Tips for Reading the Green in Golf

Video Transcript

" Hi! I am Jason Wyatt, head golf professional at Sunnydale Golf & Country Club and on behalf of Expert Village.com, I am here today to show you how to properly read a putting green. Here we are on our second hole. I have just hit a shot within about 6 to 8 feet of the hole. One of the biggest things that lot of amateurs do is they get up to the putt, they look at the hole and they bang it straight in. Now let me tell you there are a lot of slopes on these green and balls can move left to right very easily. My first tip when reading a putting green is get behind your golf ball, look at the hole and think you have a pail of water in your hands and what you are going to do is, you are going to pour the water onto the green and find out where the water is going to run. For instance this putt here, I am rolling my pail of water and the water is going to flow down here to the far side. That means my putt is going to be moving right to left. So that means that when I aim, I have to aim a little further right. A lot of my amateurs ask me, when I am teaching them, how do I know how far to aim right. That comes with a lot of practice; a lot of practice on the putting green, getting different breaks involved, but the biggest thing you have to remember is that take the bucket of water, roll the bucket of water, splash it, where is the water going to go. You are going to be able to know exactly where to make that putt and remember I rolled my water; it is going to the left, so my putt is going to break right to left, and so I have to aim outside the hole. This is just one way for you to remember how to read a putting green. Use that drill; it will help you out there a lot."