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Putting: determining break

• gbarto 141 Posts

  Fri, Dec 23 2011 7:25 PM

  VERY excellent basic putting tips ty  much..

• LeonDelBosque 1,551 Posts

  Sat, Dec 24 2011 12:41 AM

  the line and the speed are co-dependent. there are spots near big slopes where you literally can hit a putt hard and dead straight, or play 5 feet of break for a 12 foot putt and either would go in (thus the above advice for hitting short putts firm and straight, instead of trying to play the break and baby it in) So there really is no right answer for how much a given putt breaks.... depends how hard you hit it.

• paulshack 281 Posts

  Sat, Dec 24 2011 8:37 AM

  great post joey

• mel1950 2,887 Posts

  Sat, Dec 24 2011 9:32 AM

  I always remember that the lines on the meter get closer the longer you hold your stroke so always determine the strength of your putt and the amount of missed ding before you take the meter up and release as soon as possible. That way you have greater chance and more scope for the amount of missed ding that you need. Hope you can understand my reasoning . LOL I had to read it twice myself:~)))

  MEL1950

• borntobesting 9,695 Posts

  Sat, Dec 24 2011 10:19 AM

  Joeyola:

  2.  Hit putts to break at or above the hole...a ball breaking low will never go in.

  With the older putters this was so true. But with the new Ghost spider with its higher forgiveness and balance you can now make a few of those putts that break low. You will still get a few lipouts but many will now go in.

• gbarto 141 Posts

  Sat, Dec 24 2011 4:11 PM

  Agreed,Leon also effecting ones choice of either "babying it in" or raming it in is whether  the putt is down hill or up hill..uphill can often be forced in hard eliminating the break on shorter putts and if you do miss it  the comeback putt is manageable.down hill putts are different though..if you miss you want your comeback putt still manageable and the only to do that is to "baby" the putt in. I go by the philosophy of  The speed of a putt determines its line,not vice-versa.  works very well for me anyhow.

• slillico 393 Posts

  Sat, Dec 24 2011 10:36 PM

  My stats do not draw a good picture of my putting, I found the promotion to TM to be disastrous to my putting, however I can tell you my putting has improved significantly lately. Once I started aiming for exactly 2 feet by the hole on putts of 20ft or less and exact distance on longer putts.

  Slow moving dots miss ding slightly in direction of break for the high side and you need not aim outside the hole for shorter putts.

  Remember what Jack Nicholas said that there was no such thing as a breaking 2 ft putt, same is true here to about 4 ft mostly if you go for 2 ft by the hole and miss ding in direction of break.

  Fast moving dots aim a little outside hole and again miss the ding for high side.

  The missed ding is in my view by far the easiest to handle and hit, i found the ding style terribly difficult and a miss in the ding would almost always result in the putt being missed because of the need for a different aim with the ding putting

  A little practice and you will see your putts dropping.

  My 2 cents

• tiffer67 1,764 Posts

  Sun, Dec 25 2011 12:19 AM

  If you find it hard to read putts then you will always struggle to become anything better than average at it. You can however ensure 3 putts are eradicated by finding a formula for pace.

  I have always used the the well known formula;

  Championship Greens -  distance +/- elevation divided by 1.4

  Tournament Greens - distance +/- elevation divided by 1.3

  Very Fast Greens - distance +/- elevation divided by 1.2

  and so on.

  When facing a severe downhill putt I take a bit more off the pace, trial and error eventually gets that right. Once you have pace mastered you can then concentrate more on the break. Again trial and error will eventually get you results, the problem being that it is very difficult to remember where you aimed the previous time, particularly if you play infrequently or across all courses.

  When trying to qualify for the US Open I really struggled with the greens on Congressional. In the end I took extreme measures to get that qualifying score. It took patience and a lot of playing to build up enough shots of what I did for a solution.

  Prior to every putt I lined it up and took a screenshot. I then putted. If I holed it I saved the screenshot without any alteration. If I missed, I took a mental note of where I thought I should have aimed and then drew an arrow onto the saved picture. Like below;

  

  I then had something to refer to during future rounds. It may appear to be something that would take an age to build up enough shots on every green to be effective but it's amazing how often you put your ball in the same area. You may not have the exact distance as previously but it is easier to make adjustments when you have the correct starting point on the line.

  Not for everyone, only those who take the game seriously. You can however reduce the labour required by only doing the above for certain greens, some greens being a lot more difficult than others. I only have a library of screenshots for Congressional and Oakmont, these 2 courses being the ones I find most difficulty on the greens.

• SGTBilko 1,686 Posts

  Sun, Dec 25 2011 4:06 AM

  wildcat18racing6:

  Just my thoughts....I put facing backwards, i think it gives me a better look at the break and a better feel for the put without the avitar being in the way. I always go back to view from front just to kinda comfirm the break. and the three most important things in putting for me are pace pace pace

  Wildcat was the only one to mention it but putting from reverse does give one a far better look at the break.

• LizzieRossetti 1,545 Posts

  Sun, Dec 25 2011 4:38 AM

  Couldn't tell you how I do it because I take a deep breath, mutter an incantation, close my eyes and let go of the meter thing then count to 36 really quickly without using elephanks as a measure and do you know whatty? some of them go in, some of them don't. This is similar to when I would used to aim and watch the whole catastrophe with mine eyes open wide so me reckons either method is as bad as the next with the exception of with the eyes shut closed method one can drift away into dreamy fields of gold by the river and hear the larks sing sweetly up above whilst a fisherman casts a perfect line out to a waiting trout in the nearby babbling brook and all is well with the world with massive iridescent electric blue dragon flies on soundless wings gamboling like spring lambs or Chinook helicopters without the noise hovering above the shimmering water. The iridescent blue colour is just like the ladies eyes who was in the parcel collection bay the other day when I was and she said she was in when the parcel man tried to deliver but he didn't wait long enough for her to get to the door, and in my opinion he should have because her eyes were amazing and she said they were all her own and in that very moment I fell in love with her even though she looked better than I ever could in the mini skirt she was wearing but that doesn't matter when you're in love and you can putt better than her with your eyes shut. They were blo ody marvelous eyes though and I told her so and she smiled and there was that love thing all over again.

  If that helps.

   

  L:-)izzie xx