How to read greens: Putting performance principles

For our first episode, we’ll be looking at how to read greens. In this series as a whole, you will be asked to consider the ‘art of putting’. This will involve ensuring that your mind is in the best place to allow your putting stroke to come out on a more natural basis. The ultimate aim of the series is to help you to hole more putts, shoot lower scores and have more fun on the golf course.

How to read greens

You may be confident about line and pace when it comes to putting but another important aspect to holing a putt is reading greens. Often people struggle to read greens because they don’t know what they are looking for.

Here are the 5 steps to read greens:

Step 1: Read from the low side. You can gather a lot more information about the green, by reading from the low side, than you can from any other angle.

Step 2: Ensure that both hole and ball are in peripheral vision. Stand back because the closer you get to the line, the less you can see.

Step 3: Survey the putt from a good distance. As a rule-of-thumb if you’ve got a 20 foot putt, move 20′ back.

Step 4: Use your eyes and your feet to look for clues. As you walk up to the putt, use your eyes and your feet to find bumps and changes in elevation.

Step 5: Stand close to the hole for better depth perception. If you only judge the putt from down the line, your perception of the depth can affect your concept of the distance from the ball to the hole.

About Gary and Karl

Gary Nicol is a European Tour coach and co-founder of T-PEGS

Renowned European Tour coach, TrackMan Master and Certified Mind Factor coach Gary Nicol is available for private coaching at Archerfield Links. Gary has successfully coached golfers of all abilities over a 25 year period and spent 16 years traveling around the world. He has worked with over 30 Tour Pros including numerous tournament winners and Ryder Cup players.

Gary offers a range of private coaching programmes including individual one hour lessons. He also offers playing lessons, half day programmes, full day programmes and on-course coaching experiences. Personalised video lessons and analysis can be delivered direct to your email address and smartphone. From there you can watch and learn from, wherever and whenever you want. Contact us for more information and bookings.

TPEGS uses Trackman to provide you with essential detailed clubhead and ball flight data. Read more on Performance Principles Coaching Experiences at TPEGS and why Gary Nicol chooses to work with Trackman. “Trackman is without question, the finest teaching and club fitting tool I have used in 25 years of coaching golf.” – Gary Nicol.

Dr. Karl Morris is a mind coach and P.G.A consultant.

Dr Karl Morris is one of Europe’s leading Mind Coaches, delivering cutting edge methods of peak performance and goal achievement to a range of clients across sports and business.

From the world of golf, he has worked with players such as Darren Clarke, David Howell, and Lee Westwood.

A consultant to the PGA of Great Britain and Europe he has presented seminars all over the world.