Reading greens is fundamental

Going into the final round of the 2002 U.S. Women's Open at Prairie Dunes Country Club, Juli Inkster trailed Annika Sorenstam by two strokes. Sorenstam was the favorite, having won six of her 12 tournaments this year, and she had hit an amazing 75 percent of her greens in regulation through three rounds. But Inkster would finish with a pretty awesome stat, too: 26.25 putts per round.

On Sunday, a turning point came on the eighth hole, where Sorenstam stood over a 5-foot putt for par. "This is the type of putt that you must make to win a U.S. Open," said NBC's Johnny Miller. But Sorenstam's putt rolled through the break with too much speed, missing on the high side of the hole.

Inkster, on the other hand, holed putt after putt on Sunday, including those crucial par-savers. On greens that were humped, bumped and sloping, Inkster finished her four rounds in only 105 putts. (That's the equivalent of 39-under par on the greens, if you allow two putts per hole.) With her brilliant putting, Inkster beat Sorenstam by two strokes and won her seventh major championship.

Miller called the greens at Prairie Dunes the toughest to putt that he had ever seen. So what was the secret behind Inkster's magical onslaught of one-putts? Simply this: She did the best job of reading the greens. Inkster's victory in Kansas proved that while a dependable putting stroke is important, the key to holing putts is knowledge of the surface you are putting on.

Know the surface

Before addressing the ball, walk beside the line of your putt, from the ball to the hole. Feel through your feet whether the surface is hard (which promotes a faster roll) or soft (which promotes a slower roll). Feel also whether you are walking downhill (which will make the putt faster) or uphill (slower). When you arrive at the hole, look closely to see how the grass lies around it. Since the ball is moving at its slowest when it nears the hole, the grain of the grass will influence it more there.

Establish the high side

Looking at your putt from the low side (from behind the hole on a downhill putt, from behind the ball on an uphill putt), establish which is the high side of the hole. If the hole tilts to the right, for instance, then the high side is on the left.

Speed determines break

In the lesson on zone putting, we learned how to control the speed at which the ball rolls to the hole. After you have identified the high side, determine how fast you would like the ball to be rolling as it enters the hole. This, in turn, will tell you how much break to allow for. If you want the ball to roll at one step extra speed, you can play the putt on a more direct line to the high side of the hole. If you decide to roll it with less speed, you will need to calculate more break in the roll of the ball.

Positive projection

Now that you have calculated the slope, the speed and the direction, make practice strokes over the ball. Picture in your mind how you would like the ball to roll across the green and into the hole.

READING DRILL

Here's a great way to practice reading greens. Take a chalk-line string onto the golf course late in the day, when it's empty. Looking over your putt, lay the string out on the green to the high side of the hole, estimating the amount of break according to how fast you're going to roll the ball to the hole. If you want the ball to roll faster, lay the string down on a pretty direct line to the hole. If you plan to roll it slower, allow for more break and lay the string down with more of an arc. This drill will help you develop a better sense for the high side of the hole and show you how your ball rolls in reference to that point. You may also discover that many of your missed putts are not caused by your stroke, but come as a result of mis-reads on the green.

© 2002 Rob Stanger

Rob Stanger is teaching professional at the Mission Hills Country Club Golf Learning Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Contact him at robstanger.com.

 

Related information

Stories

John Garrity's Mats Only Archive Rob Stanger's Lesson Tee Archive

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video