PUTTING (9 STEPS TO BETTER PUTTING)
Step 1. Add or subtract the height (elevation or drop) in inches to the distance of the putt in feet. (everyone ...even the hacks figure that out)
Step 2. Multiply by the green speed factor. (charts will be included) Green speeds will remain constant throughout the course, so once you understand how to multiply by the green speed factor, then you can move on to step #4. For SLOW greens only, don't go any farther than this step OTHER THAN USING STEP 4.
Step 3. Multiply by the touch factor. This is a product of the overall impetus or "oomph" you are putting on the ball from different distances. It is NOT LINEAR, so there is no "set" formula for figuring it out. I've made charts for you up to 100 feet. (Scroll down and you will see that charts are included) For STANDARD and SLOW greens, don't use this step.
Step 4. Divide by the swing meter distance.If you have a calculated putt of 10 feet by this step, and you have a swing meter of 15 feet, then divide 10 by 15 and you know that your base impetus is now .667 or 66.7%. Easy enough. Now comes the tricky part.
Step 5. Add or subtract the RATIO of elevation or drop in percentage For instance, on that putt of 10 feet that you just figured out to be 66.7% of your swing meter, you now have to factor in the ratio of elevation or drop. This will be a small percentage that you add or subtract to the total putt. So, if the drop was 2 inches, and the distance was originally 12 feet, then you would take .167 off or 1.67% off the total putt you have figured so far. Now comes the really tricky part. LOL For SLOW andSTANDARD greens, ignore this step and all the others beyond.
6. Use the vertical "grain" flow of the little dots to determine how many percent to add or subtract for your final calculation. (all of this is explained a bit later in this blog)
7. Figure wind resistance.
8. Aim using your aimer. (all of this is explained a bit later in this blog)
9. Ding the meter.
Here's a formula for putting. I hope it simplifies it for some, although I had a terrible time with math back in school until I realized everything boils down to the four basic operations. If you can use a small hand-held calculator, you can get this formula down to 25 seconds. I do it all the time.
(Putt distance plus or minus elevation) X (Green speed factor) X (Touch factor) divided by (swing meter distance chosen) plus or minus (elevation divided by distance times 10) plus or minus (grain factor) plus (break factor) plus wind.
This is how it looks in math language for you math geeks like me. [([Dp +/ - E) x (Gsf) x (Tf)] / [(Smd)] +/- (E/Dp) x 10] + /- Gf +/- Bf + Wf
Dp = Putt distance
Gsf = Green speed factor
E = elevation or drop
Tf = Touch factor (amount of "oomph")
Smd = Swing meter distance chosen
Gf = Grain factor
Bf = Break factor
Wf = Wind factor
Real simple, huh? LOL. If you follow the formula, it works every time, and all you have to figure out is how you aim, and I have that covered if you read on. The main steps are now explained in detail in the next portion.
GREEN SPEED FACTORS (STEP 2 in the process)
All green speed factors are at a baseline of the "FAST" green number "9" and the division INTO 9, is the key.
FAST (9) ...9 divided by 9, which is simply one to one, or 100%
VERY FAST (10)...9 divided by 10, which is 90% or multiply by .90 (that's point nine-oh...lol)
TOURNAMENT (11.)...9 divided by 11, which is 81.8% or multiply by .818 (that's point eight one eight...you get the idea)
TOURNAMENT (12)...9 divided by 12, which is 75% or multiply by .75
TOURNAMENT (13)...9 divided by 13 which is 69.23% or multiply by .6923
SLOW (7.4)...9 divided by 7.4 which is 121.6% or multiply by 1.216
STANDARD (7.9)...9 divided by 7.9, which is 113.9% or multiply by 1.139 (or 1.14...close enough for government work)
This will always work. The math of the green speed factors is always true, and these baseline numbers are programmed into the game. I have heard rumors that WGT changes the green speeds slightly from day to day, but THIS IS NOT TRUE. There is no way the programmers could ever do that.
