I can't read a flipping green to save my life.

[Orikoru]

I don't understand how I'm so bad at this. At least twice a round there will be a putt that I think goes 6 inches left and actually it goes 6 inches right (which means it goes miles right by the time I've aimed that way). Upslopes and downslopes often look flat to me. Putts that look dead straight aren't straight at all. It feels like there's something wrong my eyes, or I have one long longer than the other or something.

Sometimes having read the putt from several feet behind the ball, I'll address the ball to take the putt and now the slope looks different - bizarrely the read I get from this latter position is often the slightly more accurate read (which I wouldn't expect given that I'd be looking at it side-on with my head tilted by this point) - so it actually pays to second-guess myself.

I can't trust myself to read any green correctly, unless it's EXTREMELY obvious. Has anyone got any tips or advice that can help with this?? Bear in mind I don't have any spare cash to put into lessons right now, I'm just looking for literally any advice that might help. One thing I started doing was taking the whole green and the surrounding terrain into account more, this helps sometimes, but other times it does more harm than good (i.e. a severe slope in the background can make a light slope in the foreground look flat).

I'm clueless. Any advice welcome.

 

[FairwayDodger]

Have you considered aimpoint......?

 

[Orikoru]

Have you considered aimpoint......?

Swear that's like £100? Not an option...

 

[Linksguru]

Im no expert , but my pro told me the most important thing with reading putts is to look at it from the opposite side of the hole as you will never see the true line from behind the ball. But most of the time on friendly hacks I don't bother, but the few times ive had a match with my mates or whatever and ive had a pressure putt i hav gone round and read the line from the opposite side and it has worked quite well. I also always use a line on my ball to point at the line that i want to hit. Hope this helps.
rhys

 

[patricks148]

its always handy to have a look from both sides, from behind the ball and behind the hole. The eyes can play tricks.

failing that take a spirit level out with you next time you play

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Swear that's like £100? Not an option...

Expensive but it'll transform your putting and green reading. It transfers course to course and you can learn to adjust for different speeds. Well worth the investment

 

[Khamelion]

Swear that's like £100? Not an option...

Expensive but it'll transform your putting and green reading. It transfers course to course and you can learn to adjust for different speeds. Well worth the investment

Not cheap and a lot on here still think it's snake oil, wasteful and slow, but it's not, I agree with Homer it's a sound investment. It would help you rule out all the optical illusion reads, like you mention, the ones where you are sure the break is left and the ball goes right.

 

[Capella]

Are you sure you are misreading the greens? I know it sounds stupid, but make sure you are aiming and putting in the desired direction first. For example put an alignment stick down the line of your putt when you are on the practice green. Because that can totally fool you. We are bipeds. Even without aimpoint we are usually very good at judging slopes, with our eyes as well as with our body. We would constantly be toppling over if it were otherwise. So before you start mistrusting the line you see (or feel), first mistrust your putting stroke.

Apart from that: read the green from outside to in. Slopes from bunkers and towards water hazards will have more of an effect than small hills and dells on the green itself, even though they might appear visually more prominent. So get a first view of the lay of the land before you even get onto the green.

 

[Orikoru]

its always handy to have a look from both sides, from behind the ball and behind the hole. The eyes can play tricks.

failing that take a spirit level out with you next time you play

Fairly sure that's not allowed but I might check the rules for loopholes!

On the aimpoint stuff, I was really serious that I can't afford £100 at the moment. Got my wedding next month so I'm flat broke now after several months of paying for that.

 

[Hobbit]

To spot a slope more easily always go to the lowest point on a green. Looking up a slope is far easier than looking down a slope.

 

[Orikoru]

Are you sure you are misreading the greens? I know it sounds stupid, but make sure you are aiming and putting in the desired direction first. For example put an alignment stick down the line of your putt when you are on the practice green. Because that can totally fool you. We are bipeds. Even without aimpoint we are usually very good at judging slopes, with our eyes as well as with our body. We would constantly be toppling over if it were otherwise. So before you start mistrusting the line you see (or feel), first mistrust your putting stroke.

Apart from that: read the green from outside to in. Slopes from bunkers and towards water hazards will have more of an effect than small hills and dells on the green itself, even though they might appear visually more prominent. So get a first view of the lay of the land before you even get onto the green.

I'm pretty sure it goes where I aim, it's just there where I aim is often wrong. My weight/pace of longer lag putts is usually pretty good as well, when I haven't completely misread it. Perhaps I can borrow some aimpoint techniques and start using my feet more, it's not something I've really tried yet - simply because I'm worried about taking too long, but the chances are I'm not taking long enough.

 

[guest100718]

have you got both shoes on?

