Geoff:

Peaple, or experts, say the real break is reading behind the ball. But to me, what i find out is opposite. Reading behind the hole almost always gives me the real break, long or short putts. What is your take on this?

Thanks in advance

Newgolfer

If you see the line best behind the hole then do that. Alot of "golf experts" are just golf philosophers, they talk about everything and know nothing. I think what Geoff will say is that you should look from all angles(I personally agree with this). The more information you can get before you putt the better you will be able to formulate your perception of the correct line. I've also found that its easier to judge the vertical slope(degree uphill or downhill) from behind the ball.

Dear Newgolfer,

There is different information visually and physically gained from different perspectives -- behind the ball, alongside the putt on the lowside, and behind the hole.

Behind the ball:

This perspective best shows the start line and perhaps some elevation change from ball to hole, whether the golfer is standing or squatting low with shielded eyes. The elevation info comes best from squatting low, but also while keeping the face and eyes level in gravity instead of facing or looking downward. When you stand high and look down at the surface, the info is mostly lost. Also, when the path is mostly downhill, standing behind the ball and looking along the line is not too great, since the surface slants away from the line of sight and this minimizes surface distance and detail. Imagine looking at an open book, and then tilting the top of the book away from you until your line of sight runs level across the page from bottom edge to top edge: all the info turns into only a single line, and this gets worse if the book is actually tilted further "downhill" from the line of sight. For most medium-length putts, I suggest the golfer travel back from the ball the "same" distance as there is from ball to hole, since this doses the golfer with about six doses of the putt's distance (one to see how far it is from ball to hole, two to guess how far back to walk, three to walk it, four to recheck where you stopped to see if it is far enough, four when you look from standing position to ball and also from ball to hole, five when you re-walk back to the ball and cut the distance in half, and six when you get back to the ball and look at the hole and it is only half as far away as it used to be).

Beside the Path Lowside:

For this perspective, the golfer is looking "up" into the book of the putt, so he sees pretty good info. Standing halfway between the ball and the cup and also this same unit distance below the baseline of the putt (direct line from ball to hole) creates a powerful "equilateral triangle" of distances that makes the info more potent and useable. The golfer can also see elevation changes from ball to hole fairly well from here also, so long as he keeps his head and eyes level in gravity.

Behind the Hole:

Looking from behind the hole implies walking from ball to hole, so this perspective comes with a built-in "pacing off" of the putt twice -- once to get there, and once to get back to the ball. So that's a nice thing. In addition, looking from behind the hole back along the putt path to the ball gives the golfer a strong sense of elevation change that he can compare to his view from behind or beside the ball.

Timing "Perspective":

The most important "perspective", however, is not positional and visual but is a matter of visualizing the rolling of the perfect putt in realtime based upon your actual touch or delivery speed of the ball to the cup. A golfer with good touch has one basic, same-everytime delivery speed of the ball at the front lip of the cup, often between 2-3 revolutions per second of ball speed. The three factors that the golfer must integrate intuitively when reading a putt to "see" the curve are: a) the tilt or contour of the surface, b) the green speed; and c) the rolling speed of the ball across that specific part of the green. Of these, the only factor in the control of the golfer is the ball's rolling speed. Unless he can accurately "foresee" the ball's rolling speed for the anticipated perfect putt, the golfer will have trouble seeing the break path into the cup.

Because of this, only a golfer with good consistent touch is able to accurately predict and visualize the roll of the forthcoming putt in realtime, and golfers who struggle with touch or green speed have difficulty reading putts. Moreover, the part or section of the putt where the golfer really has this sort of roll-speed accuracy is ONLY at the end of the putt. The golfer with touch always knows what the end of the putt looks like because all putts come to an end in exactly the same manner of rolling slower to a stop, and the golfer seldom knows or cares what the rolling speed of the ball might be right after impact with the putter or over the first two-thirds or more of the path regardless of how long the putt might be. Occasionally, the first 2/3rds or 3/4ths of the contour of the green in a putt will matter to the total break, but usually this area matters LOTS less than the final 3-6 feet of the putt, and in any event it always comes down in the end to what happens over the final piece of the path. Getting that part of the putt read correctly and then putted with approriate touch is "outcome determinative."

What does this mean in terms of positional perspectives? First, it means that "behind the hole" is the BEST place to see this ball's anticipated rolling timing over the last 3-6 feet of the putt. The shape of the break has to be read from the hole backwards, from the "known" to the "unknown" sections of the speed of the putt. As between the positions of below the path and behind the ball, the position below the path gives better speed information as well.

SUMMARY:

Because of all this, the golfer is only "sort of" reading the putt when standing at or behind the ball or even when standing below the path, and only gets seriously into integrating tilt, green speed, and ball terminal / delivery speed once he has walked up to examine the anticipated path close to the hole. So a read develops over time with increasing accuracy and vividness while the golfer travels from the ball to the hole, where it takes its final shape. Walking back from the hole to the ball, the golfer needs a good sense of this "final piece of the puzzle of a successful path into the cup with the known and usual touch" so he doesn't lose it or confuse it.

So I teach sensing elevation change from behind the ball and below the path while waiting until behind the hole to really focus on the final curvature of the path. Then, draw the final three or four feet into the cup mentally, retrace this same 3-4 feet backwards out of the hole and extend it smoothly curving towards the ball until the path straightens out, and finally from the ball along this start line extend a straight line all the way to the fall-line. Where this line meets the fall-line above the cup is your target for both line and distance. Seeing pattern of curve into the hole and straight line from ball to fall-line while standing behind the hole allows you to "spot" a very precise location on the fall-line that serves to indicate BOTH the start or aim line for the putter face at the ball and also to indicate the correct "touch" or distance where the putt should conclude. And finally, standing behind the hole looking back to the ball with this last-piece curve in mind gets your consciousness detailed into the surface nearest the hole and farthest from the ball, so that when you return to the ball your mind is still mostly "far enough" across the surface at the hole so your touch is hadling THAT surface over at the hole and not neglecting that far surface for anything in between.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
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