Image Up Advertising & Design

22 | SUN LAKES LIFESTYLES | NOVEMBER 2021 | By Brian Garlington, PGA, Director of Golf While so many golfers focus on the long game, it's the short game, especially putting that helps you score well. Green reading is half the battle of becoming a good putter and with help from the following article you can become the "Boss of the Moss." What is reading the green or putt? Reading a green or putt is imagining, visualizing, picturing, guessing, or foreseeing the line/path on which the ball will roll once struck. Some putts will be straight, but most of them will break -- some very slightly and some enormously. What factors go into reading a putt? Judging a putt is a combination of speed (how fast or slow the ball will roll and, therefore, how far it will travel) and line (direction). Gravity and friction act on the ball over time, so the more slowly the ball rolls the more it will break and vice versa. What factors affect speed and line? • Slope • Grass length • Moisture level in, and on, the grass • Base (firmness of green) • Wind • Grain (mainly on thick-bladed grasses) — Some general help with grain: • it mainly effects the ball as the ball slows down. • the ball will be influenced in the direction that the grain grows. • it usually grows toward the setting sun or toward the closest body of water. • you can usually see the grain either by the shininess of the grass (shiny = grain is going away from you; dull = grain is coming toward you) or by looking at the cup (the brown or rough looking side of the cup is the down-grain side) Tips that will help: • Get your eyes down lower. The closer your eyes get to the level of the plane you're trying to see the better your perspective. • Get any information you can from approaching chips and putts, especially if they are on a similar line to the putt you have. Also, pay close attention to how the ball behaves as it slows down and gets near the hole. • Look from the low side of the hole. This is just another way of getting your eyes lower. Of course, this only works on putts where you can tell which side is the low side. • Get far enough away from what you're looking at to give yourself a good angle or perspective. A good place to start, at least on shorter putts, is to get back as far away from the ball as the ball is from the hole. • Take a look from the side of the putting line (approximately perpendicular to the intended line of the putt). This helps you to see if the putt is uphill or downhill. • Imagine pouring a bucket of water on the green between your ball and the hole, which way would the water run? The ball always breaks to the low side! Judging the speed and line of your putts can be obvious or very subtle from putt to putt. But with a little time and experience and lots of trial and error anybody can develop the ability to read greens. Good golfing! Boss of the Moss

• Cover