How do you handle greens at away courses?

[louise_a]

Over the last few days I have really struggled with greens at away courses, On Saturday at Northampton I couldn't judge the pace all round. On Monday and today I played in shield matches for the club, and really couldn't get the reads at all.

Is it just me? how do others cope?

 

[fundy]

Comes from experience of playing other courses and being able to read greens and adapt. Im fortunate that I can pick up the pace of greens very quickly but see plenty struggle with this. Played yesterday at Beadlow Manor on the slowest greens Ive been on for years, but picked the pace up ok, albeit its not much fun putting as if its february at this time of year.

I tend to practise putt from various distances to the fringe on the putting green before playing. Not focussing on direction at all enables me to focus fully on getting the pace (I do also hit a handful of short putts at a tee or coin to make sure direction is working separately). Another good option is to use 3 balls in a line at say 10ft 20ft and 30ft, helps to get an idea of pace and the variation between diff length putts

 

[stevelev]

I find that I need to spend a good 20 minutes on the practise green before going off. But if like ours it does not match the on course greens it makes it even more difficult.

Or you can make sure you only hit the edge of the greens and take more putts to get used to them on the course. lol

 

[garyinderry]

surely all greens are either

1. faster than you are used to
2. slower than you are used to
3. the same as you are used to


find this out on the practice green if poss but tell yourself what it is after you have played the first few.

keep this in mind for the rest of the round. just before you hit a putt, remind youself if its 1,2 or 3 and give it the required power.


I cant really help with reading them though, some days we have it, some days we don't!

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I tend to be quite good at picking up the pace quite quickly. I'm not sure I could tell you how though, sorry.

 

[louise_a]

My trouble is that when greens are faster than I am used to, like Northampton, I tend be very wary and leave putts far too short, its a mental block and I really struggle to get over it.

 

[groundskeeperwilly]

I would like to say I go on the practice green and work it out but usually they don't reflect the actually course in my experience! I usually adapt after a few holes though and manage to maintain my terrible home club putting performance!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Played at Maidenhead on Monday. There greens were best I've putted on this year. Quick(ish) around 9.5 and smooth as silk. We never even looked at the practice green. Straight out the car, into the locker room and onto the first tee. All a bit academic when they made six birdies in nine holes.

I tend to get on the putting green for 20-30 minutes if possible at away clubs and start with longish putts for speed and finish working on the holing out from 3-6 feet. It really depends on if I've played the course before. If I have I can usually get the speed pretty quickly

 

[Foxholer]

My trouble is that when greens are faster than I am used to, like Northampton, I tend be very wary and leave putts far too short, its a mental block and I really struggle to get over it.

Might be time to consider a different style putter!

What you are experienced is a relatively common 'issue' with mallet style putters.

Of course, if it's working on your home greens, there's more of an incentive to keep it. Finding a proper replacement putter can be a long and potentially expensive road!

 

[fundy]

Might be time to consider a different style putter!

What you are experienced is a relatively common 'issue' with mallet style putters.

Of course, if it's working on your home greens, there's more of an incentive to keep it. Finding a proper replacement putter can be a long and potentially expensive road!

Not convinced that its an issue with mallets, for me at least, it is more an issue with the inserts in some putters, no problem with a decent milled face mallet imo

 

[Bobirdie]

Ive been like this for years. However i never practice putting so its my own fault

 

[SGC001]

If you're struggling with quicker greens you could grip down to reduce the length of the lever. You've suggested you get scared so it may be worth checking your backswing length and through swing length, I've not seen may good putters who are long (B/s) to short through swing.

For pace it may help to calibrate yourself so if you have a 10 pace putt on your course how many paces would it go on theirs.

It's been suggested that the majority of people under read putts (substantially) and that faster greens would highlight this. What's your putting green like? If you've got slopes you can make a gate with tee pegs to see if you're reading them well or not.

You may have seen Mickleson sometimes practice putting from the side of his ball. He's kind of recreating a clock drill he does imaging he's knocked in the previous one and moving onto the one he's got, which helps read break and breed confidence. Find a slopey hole place balls at 12, 1, 2 ,3, 4...10, 11 o clock and see how breaks affected by uphill, downhill sidehill lies. I think it's a bit similar to the aimpont stuff (not sure) where you identify a straight putt and it changes around the clockface.

Most greens in this country aren't that nappy so it's more slopes you need to read. Basically think where would the water run. On your home course go and take some pictures when the greens are flooded to see where the low points are.

 

[CMAC]

I'm confused by this post- surely you just adapt as you have to everytime you play any course as the wind/temp/humidity/grass length is different

 

[Foxholer]

Not convinced that its an issue with mallets, for me at least, it is more an issue with the inserts in some putters, no problem with a decent milled face mallet imo

Lucky you!

My experience and observation is that fast greens, slow greens, mallets, Ansers, Blades combinations, the Fast Green & Mallet combination is one of the lower performing ones. And yes, inserts can have an effect, but I believe that's more likely to be about feel over medium length putts than the longer ones.

Louise may also be having another quite common issue that happens with fast greens - the fear of going an apparent long way past because of the speed. In fact, 4 feet past on fast greens is actually very little on such greens and the putt back can be considered as much less! If that concept can be grasped, it is much simpler to hit the first one with confidence which is much more likely to end up close rather than the hesitant one which is very likely to end up significantly short! Now, if only I could apply that logic to my putting!

 

[Andy808]

I have about 20 minutes practice on the practice green and hope I get a good feel for them while out on the course. As long as they are running true then I don't really mind the speed they are. If I hit it right, on the right line, with the right pace then I know it's going to go in.
Normally expect it to take an extra 3 or 4 holes to get on with them properly if I'm going to at all.

 

[Spear-Chucker]

Don't usually find the pace so hard to pick up; a few minutes on the practice green and some quick adapting on the first few can solve that.. It's reading them which is tougher. Usually i try to understand the general lay of the land first and then try to figure the green out. Course designers know this of course and will create a few tricks to catch out the unwary.