Using your feet to read greens in this exercise will help you pot more putts
Try reading greens with your feet, which will result in more successful putts
YouTube / GOLFTEC
No matter how well you hit the ball, how accurate you are with your irons, or how skillful you are on the greens, your putting is the most important factor affecting your scorecard.
Putting can make or break your round. When your flatstick is hot, you have the confidence to roll it well. If it’s shaky, you’re probably seeing more 3 putts than you care to admit.
The basics of AimPoint’s green reading explained in 30 seconds
Zephyr Melton
While mastering the art of putting takes a lot of practice and patience, there are easy ways to improve this area of your game. One of them is highlighted in the exercise below by Patrick Nuber, GOLFTEC’s Director of Instructional Quality. This exercise will improve your green reading by challenging you to use your feet to find the two straightest putts around a hole.
How to use your feet to read greens
For those looking for a simple step-by-step breakdown of Nuber’s exercise, read below, which includes a few images to better highlight what he’s explaining in the video.
1. Stop using only your eyes
While we all rely on our eyes to guide us through life, on the golf course it’s best to use other tools to read greens properly.
Nuber notes that course architects try to fool players with “the amount of ups, downs, and left-to-right breaks you think you see”.
In other words, you can’t always count on your eyes to see everything the green has to offer. Your feet can also reveal important information.
2. Walk around the hole in a 12 foot radius
To train your feet to read greens, walk in a 12 foot radius around the hole and feel with your feet what you think is the high point and then the low point.
“Watch your feet,” he says. “Identify the subtle change in walking from going downhill to going uphill and from going uphill to going down.”
3. Use a tee to mark straight putt lines
When you think you’ve reached the climax, mark that spot with a T-marker. Then repeat this process for the bottom. But, Nuber says, don’t always assume this is the flattest part of the green.
“Often the straightest putts are on directly opposite sides of the hole, but that’s not always the case. Also, 90 degrees from the straight are the putts that break the most for that particular hole location.”
4. Test your accuracy
Now that you’ve walked the green, felt the changes from uphill to downhill and vice versa, and done your best to identify the ups and downs, it’s time to test your skills. Hit a putt from any spot. If the putts are rolling straight, you have hit.
Because this putting drill is often new to golfers, it’s important to practice it frequently, which will only improve your ability to read greens.
If you have trouble with the practice, never hesitate to ask a nearby teacher or trainer for help.
https://golf.com/instruction/putting/using-feet-to-read-greens-golftec-patrick-nuber/ Using your feet to read greens in this exercise will help you pot more putts