IMPETUS OR "TOUCH" FACTORS (STEP 3 in the process)
Touch, or impetus, is a factor of the distance you are hitting the ball. Generally, the shorter you hit the putt, the more OOMPH (impetus) you have to put on the putt and the longer the putt, the less OOMPH you have to put on the putt. Here is a table of OOMPH (impetus or "touch") factors for distances from 1 to 100 feet. They work every time, and the closer you pull the swing meter back to the exact percentage, the better you will get at longer putts. Frankly, a 3-5 foot breaker is more daunting than a 50-foot straight putt. You'll see what I mean as time goes along.
1 FT...(don't bother...just ram it)
2 ft.... 107%
3 ft.... 106%
4 ft.... 105%
5 ft.... 104%
6 ft.... 103%
7 ft.... 102%
8 ft.... 101%
9 ft.... 100%
9.5 ft.. 99%
10 ft... 98%
11 ft.... 97%
12 ft.... 96%
13 ft.... 95.66%
14 ft.... 95.33%
15 ft.... 95%
16 ft..... 94.83%
17 ft..... 94.66%
18 ft.... 94.5%
19 ft.... 94.33%
20 ft... 94.16%
21 ft... 94%
22 ft... 93.8%
23 ft.... 93.7%
24 ft.... 93.6%
25 ft.... 93.5%
26 ft..... 93.4%
27 ft.... 93.3%
28 ft..... 93.2%
29 ft..... 93.1%
30 ft..... 93%
31 ft..... 92.8%
32 ft..... 92.6%
33 ft..... 92.4%
34 ft.... 92.2%
35 ft..... 92%
36 ft.... 91.8%
37 ft.... 91.6%
38 ft.... 91.4%
39 ft.... 91.2%
40 ft.... 91%
41 ft..... 90.9%
42 ft..... 90.8%
43 ft..... 90.7%
44 ft..... 90.6%
45 ft..... 90.5%
46 ft..... 90.4%
47 ft..... 90.3%
48 ft..... 90.2%
49 ft..... 90.1%
50 ft...... 90%
55 ft...... 89.5% (linear from here on)
60 ft...... 89%
65 ft...... 88.5%
70 ft..... 88%
75 ft..... 87.5%
80 ft.... 87%
85 ft.... 86.5%
90 ft.... 86%
95 ft..... 85.5%
100 ft.... 85%
Upwards of 100 feet, you have to be HYPER-accurate on the exact amount of percentage you pull your swing meter back to and I've found that using the "touch factor" doesn't work as well. Use the green speed factor after you figure out the elevation to drop addition or subtraction, but you have to ding the meter, since usually after 40 feet, any slight mishit will produce a radical change in distance (short) in your putt.
More on putting...when you look at the grid for the left-right break (horizontal), don' t forget to use the up-down grain (vertical) when you get ready to putt. Some putts have the grain running INTOyour putt when the up-down arrow shows DOWN, or AWAY from you. (WGT gets tricky on occasion..lol) You have to add 2-10% on your swing meter on some putts to get it up the little hill that is not normally shown on short putts. On long putts, (20 feet or more) look at the run of the grain and understand that your putting will be dependent from that point on the rise and fall or "grain" of the green AND the break This will help get those nasty long putts to either go in, or settle nicely by the hole on a slight mishit or a mis-aim. Then you can turn a possible difficult 3-putt on a green into an easy 2-putt and save your hole and thus your scores. Even on short putts that would normally be a bit scary, you can figure out whether to "ram" a putt or feather it in with the break and a nice touch. It's lowered my scores considerably when I finally discovered that the vertical "grain" is just as important as the break. I consider any putt under 50 feet a make-able putt now.
WIND FACTOR There is also a wind factor on each putt, (yes, wind affects putts..how about that?) and adding or subtracting .1% for each mile per hour (that's point-one percent for those of you who don't know math well) of wind is going to get you in the hole or darn close. If you have a 30 mile-per-hour wind in your face, add 3 full percent to your putt. By the same token adding 2% on a 20-mile per hour wind will get you to the hole if it's in your face. Same thing is true with a trailing wind and use the sine angles for wind from the side or at an angle. It works.
