How to Putt Two-Tiered Greens (Video) - Lesson by PGA Pro Pete Styles
How to Putt Two-Tiered Greens (Video) - Lesson by PGA Pro Pete Styles

So as you’re gaining experience and playing around the golf courses, around the area and playing different golf courses, you’ll start to notice that some golf courses feature very distinctly different levels to their greens. We call these levels tiers, so maybe a two-tiered green or possibly even a three-tiered green. And they’re made deliberately to make life a little bit more difficult for you. So as you’re hitting your pro shot into the green, there’s not just a green to aim for but there’s almost two greens, a green within a green, so an opt for a lower level. Now if you find yourself on the wrong level, it’s not the end of the world but it is more difficult to putt than it would be if you’re on the same plane or the same level. One of the biggest issues is how the tier is going to affect the distance control and the speed of your putt. So if you’re playing down a quite a distinct level, it’s very important you don’t get too aggressive and run the putt past, but likewise playing up the level, again we got to make sure the putt gets up the level and gets up to the hole.

A really good tip here would be to take a bit of extra time reading the putts when you’ve got two levels to play to and maybe even walk forward to the edge of the level. So if I’m playing down towards the camera I would walk forward to the top of the level and just imagine hitting a putt right off the edge and feel whether I need to get the ball just tickling over the edge and running down or there needs to come off that slope with a bit of pace. Then I’d walk back to where my ball originally is and then focus on how hard I need to hit it to get to the point where it would roll down. Almost take it as two separate putts and adding up how hard I need to hit it. And likewise if I’m playing the same sort of putt uphill, I’d walk through the crest of the hill, see whether I need to hit the ball hard from there then walk back down to the bottom of the hill and see how hard I need to be hitting the putt to get it up that slope.

So when you’re on a two-level green or a two-tiered green, it isn’t the end of the world, but it does take a little bit of extra judgement, a little bit of extra reading just to make sure you can focus on two putting. And if you’re on split levels, don’t worry about trying to force the ball into the hole first time. It’s not important trying to one putt those greens. There are difficult greens. Focus on two putting and that will help you improve your score even when you’re on the wrong level of a two-tiered green.

 2012-06-11

So as you’re gaining experience and playing around the golf courses, around the area and playing different golf courses, you’ll start to notice that some golf courses feature very distinctly different levels to their greens. We call these levels tiers, so maybe a two-tiered green or possibly even a three-tiered green. And they’re made deliberately to make life a little bit more difficult for you. So as you’re hitting your pro shot into the green, there’s not just a green to aim for but there’s almost two greens, a green within a green, so an opt for a lower level. Now if you find yourself on the wrong level, it’s not the end of the world but it is more difficult to putt than it would be if you’re on the same plane or the same level. One of the biggest issues is how the tier is going to affect the distance control and the speed of your putt. So if you’re playing down a quite a distinct level, it’s very important you don’t get too aggressive and run the putt past, but likewise playing up the level, again we got to make sure the putt gets up the level and gets up to the hole.

A really good tip here would be to take a bit of extra time reading the putts when you’ve got two levels to play to and maybe even walk forward to the edge of the level. So if I’m playing down towards the camera I would walk forward to the top of the level and just imagine hitting a putt right off the edge and feel whether I need to get the ball just tickling over the edge and running down or there needs to come off that slope with a bit of pace. Then I’d walk back to where my ball originally is and then focus on how hard I need to hit it to get to the point where it would roll down. Almost take it as two separate putts and adding up how hard I need to hit it. And likewise if I’m playing the same sort of putt uphill, I’d walk through the crest of the hill, see whether I need to hit the ball hard from there then walk back down to the bottom of the hill and see how hard I need to be hitting the putt to get it up that slope.

So when you’re on a two-level green or a two-tiered green, it isn’t the end of the world, but it does take a little bit of extra judgement, a little bit of extra reading just to make sure you can focus on two putting. And if you’re on split levels, don’t worry about trying to force the ball into the hole first time. It’s not important trying to one putt those greens. There are difficult greens. Focus on two putting and that will help you improve your score even when you’re on the wrong level of a two-tiered green.