Putting-Speed Control

One of the things we observe in amateur golfers is their lack of good speed control on the greens. Many times, players are able to read the correct break only to leave a four or five foot second putt due to poor judgment of the speed of the green.

Perhaps the most important aspect of reading greens is to ascertain how fast or slow the putt you have is going to be. It is helpful to get on the practice green before playing to get a feel for the speed of the greens that day. But more importantly, you need to incorporate it into each putt that you read.

Reading the break is completely dependant upon how fast or slow the golf ball will be travelling as it rolls across the green surface. Putts that are moving at a fast clip will naturally not break nearly as much as a delicate slow roller. Therefore, we can say that downhill putts will break more than uphill putts due to the firmness that the putt must be struck.

When reading greens, it is essential to not only determine up from down, but what does the green look like past the cup. Does the green slope away from the cup? If so, a firm and bold effort if missed may end up going ten feet by. Or does the green go uphill past the cup? Then you can go ahead a give a bolder effort to make the putt without fear that the ball will run away.

Make sure that when you read greens, that speed is a priority in the decisions you make regarding break. Remember, you can get the break incorrect and the speed correct and still be able to two putt. But if you read the break well and hit the putt with poor speed, you will continue to three putt time and time again.