 

[woody69]

Just get out on a few greens and practice. Don't try and sink putts, just go to different parts of a green and putt a few balls all over it to various different spots. See if you can see where the breaks fall and why the ball behaves like it does.

Also agree with the other advice around are you sure you're actually hitting the ball where you think you are hitting it?

 

[Orikoru]

Also agree with the other advice around are you sure you're actually hitting the ball where you think you are hitting it?

Of course I'm sure. I'm not claiming I hit my putting stroke perfectly every time. But I'm aiming left and the putt breaks further left instead of breaking right - you can't account for that by saying the stroke was wrong when I've read it to go left and aimed left when I should have been aiming right.

Yes it might account for some of the straight ones that miss left or right, but I'm telling you I get some vastly more wrong than that!

 

[AmandaJR]

Fairly sure that's not allowed but I might check the rules for loopholes!

On the aimpoint stuff, I was really serious that I can't afford £100 at the moment. Got my wedding next month so I'm flat broke now after several months of paying for that.

You don't need the whole Aimpoint element but feeling the slope with your feet should help. Stand with feet shoulder width apart and relax and just sense which foot has more weight through it and is, therefore, the low side. You could also download a free clinometer (I think they're called) onto your phone and in practice, or in practice green (if it has slopes) check what way slopes are with that and try to re-calibrate your eyes and brain to see them correctly? Also might be worth checking on eye dominance and use just your dominant eye to see if that makes things clearer...

 

[Orikoru]

You don't need the whole Aimpoint element but feeling the slope with your feet should help. Stand with feet shoulder width apart and relax and just sense which foot has more weight through it and is, therefore, the low side. You could also download a free clinometer (I think they're called) onto your phone and in practice, or in practice green (if it has slopes) check what way slopes are with that and try to re-calibrate your eyes and brain to see them correctly? Also might be worth checking on eye dominance and use just your dominant eye to see if that makes things clearer...

Yeah I think that might be the next thing to try. Would you straddle your putting line half way down to determine this? Or simply do it where your ball is? Both maybe? I might check online for video on this kind of green reading, but if it steps on the toes of Aimpoint then maybe I won't find one.

 

[AmandaJR]

Yeah I think that might be the next thing to try. Would you straddle your putting line half way down to determine this? Or simply do it where your ball is? Both maybe? I might check online for video on this kind of green reading, but if it steps on the toes of Aimpoint then maybe I won't find one.

People have always read greens with their feet - Aimpoint just quantifies/formalises that. Just need to be aware of touching the line of your putt (or not doing so)! Stand at your ball and feel which way the slope is and make sure any other stances you take along the putt length are on the low side. Usually shorter (say upto 6') putts just stand at the ball and assess, and longer ones go to half-way and feel how much weight is on your lower foot.

Practice and practice and you'll find your own gauge as to how much weight in lower foot equates to how much break. Sounds like you probably just need to know if it's left to right or vice versa and work from there - for sure your feet can tell you that.

 

[Orikoru]

People have always read greens with their feet - Aimpoint just quantifies/formalises that. Just need to be aware of touching the line of your putt (or not doing so)! Stand at your ball and feel which way the slope is and make sure any other stances you take along the putt length are on the low side. Usually shorter (say upto 6') putts just stand at the ball and assess, and longer ones go to half-way and feel how much weight is on your lower foot.

Practice and practice and you'll find your own gauge as to how much weight in lower foot equates to how much break. Sounds like you probably just need to know if it's left to right or vice versa and work from there - for sure your feet can tell you that.

Yeah I'll give this a go. I've never tried it before. I generally just take a few steps back from my ball, crouch down low and have a look from there - then cast my eyes further around the ground to see the generally slope of it. But my eyes obviously deceive me, so I'll see if my feet do as well...

 

[hovis]

the trouble is with putting is you get no feedback from your shot. what i mean is........

you can hit a bad put with a bad read and it can go in
you can hit an excellent putt with a bad read and it'll miss
you can choose an excellent line with a bad putt and miss


you need to know if its your stroke. i usually find a flat line on the practice green from 6 ft and see if i hole them.

It's easy to assume it was the read when it was actually a crap stroke

I'm very poor at green reading. aimpoint didn't help one bit.

 

[GreggerKBR]

Another vote for AimPoint Express (when money allows!).

Mis-reading a green is almost certainly not always the only reason(s) why you're missing putts.
You're probably not understanding the variables. Not understanding the putt itself.
It's not the green - that the easy bit, working out that it slopes one way or another is not hard.
A putt is a balanced function of multiple elements. That's what most people simply do not understand about AimPoint.
I missed two putts this weekend because of wind, didn't even occur to me to factor that in.
What I'm saying is putting is hard!

follow this guy twitter.com/MKanskigolf
Shows some very interesting aimpoints and breaks according to green speed and distance.

have a great wedding!