How Many Commit to a Partner's Green Read?

[Space Bandito]

I pride myself in being a halfway decent putter. The guys I play with are always asking me for reads, and I'm always happy to put in my two cents on where a ball is going to break and how fast it's going to roll.

Most of the time I give reads to friends, however, they miss the putt, whereas, most of the time, I can hit the same putt with the same read and drain it without any issue. Now, I fully understand that it's possible that my friends aren't great putters, and maybe their stroke needs some fine tuning, but at the same time I begin to question whether they are taking my read into consideration or if they are just doing their own thing.

How much faith do you putt into a read that someone gives you on the green?

 

[WLG1952]

I pretty much stick with my own reads when on the green. I have more confidence in my own decisions, than those of others. With that, other than watching the roll of someone else's ball, I don't pay much attention to other's advice on green reads.

Now if they ask me, and it's just a friendly round, I will give them my best effort on what I think the ball roll will be.

 

[Stryker]

Depends on the friend. I mean some guys are certainly better then others. I wouldn’t take a read from a guy that 3 putts or worse all the time. On the other hand if the guy is a great putter then yeah I would listen for sure. I might see something different and sometimes even when you want to trust another person’s read it is hard to make or brain not do what it thinks is best. They may be trying to listen but wires are getting crossed and then everything else goes to garbage if you know what I mean.

 

[Junkyard]

That's tough, because putting is all about feel. You can tell someone where you think a putt is going to break, but you also have a speed in mind which is impossible to convey to them.

I have the same thing happen to me - I will offer my opinion and probably 75% of the time can make the putt if they miss, but sometimes the putt simply doesn't do what I thought it would.

All you can do is offer your opinion, if it helps them great if not then at least it was one more piece of information for them to use in their decision.

Now if only the same logic could be applied to the tee box....

 

[Snickerdog]

I play with one guy I trust quite well, the rest not so much.

 

[RealPretendPsychic]

I only have one playing partner who I trust to give me a line

 

[leftshot]

Depends on who it is. I'm usually the guy being asked to provide a read. But there are others that are really good green readers and most good green readers will tell you exactly what they see between your ball and the hole. That's helpful.

It's been my experience that most players who aren't good green readers also aren't real good at execution. That makes sense to me. If you are constantly bewildered on where the ball goes, it's hard to decipher whether it was execution or the read and what to adjust.

 

[Mark_UK]

Normally, if someone gives me a read, it goes in one ear and out the other. I tend not to ask others for reads.

 

[Buckeyegolfnut]

Just because they miss the putt doesn't mean they disregarded your read. Maybe they have an alignment problem, or a speed problem. I partner with my main golf buddy in scrambles every now and then. We'll both read the putt and usually agree on the line, but sometimes we get fooled. If we have no firm conviction one way or another, my buddy just tell me to putt it the way I see it. He then watches the roll to learn from it. I've noticed this about him. He sets up aimed to the left of where we expect the line to be, and pushes the putt at the hole. And he usually putts quite well. One thing that really fires him up is when I hit my putt to 2-3" of the hole and his putt fails to reach! Oh, does he get mad at himself! What he will usually do in that situation is play a little less break and stroke the putt firmly. But it's really hard to describe just how hard you hit the putt.

 

[Acesteve]

when I'm in doubt on a putt, I might ask one of my buddies but generally as the best putter in my group I don't ask much. Certainly I get asked for an assist more then I ask but as one person wrote the speed and feel are really key. If someone can't see the break then they likely can't feel the speed either.

 

[Sox_Fan]

I almost never ask for advice on a read. Reading a green is something that had never caused me issues. It is more my stroke. If I do ask for advice, there is only one of the ten or so people I play with a lot that I would trust to give me an equal or better read than I determine myself.

 

[OITW]

Not their read but their putt

 

[OldandStiff]

How much faith do you putt into a read that someone gives you on the green?

Not a lot. The world looks different through every pair of eyes. Is described and interpreted differently by every mouth and set of ears. Much less what's between them. And that's all before different putting strokes. I'll usually take more from a 20 second conversation with a good starter than from a member or other player on a specific green. I'll game plan with a teammate but I'm mostly going with my read until it's proven unwise, or what I got from watching theirs.

