How to read a green
A well-read putt starts before you reach the ball. Which way the green falls, how much, and how fast the ball will arrive.
In short
Start with the overall slope, find the fall line and allow for tiers. Pace decides the break: uphill putts break less, downhill putts more. When in doubt, play the high side. A green-reading guide may be used in competition if it meets Rule 4.3.
1. Start with the overall slope
On your way to the green, look at the ground around it: water runs somewhere, and the green nearly always follows the land. From a distance the overall tilt is easier to see than when you are standing on it.
In a course guide, the green page puts this into a number: the average slope and the direction the green falls. On hole 7 of our sample, the green falls 3.2% from back to front and from right to left.
2. Find the fall line
The fall line is the path water would take running down through the hole. Putts played along it, uphill or downhill, hardly break. Every other putt breaks, and the more it crosses the fall line, the more it breaks.
Crouch behind the ball, then behind the hole. From the low side of the putt the slope is easier to see than from the high side.
3. Allow for tiers
Many greens have two or more tiers. A putt that crosses a tier suddenly speeds up or slows down, and that is where most distance is lost. The arrows and colours on the green page show where the slope is steepest: a tier shows up as a band of bigger, darker arrows.
4. Pace decides the break
One line does not suit every pace. A firm putt breaks less; a slow one, more. The last third of the putt, when the ball is slowing down, is where slope matters most, so when you read a putt, look above all at the area around the hole.
Rules of thumb:
- Uphill, the ball breaks less and needs more pace.
- Downhill, it breaks more and needs far less.
- When in doubt, play the high side: a putt that stays above the hole can still drop; one below it rarely does.
5. Use the green page before the approach
Reading the green is not only for the putt. Before you go at the flag, the green page tells you where to leave the ball, usually below the hole for an uphill putt. On hole 7 of our sample, with the flag front left, landing above and right of it lets the slope bring the ball down to the hole.
6. Is it allowed in competition?
Yes, as long as the guide meets Rule 4.3: green images at a scale of 1:480 or smaller, in a book no larger than 4¼ × 7 inches. Lince guides draw every green at 1:500 or smaller, in a pocket format. See what Rule 4.3 allows.