Matching the break you play to the pace of the putt

What is actually happening

Slope acts on a ball for as long as it keeps rolling, so the same putt takes more break when it is rolled softly and less when it is firm. Reading a line without deciding a pace, or hitting a different pace than the read assumed, misses on either side.

The fix

Drills

Work through them in order. Each one says what it needs before you start.

1. 1

   One start line, three paces

   On the practice green, find a putt of about four paces with a clear break. Read it for a pace that would finish a little past the hole, then push two tees into the green a putter head's length in front of the ball, either side of that start line and just wider apart than a ball. Roll three balls through the gate: one meant to die at the hole, one to finish a putter's length past and one to finish two lengths past. Watch which side of the hole each passes. Do five rounds. Success is the softest ball finishing lowest and the firmest highest in every round, with the middle one holed or passing within a ball's width of the hole in at least three rounds. Then repeat on a putt breaking the other way.

   Needs Two tees

2. 2

   Say the pace before the read

   Choose six breaking putts of three to six paces around one practice hole, each from a different side. At each, say the pace out loud before you look at the slope, such as a putter's length past. Only then read the line for that pace, pick a mark on the start line and roll one ball. Note each miss as above or below the hole, and short or long. Go round the six three times. Success is a round with no paired misses (below and short, or above and long) and at least four finishing inside a putter's length. Once you manage that twice running, take the routine onto the course and note your missed breaking putts on the scorecard the same way.

   Needs nothing but a club

3. 3

   Around the clock at one pace

   Find a hole on a gentle, even slope and push six tees into the green in a circle around it, each a putter's length away: one straight below the hole, one straight above and the rest across the slope. From each tee, read the putt for one pace, a ball that would finish a little past the hole, and roll it. Putts straight up or down the slope barely break, putts across it break most, and of those, the ones from above the hole break more. Do three circuits. Success is five of six holed on two circuits in a row. Then move the tees out to two putter lengths, and later to three.

   Needs Six tees

4. 4

   Start above the high point

   On a putt of five or six paces with plenty of break, read the line for your chosen pace and push a tee into the green at the high point of the curve you see, just below where the ball should pass. Roll three balls with the face aimed straight at the tee and watch them fall away below it. Then choose a start mark above the tee so the ball passes just above it, and roll five. Success is four of five passing above the tee without touching it and finishing within a putter's length of the hole. Then take the tee away, pick the start mark by eye, and put the tee back every fifth putt as a check.

   Needs A tee

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Checkpoints

What to look for to know whether the change has taken.

• Before you look at the slope, you can say where the ball will finish if it misses, such as a putter's length past the hole.
• Your aim mark in front of the ball sits on a start line that runs above the high point of the curve you pictured, not through it.
• Missed breaking putts finish a little past the hole on either side, rather than pairing up below and short or above and long.
• On a flat putt of three paces, five balls rolled with one stroke start on your line and finish within a putter's length of each other.
• Filmed face-on, your practice strokes and the real stroke are the same length.

Feels

A feel is not a description of what the club does. It is whatever gets your body to do it, and a correct change usually feels exaggerated long before it looks correct.

• You roll the ball up onto the slope at a point above the hole and let the hill bring it back down.
• The stroke is already sized by your practice strokes, and the real one only repeats it.
• You are sending the ball to a spot a little beyond the hole, and the hole is on its way there.

Symptoms that lead here

Each of these can resolve to this cause. If the page above does not match what you are seeing, start from the symptom instead and let the questions narrow it.

• Misreading the breakPutts you struck the way you meant take more or less break than you allowed for, and miss, often below the hole on the low side.The usual cause of this
• Uphill putts come up short, downhill putts run awayFlat putts finish about the right length, but uphill putts die well short of the hole and downhill putts race past it or bend far more than you played for.The usual cause of this
• I can't putt on grainy greensOn Bermuda or other grainy greens, putts into the grain pull up short, putts down the grain run past, and the ball bends in ways the slope on its own does not explain.The usual cause of this
• Three-putting too oftenToo many greens take three putts or more, usually because the first putt leaves a second that is longer or harder than it should be.
• No distance control on the greensLong putts finish well short or well past the hole, so the first putt seldom leaves you a tap-in.
• Putts from off the green come up short or hop offlinePutting from the fringe or the fairway, the ball bounces through the longer grass and dies well short, or you give it plenty to make up for that and it races past.

What this rests on

• Search for the Perfect Swing: The Proven Scientific Approach to Fundamentally Improving Your GameAlastair Cochran and John Stobbs, for the Golf Society of Great Britain, 2005 reissue, originally 1968

Discussion

Golfers who have worked on this fault, on what helped and what did not. Read it as experience rather than evidence.