READING THE GREEN USING THE DOTS (FIGURING BREAK AND GRAIN) (STEP 6)
When I am lining up a putt and want to figure break, I look at BOTH VIEWS, forward and reverse. Many times the putt will show it straight in the hole with one look and possibly a full grid the other way. Therein lies decision time, and I look at the dots flowing left or right both ways.and ADD the break calculation. I'll cover break calculation in a few paragraphs, so don't worry yet.. This will get you in the hole, provided you check the SPEED of the impending putt for VERTICAL GRAIN.
Vertical grain, or the flow of the dots in the OTHER look when you click on the horizontal/vertical button (the little arrows in the lower right-hand corner) and see the "flow" of the dots, there is a formula for adding or subtracting THAT MANY PERCENT to or from your final calculation. If I have a putt that works out to 50% on the meter, I COUNT THE SECONDS on the flow from the first grid 0-2 feet from the hole and the second grid 2-4 feet from the hole. A 5-second count will produce a 5% addition or subtraction from the impetus needed on the putt. Rule of thumb: 5 seconds -- 5% added, 4 seconds -- 6% added 3 seconds -- 7 % and more than 5 seconds, it goes 6 seconds -- 4% added 7 seconds --- 3% added and so on down. Now you don't have to RAM a putt and ruin the hole with a mishit. Many MORE mishits will go in with this formula, and the lip-outs won't be as severe, nor will the comeback putts be any more than 4-inch tap-ins.should you miss your longer putt. I consider this final read the MOST VALUABLE final tool to use when putting. More of those tricky 4-8 foot putts will go in, and the maddening 3.5-foot breakers will drop in for you. I know, I've seen it happen in my putting stats. (Yes, I keep track in a notebook of all my major stats every few days to see my progress,and it helps immensely when I see room for improvement....yes, I'm a geek, and so are you if you have read this far)
Once you have figured vertical grain, you have to consider the dot-flow left and right to figure the addition of the break factor in percentage. This will be a small amount, but you have to overcome the break, since it is gravity or the resistance of the sideways grain that is fighting against you.
Break is a bit tricky, but not impossible. I use what I call the "Rule of Half" and the "The Rule of 10's." My swing meter distances at 40 feet and under are perfectly matched to the Rule of Tens, so I know that a putt for a swing meter of 10 feet (like on my MAX Meter Control putter...if you don't have one, get one..I have yet to see a putter that makes calculating easier) will calculate perfectly with the Rule of Half with no compensation for distance. At 20 feet on my swing meter on my putter, the calculation for break becomes a bit trickier, but I've devised a way of figuring that perfectly. If I want to putt a ball with my 20-foot swing meter, ADDING 1% will give it more impetus (twice...how about that?...lol) than it would be for the 10-foot swing meter and the break involved. So if the flow of the vertical grain is into you at 20 feet, and you figure that the grain flow into you is 4%, then only take 2% addition to the vertical grain, and then figure the dot flow sideways in seconds across the grids from the ball to the hole.
A flow of 5 seconds across the path at 10 feet will normally follow the Rule of Half. This means that you would ADD only 2.5% to the putt to make up for the impetus you have to put on the putt to overcome the sidehill or the grain of the green running sideways.Subsequently, at 20 feet, the calculation for a 5-second flow is further divided by 2 down to 1.25% because of the greater impetus or OOMPH you will get from a 20-foot swing meter. For a 30-foot putting meter, you divide the calculation by 3, and for a 40-foot calculation you divide by 4, and so on up the swing meter distances on your putter. So a 5-second flow at 20 feet, you only have to add 1.25% to the putt to overcome the sideways break. A 5-second flow across the one grid at 30 feet, you add only.833% and so on up the distances. Whatever the break flow is in seconds, first divide by 2, and then divide again by the factor of the greater distances in increments corresponding to the first number on your swing meter. 1 at 10, 2 at 20, 3 at 30, 4 at 40, 5 at 50 etc.....see how that works? You will when you start dropping longer putts or leaving 30-footers on the lip.
