Dear Mark,
The ONLY serious treatment of green (putt) reading I have ever seen is that by HA Templeton entitled Vector Putting: The Art and Science of Reading Greens. The book was published in an edition of 5,000 copies in (I think) 1986 by Taylor Publishing Co. in Dallas TX. Templeton had researched green reading at carswell Air Force base, where he drew string grids over the greens on the base's golf course and otherwise stufied the topographic contours. His work includes important discussions of the neuropsychology of slope-tilt perception, the physics of gravitational forces on a ball rolling across tilted surface, and many other important issues. Templeton ceated an entire system of targeting, that I incorporate in my writings about the "spider" and the fall-line, that correlates the green speed, the distance of the putt, and the extent to which the putt is uphill or downhill. Altogether, this very fascinating and valuable book shames what generally passes these days for golf science, especially short-game science.
This book is long out of print, but should not be.
I agree completely that the rest of golf literature presents next to nothing of value about how to read a putt. Someone like Bob Rotella has so far offered nothing more interesting than the old stand-by to go with your first impression. Dave pelz devotes a whole video-tape to establish the point that golfers generally underread their putts (duh), but he has nothing to offer to HOW to actually read the break correctly. He suggests instead that golfers double their (bad) read and if that proves to be too much, then reduce the extra bak until the putts start dropping more frequently.
Personally, I totally reject the idea that putt reading (not "green reading") is almost entirely a matter of experience, and ineffable "art that does not lend itself to sound instruction. Instead, I believe that accurately reading a putt depends on specific perceptual skills that can be taught; that it results in the selection of a target spot near the hole to aim straight at and to putt straight at; that the target plus the sense of touch results in one and only one curved path for the putt from beginning to end; and that a key to good putt reading and target selection is a very realistic sense of the pattern of rolling speed the actual putt will have, so that the interaction of slope and green speed (and any other factors) can be accurately visualized and predicted. This is one reason why I emphasize tempo so much, because tempo is the foundation for consistent distance control, and that means that ALL putts of whatever break or distance all have the ball arriving at the hole in the same rolling pattern. My delivery or terminal speed is approximately two revolutions per second of roll right at the front lip of the cup. This consistency of arrival speed allows me to visualize backwards from the hole for at least two to three feet through the critical region where the greater part of the breaking always occurs (as the ball is slowing down nearing the hole).
So I agree wholeheartedly with your comments.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor
Geoff Mangum's PuttingZone
http://puttingzone.com
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction.
Over 1,115,000 visits and growing strong ...
518 Woodlawn Ave
Greensboro NC 27401
336.790.8176 home
336.340.9079 cell
