Tour putting coach Ralph Bauer teaches us how to properly judge break
Without understanding why we’re missing putts, we often misdiagnose our putting struggles as technical ones when the issue might be that we don’t read the greens well enough.
Ralph Bauer, a Canada-based putting coach who works with multiple PGA Tour players, has long studied the art and science of green reading. We chatted with him about how we can read greens better and make more putts during a recent webinar. The following Q&A selected from the webinar has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.
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When you’re walking up to the green and approaching a putt, what is a good routine for reading the break?
That’s excellent because green reading does start with when we’re walking up to the green. As I’m walking up, I want to start thinking about where the low side is. If a putt is breaking right to left, I’m going to go to the left side of the putt.
We’ve all had a putt that we really want to make, so we did a whole 360 walk around it, and we got more confused. I’m going to stand halfway between the ball and the hole on the low side of the hole, forming a triangle between me, the ball and the hole. This is going to be the best view I ever have.
The mistake people make is they look directly at the path between the ball and the hole. We want to look a foot below the line and a foot higher. Do that and think to yourself, What’s going to be higher, that point or this point? Keep comparing those two points, above the line and below the line, and you’ll be able to ascertain the break more.
Remember, do all of this from the low side of the putt. I did a study and found that if we’re reading a putt from above the line, we underestimate the slope by about 25 percent.
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Should we factor in wind when reading greens?
I had a player at the Masters, and on the ninth green, he had about a six-footer. He thought it was going to break 10 inches. The wind was howling. He gave it an extra foot of break and knocked it in, but that was an extreme example. The slope was severe, and the green was 13 on the Stimpmeter.
If you’re on a faster green or a downhill putt where the ball is going to be rolling longer and slower, the wind will affect it more. If you’ve got an uphill putt on a slow green, and you’re hitting it hard, it’s going to slow down quickly, and the wind is not going to affect it much.
Generally speaking, I tell people to ignore the wind because it’s pretty hard to judge, unless it’s a super-fast green and very exposed. You need to know that if it’s a super-windy day, two out of 10 putts will get blown offline. You’d rather have that than guessing the wind and bringing doubt into it.
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If we have 10 minutes to warm up on the practice green before a round, what should we do?
First, I would find a straight putt, and hit a few putts from five feet to make sure that we’re hitting the putt solidly and get a feel for our stroke that day. Then I would hit 10 putts to no target – just hitting putts and watching the ball roll out. You will get a feel for the speed that day. With no target to putt to, it’s a nice way to feel a smooth stroke.
Then I’d hit some shorter putts with a pretty decent slope, so we can match up our line and speed. It’s a little more challenging, but it’s a good way to get us going for the day.
illustration by daniel zalkus
