What Affect Does The Grain Have On The Speed That I Should Hit My Golf Putts (Video) - by Pete Styles
What Affect Does The Grain Have On The Speed That I Should Hit My Golf Putts (Video) - by Pete Styles

Now, there’s one thing that we often struggle to see on the TV when we’re watching the PGA Tour players that may make their job of putting a lot harder and we give them credit for it. And that’s the amount of grain that some of the greens they putt on have. Now grain is simply the direction the grass grows and line when they're making their putts. And it has a massive effect on the line and also has a huge effect on pace and distance control. So if all the blades of the grass align in one particular direction and then you're putting down the grain, we will call that a down grain putt. That putt is going to roll a lot faster and therefore it's not going to slow down as quickly around the hole. Unlike well if you play into the grain all the stems of the grass are growing straight towards the golf ball, often has a slightly darker sheen or a darker look to the putt.

That’s going to have the sort of stalks of the grass hitting the ball as the ball is rolling forward. Therefore it's going to slow it down a little bit. Now over in the UK we don’t get so much grain on the greens. But we do get the grains often cut by the grain keepers and we get the dark stripes and the light stripes. And that has a similar effect, that down the light stripe the ball is going to run away from us and into the darker stripe it's going to slow it down a little bit. So we can change the pace of putt that we have. So simply when you're putting if you feel your down grain or into the grain, I'd like to start picking a spot either longer or shorter of the hole to aim for. So if I'm down grain I just aim for a point about a foot short of the hole. Try and get the putts to there and then because it's down grain, it will roll along a little bit further. And likewise if I'm putting back into the grain up that darker stripe I'd pick a spot maybe two feet beyond the hole, be a little bit more positive and try and accelerate through the putt just to encourage it to go past a little bit further. Reading the greens with grain, I now understanding the judgment of pace with the grain, come take a little bit of extra practice time. So if you're starting to play on greens that have a lot more grain on them, where you play golf course where the grain is quite an important factor, spend the night for 10 or 15 minutes on the putting grain before you go out and play, looking at how the grain affects things and consider that in your pre shot routine. So when you're lining up and you're judging think yes slope, but also how does the grain affect this. Make the relevant adjustment in your pre shot, in your practice stroke and then go ahead and execute the stroke with confidence knowing that you’ve read the slope but you’ve also read the grain. 2014-10-14

Now, there’s one thing that we often struggle to see on the TV when we’re watching the PGA Tour players that may make their job of putting a lot harder and we give them credit for it. And that’s the amount of grain that some of the greens they putt on have. Now grain is simply the direction the grass grows and line when they're making their putts. And it has a massive effect on the line and also has a huge effect on pace and distance control. So if all the blades of the grass align in one particular direction and then you're putting down the grain, we will call that a down grain putt. That putt is going to roll a lot faster and therefore it's not going to slow down as quickly around the hole. Unlike well if you play into the grain all the stems of the grass are growing straight towards the golf ball, often has a slightly darker sheen or a darker look to the putt.

That’s going to have the sort of stalks of the grass hitting the ball as the ball is rolling forward. Therefore it's going to slow it down a little bit. Now over in the UK we don’t get so much grain on the greens. But we do get the grains often cut by the grain keepers and we get the dark stripes and the light stripes. And that has a similar effect, that down the light stripe the ball is going to run away from us and into the darker stripe it's going to slow it down a little bit. So we can change the pace of putt that we have. So simply when you're putting if you feel your down grain or into the grain, I'd like to start picking a spot either longer or shorter of the hole to aim for. So if I'm down grain I just aim for a point about a foot short of the hole. Try and get the putts to there and then because it's down grain, it will roll along a little bit further.

And likewise if I'm putting back into the grain up that darker stripe I'd pick a spot maybe two feet beyond the hole, be a little bit more positive and try and accelerate through the putt just to encourage it to go past a little bit further. Reading the greens with grain, I now understanding the judgment of pace with the grain, come take a little bit of extra practice time. So if you're starting to play on greens that have a lot more grain on them, where you play golf course where the grain is quite an important factor, spend the night for 10 or 15 minutes on the putting grain before you go out and play, looking at how the grain affects things and consider that in your pre shot routine. So when you're lining up and you're judging think yes slope, but also how does the grain affect this. Make the relevant adjustment in your pre shot, in your practice stroke and then go ahead and execute the stroke with confidence knowing that you’ve read the slope but you’ve also read the grain.