You're Correct!

Reading the line on your breaking putts can be a difficult task, so when the length of the putt increases, the difficulty increases dramatically.

When you speak to other people, they tell you to aim at the apex and your ball will break from there. The truth is that aiming to hit your putt to the apex is incorrect, if you do then you will see your ball break across the front of the hole and miss on the low side.

The most important factor you need to account for on any breaking putt is gravity, even more so when the putt gets longer and the amount of break increases. The biggest thing to understand when it comes to gravity is that it will effect the roll of your putt immediately after you make contact with your ball. This means that if you putt to an apex then your ball is running towards the hole below the apex from the moment you strike your putt and your ball will break across the front of the hole.

You need to practise looking at your putts in a different way so the next time youre on the practise green, go to an area where you have a big breaking putt. Place your ball down around 20 to 25 feet away and then step back to view the line. As youre crouched behind your ball, try to visualize your ball running towards the hole and falling into the cup. Move around three feet to the low side of the putt, because it is along this line that you want to start your putt. Take your set up and stroke your putt. You will now have started your ball on a truer line and you will see your putt move towards the hole on a better line. If you get the speed right then you will start to hole more of these putts.

The problem with trying to hit your putt to an apex point is that gravity will not let your ball roll in that direction, so your putt will always be travelling towards the hole below the line you intended it to.

Aiming to a point at the side of the hole is a common fault due to you crouching behind your ball and just picking out a point through guessing. When you crouched looking down the line, you must imagine your ball rolling towards the hole if you are to have any chance of picking the true line of your putt.

People say that the line of a putt is dead straight, right up until it reaches the final quarter of the putt and then breaks as it slows down. The only way a putt will roll in this manner is if the putt is a straight putt and as it slows down, your ball hits an imperfection in the green that knock it off line, and your ball becomes out of shape.