Trouble Reading Greens????

Well, The Shot Taker has been busy lately, hasn't he?  Hank Haney... Hank's Hot Wife....Rush Limbaugh....Tube Dude and last but not least Target Stallings.  Do you ever find time to think about your golf game ST?  I mean c'mon man, the season starts the end of next month and you are doing nothing to help yourself!!  But, I tend to forget.... this is "yourself".

Anyways, you mentioned Rush Limbaugh commenting that he had "no idea what he was doing" when it came to reading putts.  Rush admitted he was clueless about something!  WOW!!

So todays discussion will talk about reading greens.  First thing.... If you are a plumb-bobber, stop reading unless you vow to quit!!  It has been proven that hardly anyone knows what the hell they are doing and that plumb-bobbing is not appropriate on every putt.  If you want to plumb bob, become a carpenter!

Let's start with some "big picture things" and their relevance.  This is overlooked by most players and it is one of the first and most helpful things you should consider when you read a putt. So here we go.

Putts Break Away from Hills- especially if they are near your putting line

Putts Break Away from the Clubhouse.  This may not be true in every case, but most of the time the architects of the course wants water to run away from the house.  So look for the clubhouse and you will know which way the putt falls.

Putts Will Break Toward the Setting Sun-  this has to do with the grain of the greens, specifically Bermuda.

Putts Will Break Towards Water

Putts Will Break away from Bunkers-  Greens keeps don't want to rake bunkers more than they have to.

These are all of the first things you should consider before you ever get ready to get behind your ball and putt.
You cannot deny the gravitational pull of the lay of the land, you must factor it in.

Now the finer points.... Go to the hole and find the downhill direction.  If the cup was full of water, which way would the water run ? 

Next, look from the hole back to your ball to get a mental idea.  Then when walking back to your ball on the side of your putt, get a sense of what your feet are doing.  Are they falling to the right or left?  Forward or backward?

OK, now we are behind our ball, we are looking for our line.  Next we want to shift one step to the right or left to "zero in" on the line.  This will really help you!

One final thought..... 90% of you do not play enough break!   You of course want to make the putt, but most of your putts will be missed on the low side, and many of those will be 3 putted.  Miss on the high side and you will give yourself a better chance to make it and you will leave yourself much shorter clean up putts.

Who knows, maybe this is the reason Target Stallings is homeless and eating  Chinese food instead of playing golf??

Swing Fast!!
Coach
"The Shot Maker"