putting tip - find the apex of a breaking putt then hit it outside that.

[garyinderry]

Been using this type of green reading technique for about a week and half. Brilliant.

I will be honest. Before this I would picture the ball rolling then aim at the highest point of the break. Since iv been doing this I've given putts much more of a chance of going in. Pretty much always coming in from the high side. A lot less low side misses which can never be a bad thing.

No doubt one of the things you learn on the aim point putting course.


[video=youtube;7e8UgT6LrW4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e8UgT6LrW4[/video]

 

[3565]

John Graham is one of the top instructors on Aimpoint. He has done some good videos on putting in general, not only in geometry but also on speed of putts and reading greens.

But it's a known fact that if you start your ball online with the apex, you'll miss all day long on the low side, or you would have to up the speed of the ball to hold its line to the hole, but with more speed the hole decreases in size for the ball to enter the hole.

 

[garyinderry]

John Graham is one of the top instructors on Aimpoint. He has done some good videos on putting in general, not only in geometry but also on speed of putts and reading greens.

But it's a known fact that if you start your ball online with the apex, you'll miss all day long on the low side, or you would have to up the speed of the ball to hold its line to the hole, but with more speed the hole decreases in size for the ball to enter the hole.

Ive been under reading breaking putts for years.

 

[Maninblack4612]

What I find useful is to "see" the entire putt in my mind's eye rolling from the putter into the hole. I then start the putt off along whatever line I've imagined. This, plus the fact that downhill putts never break as much as you think, has helped my putting a lot.

 

[Ross61]

What I find useful is to "see" the entire putt in my mind's eye rolling from the putter into the hole. I then start the putt off along whatever line I've imagined. This, plus the fact that downhill putts never break as much as you think, has helped my putting a lot.

this is the same for me. I have always just seen the line in my head naturally ( only part of my golf I have done naturally! ). I have never ever even looked for the apex.

 

[Beezerk]

Good video but it's just common sense isn't it? Find the apex, then find out how the ball gets to the apex from its start position.

 

[brendy]

Common sense doesnt extract money from suckers though. How many Pros whose livliehoods depend on it use aimpoint? I am automatically removing Adam Scott as that man needs as many crutches as he can get.

 

[garyinderry]

What I find useful is to "see" the entire putt in my mind's eye rolling from the putter into the hole. I then start the putt off along whatever line I've imagined. This, plus the fact that downhill putts never break as much as you think, has helped my putting a lot.

What makes you think downhill putts don't break as much?


I've also seen the putt but made the fatal mistake of just aiming at the highest point in that imaginary line.

 

[garyinderry]

For me this has nothing to do with aimpoint. Just green reading.

 

[Maninblack4612]

What makes you think downhill putts don't break as much?

Because they don't! An uphill putt will break a lot as it slows down & gravity takes over. A downhill putt is accelerating & the slope has less effect. I've noticed this a lot & now take it into account. Sand Lyle said that when he won the Masters he was glad that last putt on the 18th was downhill because that made it easier, i.e.less break.

 

[Dasit]

Because they don't! An uphill putt will break a lot as it slows down & gravity takes over. A downhill putt is accelerating & the slope has less effect. I've noticed this a lot & now take it into account. Sand Lyle said that when he won the Masters he was glad that last putt on the 18th was downhill because that made it easier, i.e.less break.

I find the opposite

A downhill with left to right you can't aim at the hole you have to almost putt sideways sometimes

An uphill same left to right aim left side of hole and hit it firm

 

[garyinderry]

Pretty sure you are wrong on this on MIB.


If that was the case pros would look to leave their ball above the hole giving them less break to their putt. That is just simply not the case at all.


In fact pros aim to leave it below the hole so they can hit it firm and account for less break.


Even on flat, neither up nor downhill putts, you must always look at the last bit of the putt to see if there is much break there as the ball is slowing down the ball is more susceptible to breaking. Therefor moving slower = give more break.


Willing to be proven wrong on this. Would like to see the footage of sandy saying that.

 

[Maninblack4612]

Pretty sure you are wrong on this on MIB.


If that was the case pros would look to leave their ball above the hole giving them less break to their putt. That is just simply not the case at all.


In fact pros aim to leave it below the hole so they can hit it firm and account for less break.


Even on flat, neither up nor downhill putts, you must always look at the last bit of the putt to see if there is much break there as the ball is slowing down the ball is more susceptible to breaking. Therefor moving slower = give more break.


Willing to be proven wrong on this. Would like to see the footage of sandy saying that.

I've lost count of the number of downhill putts I've missed on the high side. The reason people prefer an uphill putt, especially one with a lot of break, is that you can strike it firmly & take out most of the break. Do that on a downhill putt & if you miss you'll have a longer one coming back. Think what Sandy's meant was that it was downhill with little break & he just had to start it running. Mind you, I once spent 5 hours standing next to Sand on a tee & he didn't talk that much sense, or at all, for that matter.

 

[Maninblack4612]

Willing to be proven wrong on this. Would like to see the footage of sandy saying that.

Think this is what I was thinking of, from an interview with Sandy "[FONT=&quot]Deep down there was some calmness. I knew if I did miss, it wasn’t going to be the end of the world. I was mentally rehearsing Lee Trevino saying: ‘If I ever had a putt to win I’d rather have a downhill putt any day than have a 30-foot uphill putt where you really have to hit it.’"[/FONT]

 

[ScienceBoy]

One fact is fast putts don't drop on the low side...

Really good tip, will be adjusting my aim slightly.

 

[3565]

For me this has nothing to do with aimpoint. Just green reading.

Exactly, whether you Aimpoint or don't, it's reading the green and differing ways of reading greens but it still has the same outcome that you don't aim at the apex.

 

[MendieGK]

Downhill putts 100%break more. No debate about it

 

[Foxholer]

Both points of view are correct in your own minds- at least for consistent, gentle slopes! But it's the concept/language that gets in the way!

A downhill putt hit at the same speed as an uphill one will break more IN TOTAL - simply because it travels further! But/so the EFFECT of break (the angle left or right, or the 'allowance for break') on a 'same distance' downhill one is less! Likewise a 4 foot putt hit to just fall in needs to be hit gentler downhill than a same length one uphill - so not the same putt!

Now try another point of view!....With a consistent uphill (or downhill) slope and a consistent 'across the line' slope consider hitting a putt at speed X down the hill - not into a hole. Now go to where the ball lies and putt it back to the original position! To do so, the ball has to be hit harder, so they are not 'the same' putts! Now decide which one had a greater break!

It's all about the way you envisage 'break'!

 

[garyinderry]

This is a good visual representation of what I am doing now. before I would have been aiming somewhere near the bottom line of that Hawkeye system. Now I am aiming well into the shaded area and giving myself a much better chance of the ball falling in on the high side.

 

[Region3]

Putts break (ignoring grain and wind) because of gravity.

An uphill putt and a downhill putt along the same sideways gradient will both break at the same rate, i.e. x cm per second, but since the downhill putt travels slower than the uphill putt, it is subjected to the sideways movement for longer, and therefore breaks more.