Putting downhill vs uphill (2x distance of downhill length) poll

[rkim291968]

If you have a choice of an uphill putt vs downhill putt (1/2 of the uphill putt length), what would you prefer?   For the sake of the poll, assume the slope is at its worst you find in a typical 18 hole course.

 

As for me, I'd go for the uphill putt.  A simple majority of my 3 putts come from a downhill initial put which sail past the hole.

[saevel25]

95% of the time I don't care. Unless you are on top of a tier and the slope is so much that if you place the ball on the tier it rolls so far past the hole just by gravity that you just can't make the putt. 

Besides that, I don't have a preference. 

[DrvFrShow]

Back when I played when I was a teen it didn't matter. Uphill, downhill. I could just read the break and putt. My first year back playing it wasn't too bad, but then the groundskeeper retired and they got a new one who got stimp happy. Last year the greens got scary. Putting on #@%!! poa with stimp around 13 is not fun. When the weather warms I'll have to put a lot of time practicing putting this year. Now I prefer to leave the ball short and putt uphill.

[Ernest Jones]

I'll take the uphill if given the choice, simply because I know my miss will tend to be better on the uphill. This of course is assuming that it's a relatively severe slope. If it's not severe, ie not the type of slope that can threaten a runaway ball, then I'll take the shorter putt every time, but if a miss is in danger of just picking up speed and rolling forever...I'll take the uphill even at twice the distance.

[boogielicious]

Downhill. It is half the distance. My chance of making it goes up a lot.

[Ernest Jones]

8 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

Downhill. It is half the distance. My chance of making it goes up a lot.

See, I do agree with this under general circumstances, however I think it really depends on the severity of the slope. If it's really steep (which I think is what the OP is suggesting) than my uphill misses will likely be mostly 2 putts, but my downhill misses will likely be mostly 3 putts. 

[Golfingdad]

The question is too vague.  It depends very much on the severity of slopes and depending on those, it also would depend on the length.

If the slopes are gradual enough that it is possible to stop the ball near the hole, then I'm taking the shorter downhill putt every single time.

If the slopes are severe enough that you can't stop it near the hole no matter how lightly you hit it, then the length is going to determine which I choose.  If it's a length I expect to MAKE, say <5 or 6 feet, then I'd probably go with the shorter downhill putt.  But if it's a longer one, then the chance of a one-putt is much slimmer than the chance of a 3-putt after it races past, so I'll go with the longer uphill one where the chance of a two-putt is much more likely.

Edit to apologize for repeating @Ernest Jones ... I swear I started typing before I saw his post. :P

[rkim291968]

Assume the worst slope you find in your home course.  I think it can be 4% - 5%.   Feel free to explain what your assumption is.  This isn't meant to be a scientific poll.  

[Ernest Jones]

3 minutes ago, rkim291968 said:

Assume the worst slope you find in your home course.  I think it can be 4% - 5%.   Feel free to explain what your assumption is.  This isn't meant to be a scientific poll.  

Well then, I stand by my post. Assuming of course, that the downhiller isn't super short (<4')

[allenc]

I choose downhill regardless of how steep the slope.  If it is so steep that you can't even stop the downhiller, then a miss on the uphiller might result in the ball rolling all the way back to you!

[Golfingdad]

5 minutes ago, Ernest Jones said:

Well then, I stand by my post. Assuming of course, that the downhiller isn't super short (<4')

Yup.  Same here.  5-ish feet or less and I'm going with the downhill putt, but anything more than that I'm playing the percentages that I'm not one-putting and I'd rather not three-putt.

[Ernest Jones]

5 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

Yup.  Same here.  5-ish feet or less and I'm going with the downhill putt, but anything more than that I'm playing the percentages that I'm not one-putting and I'd rather not three-putt.

Or have to chip back on...

[Fourputt]

1 hour ago, rkim291968 said:

If you have a choice of an uphill putt vs downhill putt (1/2 of the uphill putt length), what would you prefer?   For the sake of the poll, assume the slope is at its worst you find in a typical 18 hole course.

 

As for me, I'd go for the uphill putt.  A simple majority of my 3 putts come from a downhill initial put which sail past the hole.

