Tips for Evaluating a Golf Green

Video Transcript

"JOHNNY MILES: In this clip, I'm going to go over a mental strategy that you might want to use prior to the round, perhaps in a practice round. When you get up on the green, look back at the hole, and you'll notice that once we're up here on the green, there's plenty of room here. From back on the tee, 185 yards away, this looks like a very, very tiny target. When in reality, there's plenty of room out here, okay? And you know that, let's say the pin is back right, you can miss it in the back right and have plenty of room to get it up and down. Or you can play it over here to the middle of the green and have a relatively simple up-the-hill putt. Again, the way this green is shaped, it angles from front left to back right. The carry to the back right portion of the green is almost 20 yards further than the front left. You need to know that information when you're standing back there on the tee so you pull the proper club, aim it over here left to the hole in case you miss it a little bit and still leave yourself a relatively simple putt. Thinking about things like this, looking at the hole from the green back during a practice round, make mental, or better yet, written notes about it, so when you come to this tee during actual tournament play, you've got a pretty good idea of where you want to leave it on the green for a safe play to get yourself an easy two-putt par or perhaps make a long putt for birdie."