Use this simple green-reading trick to make more putts

Putting is a skill that can be a great equalizer on the course. If you can sink putts with consistency, it can cover up a lot of holes elsewhere elsewhere in your game.

Becoming a great putter takes lots of practice — and requires you to have a feel for two distinct skills. One is your ability to read the greens, and the other is the ability to hit the ball with the proper speed. If you have one but not the other, it won’t matter how pure your stroke is, you won’t make many putts.

The beautiful thing about these two skills is that they are complementary skills. Your line has to match your speed for the ball to go in. That means that you can have a slightly different read than another golfer, but you can both make the same putt simply based on how you marry line and speed.

In the video below, Lifetime GOLF Top 100 Teacher Peter Kostis explains how you can use this knowledge to make more putts.

A speed trick to make more putts

You can hit a putt with the “correct” line but still not hole it. That’s because you’ve got to get the line and speed to match one another.

You can practice this skill by following Kostis’ advice. First, hit a putt that has a ton of break and play it way outside the hole. If it comes up short, cut the read in half and then hit the putt again. 

“If you’re always short, cut your read in half,” Kostis says. “if you’re always long, double your read.”

Practice this several times — doubling the read or cutting it in half — and find the speed that matches the break. Once you start getting a feel for marrying the two together, you’ll be making more putts in no time.