After last week’s foray into the intricacies of putting, I thought I would develop this into a small section about green reading. There are two main parts to any given putt at any given time. The pace at which it travels and the line on which it travels. Pace is more important than line, as the line is often depicted by the pace on which the ball is struck. That is why when practicing putting the first port of call is always the pace. Simple ladder drills such as the one I went through last week, are a simple way of training pace into the inner mind. Once pace is mastered, green reading becomes very important indeed and being able to do so in a simple, quick and effective way. So, here is how I do it.
As I walk up to a green, I am looking at the areas of high and low ground. I’ll also be looking for areas where there is an obvious difference in the heights of the undulations any green has. In summer look for dark and light patches, a dark patch is lower than a light patch due to pooling of water. No green is designed perfectly flat, it will always be tilted in a slight way so as not to promote flooding of a green during wet conditions. I walk towards my ball trying to work out thirds. A first part of the putt where I don’t pay massive attention and the second two thirds where I spend most of my time looking. The first key is to stand in the correct position to see the green in its best light. You always want to read the green with it tilting towards you. A great example of this is to take a book or the screen on which your reading this and tilt it away from you, can you read the text? No, you can’t, with any real detail. Now imagine your looking at a putt that goes over a small rise or hump. The second two thirds of the putt (the important bits) are tilted away from you, as you look towards the hole. So, my question is, can you see the detail of the ground being tilted away from you. The answer is of course no, not in any detail. So you would read the putt mainly from behind the hole to see the green being titled towards you, therefore seeing all the details in the ground. I do this by drawing a circle around the hole with the radius being about 40% of the distance of the whole putt. I will then stand in the lowest point within this circle so as to see the green in the most tilted fashion so as I can see the most detail of the ground in front of me. The 2d diagram below tries to show this. Once I have seen my chosen line, I will decide how I think it will enter the hole. I’ll then begin to visualise the ball tracking along a line to allow it to fall into the hole at the point at which I have chosen it to do so. Then, bang, I knock it in. This process, once I am on the green takes about 15-30 seconds unless it is a really complicated one, which is rare.
All sounds very complicated written down. Once you have it demonstrated in situ it is actually very simple indeed and can revolutionise your putting. I will be going through these techniques in some of our monthly free coaching and quiz nights we have planned for after the lockdown.