2005-07-07

Putting on Faster Unfamiliar Greens

This is a tip handed down from my scratch golfer Grandfather, to my close to scratch golfing father many years ago - and it was just recently handed down to me. The funny thing is that my father almost whispered it to me and followed it up with a "now don't tell anybody this, we're trying to win here."

Not that anyone in my family is competitive or anything..

I am fairly confident that my father is way too busy to be looking at my golf site here so I am going to go ahead and risk the wrath of my father (and any future golf wisdoms from him) by sharing this little putting tip with you.

That said, here is the tip: when you are playing a different golf course that has fast greens - greens that are faster than you normally play, here is a little trick to learning their speed and bringing it right out on the course with you. When you are on the practice putting green, only practice downhill putts. This gives your brain a chance take in how the putts roll out. A better chance than if you are practicing flat putts. Practicing fast putts uphill does you no good (except warming up / grooving your stroke). On unfamiliar greens your goal is to try and get the feel of the green's speed ASAP - you don't want to wait to get the speed figured out somewhere on the back nine like everybody else - get it before teeing off.

Pick a spot where you are as downhill as you can reasonably be on the practice green and roll a dozen 20-foot putts. By the end of that couple of minutes your brain will have seen and gauged the speed; you should then be able to lag putts accurately on the very first hole whether flat, uphill, sidehill, or downhill. And your brain can figure out the break as well if it knows the speed so you should be able to lag it close.

So from now on, when you?re on the practice green, make sure you roll a bunch of downhill putts and you should be better prepared for the correct speed needed on the course. YMMV but as I said earlier, this tip does not come from me, the triple dubs' worst putter; it comes from an old family recipe that was handed down from generation to generation. Oh yeah, please don?t email me asking about my Grandmother?s macadamia nut cookie recipe ? that one will remain a family secret?

If any of you know my father, then you know the wrath I speak of, and please keep the fact that you read this tip from me here on the DL

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