Putting Tips: Read the Green Like a Pro

It always starts out so wonderfully. You stick a green in regulation and you feel as though you’re on top of the world as you walk up to the green.  Then, three excruciating putts later, you’re knocked off your short lived throne and sulk up to the next tee box trying to regain your crushed mental focus.

“What…no break?!? Where is my touch? What was I thinking?”

You replay the hole over and over in your mind as you mentally flog yourself for ruining such a great opportunity.

We’ve all been there.  Learning to read the green properly is one of the biggest challenges faced by golfers of all skill levels.

So the question becomes, how do you correct this and become a green reading sharpshooter?

Let’s start with a new way of thinking about reading putts.  Try this visualization: if you were to fill the entire cup with water until it was overflowing like mad, which direction would the water fall off the green?  Would it fall fast right?  Would it sit tight and create a puddle?  Using a method like this to determine the grains of the green and slopes could be the difference in 7-10 strokes per round.

Yes…7 to 10 strokes per round!

With that concept in mind here are three simple steps you can perform next time you’re about to line up that next important putt for birdie, par, or a bogey save.

Observe your putt from both sides

Let’s say you have a 7-footer for birdie on the first hole of the day.  You want to get the round off to a great start and at worst you wouldn’t mind the par before moving on to the second tee.

We all get nervous of the three putt bogey, so here’s what you should do first to prevent that.  With this putt, stand behind your ball and take note of your first impression of how you think the “water will flow” out of the cup.  Move back the same distance you are from the hole (you’re now standing 14 feet from the cup with the ball halfway between you and the cup).  Squat down and look for the same slope.  Now walk around the hole to about 7 feet from the opposite angle and squat down to confirm the slope is correct.

Using multiple perspectives like this will help you gain a better understanding of the break.  It is however important to keep in mind the pace of play.  A good idea is to start reading your putt while your partners are setting up for theirs (just be mindful of not getting in their way or creating a distraction).

Pick your spot, set your speed, and lock it in!

Watch Your Speed

You can read a slope perfectly, but if you strike the ball too hard or too slow, you’ll miss the putt every time.  This is why you hear so many golfers saying “you read the break correctly, but you just powered through it.” Or, “that was the right line but you didn’t give it enough speed”.

With that said, here is a simple trick to work on your speed: when practicing putting (something we can all afford to do more often) spread your feet to the width of the stroke.  For a short putt, there may be 5 inches between your feet and for a long putt, maybe its 18 inches.  What this does is creates a measuring stick from toe to toe on which to gauge your stroke.  Practice this drill it and see if it helps you better match your ball speed to stroke ratio.

Pick your spot

Staring down a 25 foot birdie putt can be intimidating.  Seeing the hole so far away often causes us to take ourselves right out of the game.  We think, “there’s no way I’m making this one” and with that mindset we never will.

A better way of lining up these longer puts is to simply pick a spot where you want the ball to go (after taking into account slope and speed).  For example, you may say to yourself, “I just want to roll it over that small green spot 5ft ahead of my ball with enough speed to get to the hole.

Aiming for a closer point in this way can often help you put a better, more accurate roll on the ball than if you were aiming for the cup far off in the distance.

Ultimately putting doesn’t have to be as difficult as we often make it.  The key is consistent mental focus and effective physical practice.

Next time you have the opportunity, take 3-5 balls out of the bag on an undulating practice green and have at it for 30-60 minutes.  Do this often enough and you’ll rapidly improve your ability to read the green, leading to the confidence you need on the course.

Shaving off the 7-10 strokes we mentioned above can be the difference between carding your usual 85 or that 78 you’ve been chasing after!