If you're an avid golfer and spend every waking moment thinking about how to improve your game and every sleeping moment dreaming about putting like a pro then you already know that the difference between a high score and a low score, winning and losing, being a hero or goat revolves around a good putting game. Obviously hours of practice putting will significantly improve your golf game but in order to really score like the pros you need to develop the ability and skill of learning to read the green.
A mediocre golfer will just walk up to their golf ball and putt without really placing any thought into what they are doing. A good golfer will take their time and address their golf ball concentrating the whole time to line up their putt. A master golfer will do all of the above along with several other actions in order to sink their putt but the biggest difference is their ability to predict their golf ball's path and speed based on their read of the putting green. The Master golfers know that the art of precise aim and control over a golf ball doesn't help you out if you can't accurately predict where your golf ball will go once hit by your putter.
The best way to accurately read the green is to avoid doing what the professional golfers do when they read their greens. Remember, these guys are pros and have been doing this for quite some time so they have considerable experience when it comes to easily reading golf greens. For the novice or beginner golfer, don't be afraid to get down on your hands and knees and carefully study the ground between your golf ball and the cup. It's also highly recommended that you lay one of your clubs down on the ground and carefully observe the ground that runs along the shaft of your golf club.
When scanning the golf green you want to keep an eye out for any bumps, no matter how small, any curves or small hills. Try and formulate a rough estimate on what the ratio is between downhill and uphill terrain between your ball and the cup. Consider how dry or wet the grass is because a golf ball has the capability of traveling an additional 9 to 13 inches over wet grass when compared to a dry green.
Believe it or not even the way the grass is cut can have an effect on the distance your golf ball travels after being hit by your putter. A condition known as double cutting where the grass is cut in one direction then cut again in a perpendicular direction can change the distance your golf ball travels by 5 to 10 inches. The grass height can also affect your putt. The lower the grass is cut the farther your ball can travel.
As you can see there are many different factors and variables that need to be looked at in order to properly read a putting green. Correctly read the green and you could dramatically improve your golf game score by slicing a few strokes off your golfing score. Improperly read the green and most likely you'll need to spend more time on the practice green in order to learn how to properly putt.
Timothy Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Golf-Swing-Improvement.com. He provides more golf swing tips, putting tips and more information on becoming a better putter that you can research in your pajamas on his website.