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Approach to reading greens

my putting can be hot and cold and of late i've been trying to work on it,and it seems to be getting better.i can read the greens ok but just need to judge them better especially from long range.

i'm very simplistic on the greens and don't take my time,maybe that's the problem but it seems to work...sometimes.

after i've marked the ball i have a look from behind the ball towards the hole.......if there is a lot of break i look in towards the break and visualize my ball rolling down the line and turning in towards the hole,this helps me roughly work out the line i want the ball to take.you can choose something to aim at whether it's a tree over the green or anything,i've been working on this of late and it seems to work.

after i have chosen my line i will come along side the ball and whilst taking a practise stroke i look at the hole.....this helps get a feel for the distance and how hard you need to hit the putt.i line the putter head up with the line i have chosen and when i'm in place i don't hang about,i don't want to start 2nd guessing or doubting myself.

be confident aswell,when you walk up say to yourself "i'm making this"........
 
Alec said:
When I find out who the green, long swing, just reached the green, it is the most perfect swing
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I'm with Alec on this one.

Great post Scrubs. That's a lot of info and I'm going to re-read it a couple of times.

I'm all over the place with reading greens recently. I've tried a couple of different things which seem to help me, but I haven't rounded them down to a series of acts which are routine. Things I've tried, which seem to help are -

Imagining the ball rolling towards the hole, how it will break and exactly which part of the cup it will pour into. If I see that in my mind, I know which 'part' of the cup the ball should be hitting on the way in (or not!)

Walk your line to the hole and back. I sometimes see a second break halfway to the hole that I didn't notice from behind the ball.

2 or 3 practice strokes only. One for getting comfortable with the putter, one for length of swing and pace, maybe a third if I'm not completely comfortable. Pace is key.

Pick a 'spot' to run the ball over on the way to the hole. An 'apex' for the putt if you will.

Pick a 'spot' in the back of the cup, a blade of grass, a little spot of dirt, and 'see' the ball hitting that on the way in (makes the target seem larger on shorter putts).

Trying to incorporate some of these into my normal routine have worked a little, but I need to simplify it more to the point where I have a solid routine that is a little more accurate.
 
I know I learned several years ago to read putts from both sides of the hole. I found out over time that reading only from behind the ball does not tell you everything you need to know.

I also pick a spot half way to the hole, no matter the length, and stand without grounding the putter, at that point and figure out where the ball needs to go from that point to get into the hole. I also get a feel for what the speed needs to be from this halfway point to the hole.

With this stuff applied, and working with my teacher a lot this year, I dropped on average 3 and often times 4 strokes off my 18 hole putting average. I'm a big believer in working on putting with a coach/teacher the same way you would other clubs. Made a big difference for me.
 
lots of good ideas. thanks for the a great read.

I've found lately that playing more break has help me hole more 8-10'. I let the ball die to the hole instead of trying to fight the break.
 
MD177 said:
lots of good ideas. thanks for the a great read.

I've found lately that playing more break has help me hole more 8-10'. I let the ball die to the hole instead of trying to fight the break.
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forgive me for this maybe stupid question, but i am from italy and even if i get the litteral meaning of the sentence i cannot grasp its real meaning: what do you mean by playing the break?
 
spino said:
forgive me for this maybe stupid question, but i am from italy and even if i get the litteral meaning of the sentence i cannot grasp its real meaning: what do you mean by playing the break?
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The amount the ball will move from left to right, or right to left, during the roll towards the hole, is called the 'break'.

So if I have a left to right putt, and I aim further left than usual, I'm playing more break.
 
the_paulo said:
The amount the ball will move from left to right, or right to left, during the roll towards the hole, is called the 'break'.

So if I have a left to right putt, and I aim further left than usual, I'm playing more break.
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ok, thanks.
so you will actually putt at a slower pace letting the break take the ball towards the hole, right?
 
spino said:
ok, thanks.
so you will actually putt at a slower pace letting the break take the ball towards the hole, right?
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Right, that's the theory. The slower the pace, the more break will affect the ball.
 
hit and hope approach works pretty well for me. Heck im pretty sure as of late ive been off on my alignment and now swaying with my lower body when putting, just trying to get it close for now and I'll work on fixing this stuff permanently this winter
 
This is a great thread! I like reading people's different approaches to putts. I have began to play more break than what I see in the line.

I switched from a traditional style putter to the Nike MCi'5 mallet and my speed has been off for a good part of the year. Speed is my main concern at this point. I tend to leave more short than ever before.
 
that's my major problem, my lines seem to be pretty good, however I am constantly leaving them just inches short, which is more irritating than being off line in my book, even more so if u made a good read.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk
 
Jenius3 said:
that's my major problem, my lines seem to be pretty good, however I am constantly leaving them just inches short, which is more irritating than being off line in my book, even more so if u made a good read.