It depends on the actual length of the putts.  If it's 2 feet vs 4 feet, I'll take the downhill one.  If its 10 feet vs. 20 feet, then I might take the uphill one.  

Then too, a lot depends on the actual situation.  If I have a good feel for the greens on that course, I may take the shorter putt no matter what.  As long as the ball will actually stop near the hole if hit correctly, I'm not all that worried about the slope.

I worry more about a downhill putt when the hole is cut on a shelf with a dropoff to the next lower tier just a foot past the hole.  My home course has a hole location where going past the hole by more than a foot will often leave you looking at a 10-15 foot return back up the hill.  When they cut the hole in that spot, I make sure that I leave my approach on the lower tier.  Pinseekers to that hole are more likely to make bogey or worse than par.

I guess I'll put in my vote for the shorter putt, because that is more often my preference, regardless of slope.  

55 minutes ago, rkim291968 said:

Assume the worst slope you find in your home course.  I think it can be 4% - 5%.   Feel free to explain what your assumption is.  This isn't meant to be a scientific poll.  

I'm adding a proviso to this.... the worst slope where they will actually cut the hole.  There are worse slopes on my home course, but they don't put the hole on them.  The bigger slopes are there to differentiate the different possible hole locations.

[Golfingdad]

1 hour ago, allenc said:

I choose downhill regardless of how steep the slope.  If it is so steep that you can't even stop the downhiller, then a miss on the uphiller might result in the ball rolling all the way back to you!

Haha ... still having nightmares from Pelican Hill North in December, hmmm??? 

This is a fair point, however, I think that for "normal" speed greens, there is a range of slopes for which it would be hard to stop a downhiller but an uphiller won't come back to you.  That's only an extreme case, I think.

Or consider that even if it's possible to stop said downhiller you might have to hit it so lightly that it's just going to wobble and plinko it's way to the hole, such that it's pure luck if it goes in or not.  A 10 footer straight up that hill that can be hit "hard" and with confidence might be more "makeable" than that 5 footer down it.

Overall, in general though, I agree that closer is usually better.

[GolfLug]

I didn't vote simply because I've got conflicting choices based on distance:

1. I prefer a downhill putt for 10 feet and out. Outside of it uphill (especially twice the distance as mentioned)  can actually be worse for me simply because you have to use more effort increasing stroke variance. I guess only time downhill would be bad if stimp is a stupid 11-12. I don't play on that level of courses generally.

2. Uphill for short range inside of 10 feet. The best kind of putt there is to be left with outside of a 1 foot gimme since you can power it a bit to take the break out and increase chances of outright making it. 

Both for distance control in the respective ranges (obviously).

[vangator]

One of the things I (and the pros) try to do is to try to leave myself the best shot at birdie / par that I can.  That usually means leaving myself an uphill putt.  I would never try to leave myself a downhill putt.  But the premise is that the downhill is 1/2 the distance but on the worst slope.  I'd never want that.  We have some nasty slopes.

There is one course I play that has a drop of 10 feet from one tier to the next with nearly a 50% slope.  They've put the hole right at the base of the slope on the lower tier.  If you're on the upper tier, goodnight Irene.  And visa versa.  They have the hole right before the precipice.  Talk about a frightening putt!

Edited February 5, 2016 by vangator

[Ernest Jones]

11 minutes ago, vangator said:

One of the things I (and the pros) try to do is to try to leave myself the best shot at birdie / par that I can.  That usually means leaving myself an uphill putt.  I would never try to leave myself a downhill putt.  But the premise is that the downhill is 1/2 the distance but on the worst slope.  I'd never want that.  We have some nasty slopes.

There is one course I play that has a drop of 10 feet from one tier to the next with nearly a 50% slope.  They've put the hole right at the base of the slope on the lower tier.  If you're on the upper tier, goodnight Irene.  And visa versa.  They have the hole right before the precipice.

1

Jesus wept!

I'd like to see a picture of that.

[No Mulligans]

Worse hole on my home course, from above the hole I can't stop the ball by the hole.  6 foot downhill putt, if I miss I'm 20 foot plus for my second putt.

Obviously in that situation I'd rather have a 12 foot uphill putt.