High 100 Trainer Brian Manzella shared a useful green-reading terminology graphic on X.
X: @brianmanzella
For newbie golfers — and even seasoned gamers — green-reading is likely one of the most difficult components of the sport. There are loads of methods to method it, like envisioning which course a bucket of water would run if it was dumped out over your putt, or taking note of the course the grass is rising. However when it comes time to verbalize your aiming intentions (or maybe settle for course from a taking part in companion or caddie), issues can get complicated rapidly.
Frequent directional terminology like “left edge” “proper heart” and “one cup out” might sound simple in idea, however what do they actually imply? In the event you learn a putt as breaking one cup to the proper, are you anticipating placing by means of the center of that imaginary cup, or on the periphery?
Making certain settlement on that matter is vital should you’re planning to debate a putt’s break with somebody in your group, or settle for recommendation from a caddie. Many gamers have a unique concept of what it means to intention one cup or one ball to the left or proper — a captivating debate that my colleague Alan Bastable mentioned intimately right here.
For many who aren’t certain the place they stand and want some steering on the problem, although, GOLF High 100 Trainer Brian Manzella not too long ago shared his tackle the matter on X with a useful labeled illustration.
Manzella’s graphic reveals what it seems to be wish to “cut up the sting” and intention “left heart” and “inside proper edge.” It additionally reveals how ball widths evaluate to gap widths. One gap equals roughly two-and-a-half balls.
One level of differentiation in Manzella’s method from different commonly-used green-reading approximations is his use of the middle of the cup on the intention level versus the periphery. However based on Manzella, since we attempt to make putts within the heart of the cup, utilizing the middle of an imaginary cup because the intention level makes extra sense.
“If the learn was ‘one cup left, left edge’ or ‘left edge of 1 cup left,’ that may be one factor,” Manzella informed Bastable final yr. “However ‘one cup left’ is one thing else.”
Whereas definitions of how you can intention one cup or one ball to the left or proper might fluctuate in which means from participant to participant, one factor’s for certain: it’s clever to to get on the identical web page along with your taking part in companion earlier than giving — or taking — any green-reading recommendation.
