Play to High Spot on Big-Breaking Putts (Video) - by Pete Styles
Play to High Spot on Big-Breaking Putts (Video) - by Pete Styles

If you're putting on big curving, breaking greens that can often cause golfers some confusion. So here's a couple of little guidelines I would like you to work on, just to help you on the really big swinging putts. And don't forget, greens that are faster will break more, so even if the green doesn't look too slopey, if it's very, very quick, you need to allow for more break.

The first thing I'd consider you trying to do is always to get the ball to roll in towards the hole from the top side, what we call the pro side, because as soon as the golf ball goes below the hole, it's often running away. It can never turn back uphill, so the ball will never topple in from the low side. It's got the most lowered chance. But if you can leave the ball in what we call the pro side, the top side, it's always curving towards the hole. It's got a much more chance of dropping in.

And just to really encourage you to get the ball rolling down that pro side, that top side, try and pick a point on the green that you think is kind of the apex of the curve if you like, the top of the curve, where the ball would start to curve and break. And then when you're lining up, you're aiming just to the top side of that apex point. You're hitting the ball nicely towards the apex, get the ball to there and then it will start to curve in.

It's really important that you make your stroke towards that object, towards that point, and you don't follow through towards the hole. We often see people that naturally get drawn to hitting the ball towards the hole even though they can see that it's going to break.

So, effectively, every putt you take, every stroke you make is a straight putt. You just need to aim at a different point. So, don't be too taken by where the hole is, particularly on the big breakers. Aim well to one side, pick your object until you point on the apex, hit in a straight line towards that, keep the ball on the top side and roll it gently down towards the hole.

And just be careful of your speed, because ultimately when the ball is coming back in towards the hole on the big breaking putt, it will be rolling downhill and if it misses the hole, it will keep running downhill after the hole. So, just be careful of your speed, don't be too aggressive. If it's got a big break, just think about lagging the ball up close to the hole and then tapping your next putt in.

 2012-08-07

If you're putting on big curving, breaking greens that can often cause golfers some confusion. So here's a couple of little guidelines I would like you to work on, just to help you on the really big swinging putts. And don't forget, greens that are faster will break more, so even if the green doesn't look too slopey, if it's very, very quick, you need to allow for more break.

The first thing I'd consider you trying to do is always to get the ball to roll in towards the hole from the top side, what we call the pro side, because as soon as the golf ball goes below the hole, it's often running away. It can never turn back uphill, so the ball will never topple in from the low side. It's got the most lowered chance. But if you can leave the ball in what we call the pro side, the top side, it's always curving towards the hole. It's got a much more chance of dropping in.

And just to really encourage you to get the ball rolling down that pro side, that top side, try and pick a point on the green that you think is kind of the apex of the curve if you like, the top of the curve, where the ball would start to curve and break. And then when you're lining up, you're aiming just to the top side of that apex point. You're hitting the ball nicely towards the apex, get the ball to there and then it will start to curve in.

It's really important that you make your stroke towards that object, towards that point, and you don't follow through towards the hole. We often see people that naturally get drawn to hitting the ball towards the hole even though they can see that it's going to break.

So, effectively, every putt you take, every stroke you make is a straight putt. You just need to aim at a different point. So, don't be too taken by where the hole is, particularly on the big breakers. Aim well to one side, pick your object until you point on the apex, hit in a straight line towards that, keep the ball on the top side and roll it gently down towards the hole.

And just be careful of your speed, because ultimately when the ball is coming back in towards the hole on the big breaking putt, it will be rolling downhill and if it misses the hole, it will keep running downhill after the hole. So, just be careful of your speed, don't be too aggressive. If it's got a big break, just think about lagging the ball up close to the hole and then tapping your next putt in.