Welcome to Play Smart, GOLF.com’s regular game improvement column that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.
If you’re like me, you’ll prefer a putt that goes from right to left rather than the opposite direction. I feel more confident when I’m hooking instead of chipping.
When a recreational player steps up to these left-to-right putts (assuming the golfer is right-handed), you have a good chance of predicting how they are going to miss the putt and put it low and over the hole. According to coach Kelan McDonagh, this type of low, long miss is the most common among the students he teaches.
“Overall,” McDonald said. “We didn’t read the putts enough and hit them too much.”
Not only will this error pattern ensure you don’t make a lot of left-to-right putts, it will also result in a lot of three-putts. When the ball reaches below the break line (i.e., begins to deflect on the low side of the cup), the ball will continue to move further and further away from the hole.
Ideally you want the ball to arrive closer Enter the hole as it loses speed. The best method is to keep the ball on the high side of the cup as long as possible.
“Generally speaking, what we try to do with recreational golfers is get them to see more break,” McDonald said, “because as the ball slows down, gravity pulls it in the direction of the slope.”
Armed with this information, you can make two key adjustments to be more successful when facing left-to-right putts.
1. Take more breaks than you first think. 2. Don’t push too hard.
When you do this, you make the ball stay above the drop line longer, which means that as the ball loses speed, it gets closer to the hole. By doing this, you’ll be three-putting less often and maybe even doing some longer.
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