwede]

17 minutes ago, Ernest Jones said:

I think that for a lot of people, not being able to hit their line is costing them more putts than their reads, but that's just a suspicion, I have nothing to back it up.

It's a never ending cycle. They don't hit their line because instinctively they know it's wrong. Then when they do hit their line they don't believe they actually hit their line because it starts so low and it doesn't "look" as it should

[Pretzel]

31 minutes ago, Ernest Jones said:

I think that for a lot of people, not being able to hit their line is costing them more putts than their reads, but that's just a suspicion, I have nothing to back it up.

I think most people don't hit their line, but I don't know how much it costs them because they do end up pushing or pulling it towards a correct line frequently (based on what their feet feel). 

I watch my grandpa line up the arrow on his putts, and then proceed to pull/push his putt a foot or more from where the line is pointing on a 6-10 foot putt. I like that I can read greens fairly well, because it allows me to line up my ball and be confident and carefree once I make the putt, since my only concern then is speed. It's just one less thing to think about during the stroke for me that way.

It also means that I don't have to guess as to whether I pushed or pulled a putt. I know if I did that based on the roll, and I know if I missed it without doing that it was because my read was wrong.

[dkolo]

I remember on the 5th green at my go-to course, after a particularly frustrating miss, I declared to the random people I was playing with that I want my eventual hypothetical kids to go around telling people, "Well, it's like my Dad always says, 'Never trust a straight putt.'" And then everyone will be like "Yeah, I like that. You Dad sounds like a smart guy." This is my plan.

[Dave325]

I am still missing a ton of putts I should be making. On yesterday's round, I had a lot of putts that were perfectly read.... But left short by a few inches. Very frustrating! It seems like having all three (read, bead and speed) working together is a fine art. Can truly throwing more time into practice on the green really improve this area? But then that is time I only take away from the full swing practice. A real dilemma here. 

[gregsandiego]

12 hours ago, iacas said:

Is it a comedy?

Maybe.

12 hours ago, Pretzel said:

I'd hate the let the facts get in the way of a good book, carry on.

Seriously, it would be just another opinion in the huge work of conflicting golf advice today.

[Pretzel]

1 hour ago, gregsandiego said:

Seriously, it would be just another opinion in the huge work of conflicting golf advice today.

You mean it would be a piece of misinformation, right? It's an opinion, sure, but one that can be proven wrong with data that doesn't lie.

As for @Dave325, check out the practice ratios thread to see how much time is best to be devoted to your putting. 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, gregsandiego said:

Seriously, it would be just another opinion in the huge work of conflicting golf advice today.

@Pretzel said it already, but… we have more facts available to us now than ever. Your "opinion" would be provably "wrong" in general (you'd always find some exceptions that over-played break).

[mvmac]

14 hours ago, gregsandiego said:

It's been my observation that when putting, and my buddies say something like "left lip", or "breaks right" they tend to over estimate said break and compensate too much.

Yeah I don't think I've ever seen a golfer over-estimate how much a putt breaks. They always under read it. Doesn't mean that they'll always miss it on the high side, they can pull/push it or hit too hard.

Your buddy also probably likes to hit the short putts firm to "take the break out".