Golf Tip: What is a "False Front" on a Green, and How Do You Play It? (Video) - by Pete Styles
Golf Tip: What is a "False Front" on a Green, and How Do You Play It? (Video) - by Pete Styles

So a False Front on a Green is a term that we often use as professional golf course designer or even commentators talking about the golf course you're seeing on TV. And a false front is basically where the front of the green although its cut as green is not actually going to be able to retain a golf ball landing on it. So you might have the green sitting nice and flat with like an apron or a bib around the front which is cutters green, but actually you would land the ball in there, and it would always spin off it. You never been able to hold the pot on there, and you never have a whole location there.

So you got the main body of the green with the false front on it. Now the reason why the golf course architect would add a false front to the green is really just to trick the golfer or to trick the eye of the golfer. So when you see the green now you see the short grass, you think where I can land the ball on that that will be fine. But the false front means that if you did land the ball on that it would come to back to you, it would spin. You couldn't roll the ball up the hill and onto the green. It would be too steep a slope. You might remember some false fronts on the greens either seen on the TV. Guess one of the most famous one is probably the false front on number 9 Augusta is par 4 around the corner and you'll often see players they would land the ball nicely on the green, and that's a good shot and then it rolls back and it rolls all the 40-50 yards almost back to them. So you know playing a false front is quite important that you assess where the false front is and actually where the real green starts and the real green might be 10 or 15 paces up from the front edge. It's quite important than that you don’t let your eye get drawn to the false front, but you actually replace that in your minds that with where's the real green start. What's the yardage to that? And most importantly which club do I need to select to get over the false front to get to the real front so I can keep the ball on the green. Also when you're chipping and pitching on to these false fronted greens there could be cases where you need to fly the ball high with a lofted club up and over the false fronts so it lands on the green and stops, or if there's a false front here you might actually play a bump and run, you might decide you play a little sort of knock down 7 iron landed on that false front and run it up over the ridge. But either way is well worth noticing where the false front is, where the real front is, where can I get the ball to land and stick and then make that calculation in your head that I need to clear the false but get to the real bit, that way you'll have the ball on the putting surface not half way on, and then rolling back down to your feet. So be careful of the golf architecture trick of placing a false front around the green. 2013-09-16

So a False Front on a Green is a term that we often use as professional golf course designer or even commentators talking about the golf course you're seeing on TV. And a false front is basically where the front of the green although its cut as green is not actually going to be able to retain a golf ball landing on it. So you might have the green sitting nice and flat with like an apron or a bib around the front which is cutters green, but actually you would land the ball in there, and it would always spin off it. You never been able to hold the pot on there, and you never have a whole location there.

So you got the main body of the green with the false front on it. Now the reason why the golf course architect would add a false front to the green is really just to trick the golfer or to trick the eye of the golfer. So when you see the green now you see the short grass, you think where I can land the ball on that that will be fine. But the false front means that if you did land the ball on that it would come to back to you, it would spin. You couldn't roll the ball up the hill and onto the green. It would be too steep a slope. You might remember some false fronts on the greens either seen on the TV. Guess one of the most famous one is probably the false front on number 9 Augusta is par 4 around the corner and you'll often see players they would land the ball nicely on the green, and that's a good shot and then it rolls back and it rolls all the 40-50 yards almost back to them.

So you know playing a false front is quite important that you assess where the false front is and actually where the real green starts and the real green might be 10 or 15 paces up from the front edge. It's quite important than that you don’t let your eye get drawn to the false front, but you actually replace that in your minds that with where's the real green start. What's the yardage to that? And most importantly which club do I need to select to get over the false front to get to the real front so I can keep the ball on the green. Also when you're chipping and pitching on to these false fronted greens there could be cases where you need to fly the ball high with a lofted club up and over the false fronts so it lands on the green and stops, or if there's a false front here you might actually play a bump and run, you might decide you play a little sort of knock down 7 iron landed on that false front and run it up over the ridge.

But either way is well worth noticing where the false front is, where the real front is, where can I get the ball to land and stick and then make that calculation in your head that I need to clear the false but get to the real bit, that way you'll have the ball on the putting surface not half way on, and then rolling back down to your feet. So be careful of the golf architecture trick of placing a false front around the green.