One of the greatest challenges faced my golfers happens on the green. Reading the break is a challenge at the best of times and understanding how the ball breaks in relation to your putting style and speed is vital to a great short game. When playing with others, we always watch their putt (or at least we should) in order to garner any information of what happens around the hole. Unfortunately, many players do not process this information well because they are not processing the proper data in order to apply it to their golf game. It is this oversight that causes players to misread their putt on a consistent basis. I know this this is a challenge for many amateurs and I think I can help.

Before I get into my view on where players struggle with reading a putt, here is Brad Faxon going through his entire process of reading a green. I think using his views as a baseline and adjusting to suit your game is a fantastic place to start.

Faxon offers a perfect way to read the green and how to make more putts. He covers all the areas needed to improve your putting regardless of the distance. After watching the video, there is one area I would like to expand upon in order to help you with reading the green.

When watching your playing partners putts, it is important to watch the speed of their putt. The reason I suggest this is because it will determine the break at the hole. Many putts are missed because players putt their way without considering what they actually say in the previous putt. Let me expand on this thought.

I like to putt the ball 8 to 17″ past the hole. Keeping this in mind, I have developed a certain speed I like to putt the ball. Unfortunately, if my playing partners like to drop the ball in the hole (Blair), then how the ball reacts around the hole will be different than if he would hit the ball past the hole like the way I putt. This might not seem like a big deal, but I assure you that it is an influential factor.

What I need to do to adjust for the disparity in putting is determine if the person I am watching hits the ball shorter or farther than I would normally. If they hit the ball farther, I need to expand my aim point. If they putt shorter, then I need to narrow my aim point. All of this adjusting is done in my mind in a very short amount of time, but it is essential to me making more putts.

There you have it, the challenge most amateurs have is forgetting to make the adjustment based on how their playing partner hits the ball. It is something I learned a long time ago and try to make my adjustments every time I play. Interestingly, my men’s night team is made up of four different types of putters. We all have our unique style and two are drop the putt in and two of us are hit the ball past the hole. It is all fun and games trying to decipher the aimpoint and for the most part we are spot on. All it took was a bit of practice to make the necessary adjustments to my aimpoint.

Putting is definitely a unique skill for each player. Understanding that there is no universal aimpoint is important. Being able to adjust what works for your game while watching others is the key to sinking more putts.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!