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I leave it short quite a bit as well but at this point in my game, if I can leave it anywhere within a couple of feet of the hole on my 1st putt, I am pretty happy.

This season, I adopted a different line-up routine, and am now trying to hit a spot about 4 feet from the ball and putting more effort into smooth stroke and controlling speed. It's helped drop my 3-putt % pretty well.
I still need to work on reading multiple breaks for longer putts (>20') sometimes it goes off in the complete opposite direction I predict and I am left scratching my head thinking "how the heck did that happen?"

I'll re-read Scrub's tip and give the "read" tips a try. Good thread...I'll return to see other's advice and experience
 
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If I don't see an obvious break in my putt, I then look at the cup and see if it tips to one side or the other indicating that the putt will break, failing that, I will plumb-bob for any indication of a slope, p-b really works, Imo, it's worth trying.
 
Been having ALOT of trouble lately reading greens and wanted to bump this and see if anyone has any suggestions.
 
I'm no expert Dev, but here's what I do.


Look around to see the general slope of the green. If you're playing on a hilly course, the ball is probably going to run downhill, so look around you. I try to get a look from in front of the ball if I can. Then I crouch down and imagine the ball rolling to the hole, tracing a line. If that line looks like it's going to be a little to the left of the hole, I move the starting point a little right and trace the line to the hole again. Then I put the alignment aid on that line and have at it.
 
A bit like Hawk, I tend to try and get a look from a couple of different angles, then work my way back from the hole looking at various points to try and work out where I need the ball to be to get a line into the hole, kind of like a recent post in a thread that mentioned about playing the hole by working your way back to the tee from the green - in this case, the hole is the green and the position of your ball is the tee

Once I think I have an idea, I will pick a spot ahead of the ball on the line I want to start it on, then hit and hope..... :D

I have never tried the plumb-bob method but might give it a go sometime once I read up on how it is supposed to work - no point standing on the green holding my putter up and not having a clue what I am looking for.....
 
DevRickus said:
Been having ALOT of trouble lately reading greens and wanted to bump this and see if anyone has any suggestions.
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You are not alone, I can play the same green more than once a week and still can't either remember or know how to read it properly.
 
I know I learned several years ago to read putts from both sides of the hole. I found out over time that reading only from behind the ball does not tell you everything you need to know.
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This is especially important for downhill putts. I can't tell you how many times I've run one 8 feet past and when I walked around to the other side of the hole said, "Oh....THAT's why it was so fast. Because from this side, you can see how downhill it is."
 
wadesworld said:
This is especially important for downhill putts. I can't tell you how many times I've run one 8 feet past and when I walked around to the other side of the hole said, "Oh....THAT's why it was so fast. Because from this side, you can see how downhill it is."
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haha same here. Reading from both sides can slow down play a tad...just take a look at the other side right when you get to the green before you mark your ball...helps to speed it up some.
 
Pretty much what everyone else has just said Ricky. Walk around the hole and give yourself an idea of where it's downhill vs uphill. Most importantly, try and feel what the green is doing with your feet. Architects are pretty sneaky when it comes to confusing you with what your eyes are telling you vs what your feet will tell you. Your eyes can lie to you; gravity doesn't.
 
I read greens by intuition, feel and guts. When I look for the line, I can actually see a line, a clear visible line on the green, I don't know if I just imagine the grass bending in a way that it forms a line, and there's some sand, needles, leaves or something that creates the line for me. I don't put too much science to the reading, I just imagine how to ball will react to the break.

Come to think of it, I have NO idea on how to read greens :D
 
Like many have said, look from many angles. That said, looking from 10 different angles may slow play down, so what I usually do, is take the "long route" to my ball from where my cart is. By doing that I can glance and read the green on the way to my ball. You can also feel the break by walking a distance of the green.

Dan

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
 
Castor Hades said:
I read greens by intuition, feel and guts. When I look for the line, I can actually see a line, a clear visible line on the green, I don't know if I just imagine the grass bending in a way that it forms a line, and there's some sand, needles, leaves or something that creates the line for me. I don't put too much science to the reading, I just imagine how to ball will react to the break.

Come to think of it, I have NO idea on how to read greens :D
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If you can actually "see" a line in your mind, that's a gift. I can see what I think the line is, but try as I might, I don't actually see a "line" in my mind.
 
When I was taking a putting lesson, my coach talked to me about reading the greens as I was riding/walking up to it. This has been most important at our new course and I'm learning from my mistakes of not doing so.

Yesterday we were playing a par 3 and two guys in our group read it to break right but it broke left. I told them to look back at the fairway and look at the lay of the land and it would explain it. It really rings true at our course although it is so hard to see on the green. This is the particular one we were playing.

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Think about it from here instead of when you get there.

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