Reading Greens and drills to help

[Intimadator2007]

When I read the greens i am looking for slope , speed and look at the grain to see if i'm putting into or away from the grain and I also take into count witch way the water would drain if it were to flood . My Putting skills say i should be looking for something else though .

 

[wadesworld]

I'm a reasonably good instinctive green reader. The thing I've been working on recently is to make sure that if I miss, I miss on the high side. I see far too many people miss putts low, which means they never had a chance.

 

[Tadashi70]

I'm a reasonably good instinctive green reader. The thing I've been working on recently is to make sure that if I miss, I miss on the high side. I see far too many people miss putts low, which means they never had a chance.

Missing is missing, whether it be high or low. If you miss on the high side you are carrying too much speed or miss reading the breaks.

 

[Tadashi70]

As one who cant see a straight or level line(its why I am not a carpenter) I miss the subtleties some greens have. To compensate I try to imagine water on the green and where it would drain, then consider the obvious indications of slope, grass type, wet or dry, etc. Trusting what I see is sometimes the hardest, that and the speed...

I like the bucket of water drill and watching it flow down the line

Riding in carts is the demise of good green reading. There is nothing like walking up the fairway to a green and seeing the different undulations from 100, 50, 25 and 10 yards out.

Let the other guy drive the cart. And, get out and walk when you get to the 100 yard marker and spend that time looking at the green.

That may the first time I have ever heard this. interesting to say the least.

 

[Smallville]

I haven't heard it said quite like that, but I have heard that it doesn't hurt to let someone else drive the cart up to the green so you can walk up to it from the fairway. Makes sense to me!

 

[wadesworld]

Missing is missing, whether it be high or low. If you miss on the high side you are carrying too much speed or miss reading the breaks.

Well, understood. But it's a conscious effort for me to adjust my line higher. What I'm saying is that most people don't read enough break on a side-hiller, so they miss low. So I'm forcing myself to take a higher line than I might initially read. Most of the time, it turns out to be a good decision because the putt would have missed low otherwise. Sometimes it's wrong though and I miss high. A miss is still a miss, but I believe if I can train myself to understand the additional break that most people don't see, it will pay off in the end.

 

[Buckjob]

Riding in carts is the demise of good green reading. There is nothing like walking up the fairway to a green and seeing the different undulations from 100, 50, 25 and 10 yards out.

Let the other guy drive the cart. And, get out and walk when you get to the 100 yard marker and spend that time looking at the green.

i really agree with this...... i don't walk as much as i'd like but when i played in my pro am with a caddie and walked i saw the entire green more than ever and read the greens really well all day. i also rode the other day and was playing a slow round and i took the time to walk from the front of the green on almost every hole and had 26 putts. i will be doing this a lot more than i ever have before. to see if i think it helps.

 

[ddec]

Stockton talks about the theory of riding in a cart vs walking when it comes to reading and putting greens. I have never thought about it like that before. But I think he does have a point.