There are a lot of different golf putting training aids available for sale today, but, regardless of what you choose you need to be able to read the break of the green if you are planning to consistently make putts.

There are many different approaches to determine the break on the green.  Something that all golfers should do is to examine the position of your ball relative to the hole before getting onto the green itself.  Simillar to water, a golf ball rolls down hill.  When you look at the golf green from afar, just think about where the water will collect if it starts raining.  That is the overall downward slope of the green and water will accumulate in certain areas.

That appears to be simple enough, but how are you aware specifically how much to play the break?  One easy approach for pinpointing the break is to utilize the pendulum technique for reading the break.  To accomplish this is relatively straightforward.  Initially, stand behind the ball and take a position with your feet apart and straddle the imaginary line from the ball to the pin.  You have to make your stance so that both feet are an the same distance from the imaginary line.  Which means that an imaginary line drawn from the hole to the golf ball passes directly through the middle of your body.

After that, grip the putter with two fingers just next to the butt of the putter so that the putter can swing much like a pendulum.  The club should easily move from right to left if you are carrying this out correctly.  Then, close your non-dominate eye – this is going to be your left eye if you are right handed, or your right eye if you are left handed.  Lineup the shaft of the club with the golf ball using your dominate eye and then look where the shaft is pointing next to the cup.  This is the point where you aim your putt for the break.  

For instance, if the shaft lines up two inches to the left of the cup, then the golf ball will break two inches right.  All you have to do is then aim to that point.  This technique is a simple one to accomplish and is very effective on bent grass greens.  Greens with bent grass usually do not have much grain that also affects how far the golf ball breaks.  If you are on Bermuda greens, then you also need to take into consideration the direction the grass is growing – towards the low points, in the direction of any water or in the direction of the low point of the golf course.  The golf ball will break more, or less, dependant upon where the grain is growing – more toward the grain and less against the grain.

Check out these putting tips the next time you go to the course.  You will see that, with practice, these approaches will make improvements to your putting accuracy.

Filed under: Golf

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