Major champ’s biggest tip for green-reading? He explains it in 13 seconds
Padraig Harrington lines up a putt last Thursday at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
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Padraig Harrington says there’s a lot of tips, and he’s not being hyperbolic.
Need proof? Just Google “most important thing in reading greens.” We’ll wait.
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[Makes dinner.] [Reads book.] [Comes back tomorrow.]
A lot, right? The number of things seemingly matches the blades of grass on a putting surface. Back to Harrington, though. He has one, too. Should you believe him over others? Fair point. But he’s a three-time major winner, and arguably the pro who’s best embraced the idea that in a participation-heavy game, the playing pros can do well to teach.
Plus, his “most important thing in reading greens” took him only 13 seconds to explain. You can view it in the video below, released Wednesday by the DP World Tour social media team, and below that, we’ll review.
Padraig Harrington’s biggest tip for green-reading
Pay attention to colors
Harrington’s most important thing? Pay attention to colors.
“Anything pale is downhill, and anything dark is uphill,” Harrington said in the video. “Obviously you need strong sunlight, so that’s not great when you’re in the winter in Ireland or Britain, I suppose. But colors, number one.”
Pay attention to the low side of the hole
He had other thoughts, too.
You should also pay attention to the low side of the hole, he said.
“If you’re out here, somewhere like here,” Harrington said from the DP World Tour’s Ras Al Khaimah Championship, “the low side of the hole always gets frayed and broken, so always aim away from that.”
Concentrate on pace over line
Harrington also said to concentrate on pace over line. “Reading greens,” he said, “if you’ve got good pace, you’ll be able to gain experience on every putt from what happened. While if you’ve got bad pace and you’re hitting it 6 feet by, 4 feet by, 10 feet by, you’re never learning how to read the greens.”
Increase the break when a putt feels uncomfortable
On the video, Harrington said he thought you wouldn’t hear this tip anywhere else.
“If you’re standing over a putt and it feels uncomfortable, you need to add borrow,” he said in the video ”You need to increase the break. You really feel bad when you’re going too narrow on a line. If you add line, you’ll have a much better putting stroke by going with high breaks than you will by going too tight.”
Editor’s note: Let’s keep the green reading conversation going. In 2022, this website published an article headlined “10 ways to perfect your green-reading — and drain more putts,” and that article, written by GOLF Top 100 teacher Kellie Stenzel, can be found by clicking here, or by scrolling immediately below.
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My students regularly ask me: How can I improve at green-reading? They often say they just can’t see the lines. To which I say, yes, there’s an art to the practice, but it’s also a science. Try the following methods to help improve your green-reading and make more putts.
1. Know that greens are built for drainage
Course architects have many responsibilities beyond just creating masterpieces. Greens are built to drain well so that when it rains the water does not pool. When you understand this, you can start to better see that greens always have some degree of tilt and side slope. You can learn a lot about the design and movement of a green if you watch how water runs over it.
10 ways to perfect your green-reading — and drain more putts
2. Start reading before you arrive on the green
You can start to read the predominant tilt of the green as you approach it. You may see one side is much higher than the other, or spot high points and low points. Greens often tilt toward the fairway, pitching from back to front. Detecting many of these elements can be easier from a vantage point in the fairway.
3. Priority No. 1: distance and speed
Controlling your distance should be top priority. If you control distance well, even if you’re off line a bit, you are still likely to save strokes by limiting three-putts. First, determine if your putt is uphill, downhill or flat. If you cannot see it with your eye, get in the habit of walking past the cup to your ball. Your feet can give you a sense of whether you’re on an upslope or downslope.
4. Study the area around your line
Determining the side slope of a putt can be challenging if you look only at the line between the ball and the cup. I find it easier to read putts if I compare the area about 3 feet to the right of the line with the area 3 feet to the left. Looking at the two sides, it becomes easier to see which is higher. Obviously you will always want to aim toward the high side.
5. ‘Sectionalize’ longer putts
On longer putts, you may have more than one break. For example, one part may be right-to-left and the other left-to-right. Divide longer putts into two or three sections. If you apply the same line-reading procedure we outlined above to each “section” of the putt, you can add these together for an accurate read. If I had, say, two sections in which the right side was higher and one in which the left was higher, I would know to aim just a bit to the right.
6. Walk in small circles
On shorter putts, it can be helpful to walk in a circular path on the line directly behind your ball. This will help you to feel whether you’re walking uphill or down. This will also help you to feel a subtle tilt that you might not see.
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