Read, Bead, and Speed - But Which is the Most Important?

[iacas]

Without a doubt, it's speed.

When I'm playing with my daughter, oftentimes I'm there to support her, and me just whacking a ball around is partly practice, partly to help her not speed through holes and then wait on the group in front, and partly because I may as well do something while I'm out there.

So I don't give it a lot of attention. I rarely get yardages. Sometimes I hit a 7-iron off her tees to save a little time. And I don't read a single putt.

Yet I putt just fine, because I have good distance control. You see… without reading any putts (I'm more interested in her reads for her putts), I can get any first putt within tap-in range. And I make my fair share of 20 and 30 footers, too, because when the ball is going the proper speed at the hole, if the read is close to right, the hole is big and sometimes I happen to hit the line.

Think about it. Let's say you misread a putt by a foot or two. Hell, let's say you then miss your "bead" by a foot or two also. With good distance control, how long is your next putt? Two to five feet or so. And the times you don't miss on both your "read" and your "bead"? Why, maybe it goes in, or at worst, leaves you with a tap-in.

John Graham and I agree, too, that good distance control is foundational to learning the rest of putting. With good distance control, your reads are consistent. You don't jam an 8-footer three feet past one time (enough to change the break several inches) and you don't just barely get it to the front lip the next time you face a ten-footer (also enough to change the break several inches).

Speed is first.

I grew up playing a course with some greens that have some pretty severe slopes. The course is from the 50s, when greens had to have more slope, because slower green speeds kept things from breaking too much. I learned to play with good capture speed because when you have a three-footer that breaks two feet… you learn to make the hole as big as possible!

That's why this topic is so important:

That is all.

[billchao]

3 hours ago, iacas said:

John Graham and I agree, too, that good distance control is foundational to learning the rest of putting. With good distance control, your reads are consistent.

I thought speed when I read the thread title. Just from my own experience, distance control problems lead to three-putts or worse. Read and bead get more important as I get closer to the hole, but speed affects break, as you mentioned. And even still, I can lip out a six footer simply because I hit a nine foot putt.

[Killa]

I was taught that speed/distance control is #1 in putts on my first ever golf lesson. 

Miss a putt by 3 feet and you're still inside 3 feet. Bead and read won't help you much if you are 8 feet long or short. 

[dennyjones]

I personally 3 putt less when my speed is better.

[klineka]

I agree speed too. Based on GameGolf, I have 25% 1 putts, 69% 2 putts and 6% 3 putts. I am curious to see how that compares to other golfers who also use GameGolf.

I have much better distance control than most of my friends I usually play with, and as a result most of them 3 putt when they are outside 25 feet or so, where more often than not I two putt, even from long distances.

On a positive note too, I had a couple 4-5 footers the other day and after draining my 2nd or 3rd one of the day, my buddy said something along the lines of, "Those are getting to be pretty much automatic for you now." That was nice to hear and definitely a confidence builder 

I think having that increased confidence from knowing I am better at the 3-5 footers than I used to be has made such a difference in my overall putting. I am no longer standing over a 40 foot putt thinking "I'm going to 3 putt unless this is within a foot" and it allows me to putt with the mindset to make sure I get the ball to the hole because I know if it goes a couple feet past I can make the next one no problem. I used to lag putt everything over like 20 feet and gave long putts 0 chance to get in the hole.

Edited October 20, 2017 by klineka

[NM Golf]

I was told this years ago by several good players including a couple who played on Tour. Line is all done prior to pulling the trigger, once you have your line and have set up over the ball then everything from that point is about speed. There should be no thoughts about line while standing over a putt.