 

[golfinnut]

I I consider myself a pretty good green reader, it's just my stroke that is skeptical. So I will rarely take read advice from anyone. That's why in most Captains choice tournaments, I prefer to Putt last or next to last. I will offer up my initial green read, then after we all are in agreement, I like to have the worst putter of the group to putt 1st on the initial line we agreed upon. I watch intently to see if my initial read was correct. That is if the 1st putter hits it where I want them to. More often than not though, the putt misses the line, so we are back at square one. But in the off chance the 1st putter gets it online, I tend to make it more often than not. That is if someone ahead of me doesn't make it first. I need a practice putt 1st.

 

[MattyD-MPLS]

The way people hit the putt dictate the line. I would play less break than my dad because our speeds and stroke paths are totally different. He is a slicer and die it in putter and I close the face and have some pace. He will play more break than I do.

 

[Wkndhookr]

I rarely ask, but if I do I am usually unsure about it so take their opinion seriously.

 

[rollin]

I pride myself in being a halfway decent putter. The guys I play with are always asking me for reads, and I'm always happy to put in my two cents on where a ball is going to break and how fast it's going to roll.

Most of the time I give reads to friends, however, they miss the putt, whereas, most of the time, I can hit the same putt with the same read and drain it without any issue. Now, I fully understand that it's possible that my friends aren't great putters, and maybe their stroke needs some fine tuning, but at the same time I begin to question whether they are taking my read into consideration or if they are just doing their own thing.

How much faith do you putt into a read that someone gives you on the green?

If you question it..........then I suggest if they are your friends why not just ask them if they are missing your line due to poor strokes or ignoring your line and going their own route?

But to answer your question to us,.....I find most us humans are stubborn as for we see what we see (even if deceiving) and often will go by what we think we see regardless unless perhaps a pro told us.
I mean so many of us are so stubborn in that sense to such a large degree that even after watching another's ball roll along we still may ignore what it did (or at least a portion of it) if it looks different to our eyes vs what we just saw.
I mean somehow we think our putt (perhaps just a foot over from the other persons putt) is going to be so different even though we just seen what the other players putt did. Its incredible just how stubborn we can be.

 

[GolfTravelDude]

I'm a good putter and never ask for a read. Those that have asked you lack confidence and ultimately will fail based on that. When I play with a caddie which is fairly often. I'll figure out their ability quickly and either ask or avoid. I don't want mixed messages.

 

[SunnyWalker]

I don't ask for help often, but when I do ask, I listen and trust it.

 

[GoldenBuff]

One of my league partners is a fantastic putter. He is always offering reads, and I can rarely commit to them. I know I should. I need to see the line (and speed), and my eyes are still in training. I go with what I see because that’s the only way I can learn. He always makes some little comment afterwards, esp. when I am way off and he was 100% right. I just chuckle. Learning can’t happen with training wheels and without mistakes.

 

[Smiter]

Well, since I’m a decent putter IF I know the line, and the worlds worst green reader, I’ll put 100% confidence in someone else’s read.

If I know the line I’m competent. I just never know the line.

 

[chile]

if i don't see it, i don't play it...explains a lot, tho

 

[LSMO]

It depends, I have guys that know every putt on every green on certain courses, then I have guys that I wouldn’t trust at all. I prefer to line up my own, primarily because of speed. Only I know how firm I will hit the putt

 

[Space Bandito]

If you question it..........then I suggest if they are your friends why not just ask them if they are missing your line due to poor strokes or ignoring your line and going their own route?

But to answer your question to us,.....I find most us humans are stubborn as for we see what we see (even if deceiving) and often will go by what we think we see regardless unless perhaps a pro told us.
I mean so many of us are so stubborn in that sense to such a large degree that even after watching another's ball roll along we still may ignore what it did (or at least a portion of it) if it looks different to our eyes vs what we just saw.
I mean somehow we think our putt (perhaps just a foot over from the other persons putt) is going to be so different even though we just seen what the other players putt did. Its incredible just how stubborn we can be.

I'm not really questioning it as much as I was thinking about it watching Phil give Charles Barkley reads yesterday. I felt like Chuck was putting pretty well for a player of his caliber, but I couldn't help but wonder, as soon as he began his stroke, did everything Phil said fly right out the window?

 

[Space Bandito]

I'm a good putter and never ask for a read. Those that have asked you lack confidence and ultimately will fail based on that. When I play with a caddie which is fairly often. I'll figure out their ability quickly and either ask or avoid. I don't want mixed messages.

I disagree here. Those that ask for a read do not necessarily lack confidence. That would be like saying a tour pro lacks confidence for getting a read from their caddie. I think it's more about confirming. If you see it one way, and another does not confirm that thought, it's worth a discussion.