Fast Greens, How Should I Adjust Putting On Fast Greens (Video) - by Pete Styles
Fast Greens, How Should I Adjust Putting On Fast Greens (Video) - by Pete Styles

One of the really great things about the game of golf is that we don’t play golf on exactly the same type of golf course with exactly the same weather conditions or the same ground conditions week to week; we have to change our approach very regularly. And this question really relates to how can we change our putting when we are putting on a fast greens? So fast greens might be they’ve just been cut for the tournament it’s a nice bright hot summer’s day or even just a lot of times when we leave ourselves downhill putts, what adjustments do we as golfers need to make to haul the most number of putts on those greens?

A couple of adjustments really one of them relates in the speed that we hit the putter. So if we’ve got a fast green we know the ball doesn’t need as much hitting before it gets running to the hole maybe even runs past the hole leaves a tricky three putt coming back. So we want to make actually a slightly shorter stroke so the putting stroke we make wouldn’t have as much back swing but it should still be nice accelerating through. One of the biggest forms I see on fast greens people decelerating into the putt, they have the normal length backswing, then they remember the green is quick and they decelerates that’s a bit of a problem. We want it to be nice and positive even though the green is quick we don’t want to decelerate. One of the changes we can make to the way we actually view the putt is if we’re are getting caught up by the fact that fast green is quicker than we normally expect we simply just need to pick a spot that’s shot of the hole. Maybe pick a spot that’s about 18 inches short, putt towards that with your normal stroke, because the green is quick the ball will roll on a little bit further, and get up to the hole even though you are only aiming for it to be a bit shorter. So those are the adjustments you need to make in terms of the speed. Now one adjustment that we need to make in terms of the line is that generally fast greens will break more, you’ll actually have to aim wider of the hole because you are on a fast green. And that’s because on a fast green you hit the ball and it rolls more slowly for longer so on a fast green the ball is rolling slowly for longer as it slows down and curves in generally you will take a lot more break. On slow greens we can hit the ball faster it goes faster and it slows down really quickly it goes fast slow stop but a fast putt would go fast slow, slow, slow, and then it would curve in. So on a fast green you need to have a positive stroke but slightly shorter stroke, you could aim for something that’s not next to the hole but short to the hole, and then allow for a lot more curve and brake; and they are I think are the three best adjustments you could make on fast greens. 2014-10-10

One of the really great things about the game of golf is that we don’t play golf on exactly the same type of golf course with exactly the same weather conditions or the same ground conditions week to week; we have to change our approach very regularly. And this question really relates to how can we change our putting when we are putting on a fast greens? So fast greens might be they’ve just been cut for the tournament it’s a nice bright hot summer’s day or even just a lot of times when we leave ourselves downhill putts, what adjustments do we as golfers need to make to haul the most number of putts on those greens?

A couple of adjustments really one of them relates in the speed that we hit the putter. So if we’ve got a fast green we know the ball doesn’t need as much hitting before it gets running to the hole maybe even runs past the hole leaves a tricky three putt coming back. So we want to make actually a slightly shorter stroke so the putting stroke we make wouldn’t have as much back swing but it should still be nice accelerating through. One of the biggest forms I see on fast greens people decelerating into the putt, they have the normal length backswing, then they remember the green is quick and they decelerates that’s a bit of a problem.

We want it to be nice and positive even though the green is quick we don’t want to decelerate. One of the changes we can make to the way we actually view the putt is if we’re are getting caught up by the fact that fast green is quicker than we normally expect we simply just need to pick a spot that’s shot of the hole. Maybe pick a spot that’s about 18 inches short, putt towards that with your normal stroke, because the green is quick the ball will roll on a little bit further, and get up to the hole even though you are only aiming for it to be a bit shorter.

So those are the adjustments you need to make in terms of the speed. Now one adjustment that we need to make in terms of the line is that generally fast greens will break more, you’ll actually have to aim wider of the hole because you are on a fast green. And that’s because on a fast green you hit the ball and it rolls more slowly for longer so on a fast green the ball is rolling slowly for longer as it slows down and curves in generally you will take a lot more break. On slow greens we can hit the ball faster it goes faster and it slows down really quickly it goes fast slow stop but a fast putt would go fast slow, slow, slow, and then it would curve in.

So on a fast green you need to have a positive stroke but slightly shorter stroke, you could aim for something that’s not next to the hole but short to the hole, and then allow for a lot more curve and brake; and they are I think are the three best adjustments you could make on fast greens.