Misreading Putts

I chatted today with a fellow from 3L Putt Inc., based in beautiful New Hamburg, Ontario. They’re the makers of the Argon Putter. I could tell you all about it, but you’re better off following the link and visiting their website.

I played the Rockway Golf Course last night. And I really should have spent some time with the Argon Putter before I teed it up. My putting was terrible!

Of course, there are several components to effective putting, and my execution was not really off. I just couldn’t read the greens. It was just one misread after another! And with all due respect to Rockway, it’s not as if their greens are particularly quick or treacherous. I played several putts to break one way, that actually broke in the opposite direction! Yikes!

By the end of the evening I was trying my best to learn something from the situation. How could I improve? Well, clearly I need to spend more practice time reading greens.

Also, I didn’t warm up last night. It was a busy work day and I simply ran up to the first tee. I do that VERY rarely, but did so last night.

We were also rushing last night, trying to finish our round before darkness. I find it very helpful to look at a putt from both behind the ball and behind the hole, and I can generally do so without slowing the pace of play. But we were really moving last night.

Lastly, it was very late in the day and the greens had seen a lot of play. There were a little bumpy. Of course, that doesn’t explain my putts breaking in the opposite direction to my read, but it does make me feel just a little bit better.