A 6-second flow (pretty slow...not much break) at 20 feet would first end up 4%, and then be divided down to 2% (because of the 20-foot swing meter). A 2-second flow (really fast, like the Johnstown Flood) would have an 8% addition, divided by 2 initially down to 4% (for the 20-foot meter) A 4-second flow of break (slightly fast) on a 30-foot meter comes to 6% and then divided by 3 (for a 30-foot swing meter) and becomes an addition of 2% to the other calculations in the putt. A 7-second flow at 30 feet is initially a 3% addition then divide by 3 down to 1%. Got it? If not, you are still going to be very close figuring the putt anyway, but you WILL miss the shot if you don't consider sideways break. Adding too much impetus for break on higher swing meters will produce radical changes in the putting distance and everything goes out the window and you end up not only missing after you aim, it sails by and waves at the hole and ends up being a horribly long comeback putt if you miss. Try this and see if you can use the Rule of Half and the Rule of Tens to make that little white thing (or whatever color you chose for your ball) go in the hole from long distances and hit dead center. I call them "Tenderloin Shots" and I'm making them now on a regular basis. Center cut. The programmers did a wonderful job of designing this game, but again, they HAD to use some form of math and a formula that was simple to calculate to make the whole thing happen. You will find, though, that there is "forgiveness" built into the more expensive putters, and any calculation that is HYPER-ACCURATE like what I have explained will end up dying in the hole. Try it and see. Of course DINGING THE METER is more crucial on longer putts, or being super-close either way, so be careful how far you pull the meter back on your Putter Pal (and I'll SWEAR by how accurate it is) to within 1%, and you will significantly lower your scores and subsequently your putting averages.
On those "crazy" breaking short putts (like the one at Cabo at the end of the round) hit into the hill. I call it "Hill Kill" and that will keep you out of a lot of trouble like on the 5th and 6th at Merion. What I mean by that, is when you figure a 4-foot putt that you just KNOW you will miss and roll way down the hill below the hole if you "ram" it,(making a comeback putt very long and difficult) then do the following instead:.See that the height and elevation change is different way above the hole where you have settled on aiming and add that amount together and figure out what the percentage on your swing meter or putting pal says, for the second calculation and split the difference (average the two) and try the putt. You will find that the putt gets "killed" by the side-hill, and if it misses, it will not roll way down the hill. Then you have a simple tap-in or a gimme, and end up saving the hole. Of course, ramming a putt of less than 3 feet can take all the break out, but the faster the sideways dot-flow, the more you have to ram, and if you aim wrong...."Adios, Charlie." A rule of thumb I use for short putts of .5 feet or more up to about 3 feet, is I add 100% more to the distance figured on the meter for putts under 1 foot, and 50% more than figured up to 3 feet. What this means is that a .7-foot putt (8 inches) would figure to be 7% on my 10-foot swing meter, and I double that to 14% so as to remove the break, but not pop it out of the hole, and even a radical mishit still goes in. I call it "ramming" the putt but not getting too crazy. For putts on up to 3-4 feet, the flow will dictate that you add only 50% of figured distance on average flow and sometimes as much as 75-100% more on heavy (fast) flow.Touchy, but not recommended. A 3-foot putt with heavy flow figuring at 30% on a regular green would have to be "rammed" at around 45% to take the break out of it. I ram sometimes, but for the most part, I try to finesse it in and look at where the ball goes in the hole and mentally figure my "touch" when I ram. Also, you can move the aimer left or right a bit INSIDE the hole (called 'not giving the hole away' by real golfers) and ram with decent results. However, missing those 3-4 foot "breakers" by ramming will kill a round faster than losing a ball in brush or water,so be careful if you get lazy and don't want to do the math.Good luck with that. LOL Don't get lazy...do the math.