To make more putts, you need to read greens properly. You can have the putting stroke of prime Tiger Woods, but without the ability to read the green properly, you’ll never make putts.
I’ve learned this the hard way over the years. While I’ve typically been able to put a nice roll on the ball, my green reading has left quite a bit to be desired — and my putting has suffered because of it.
To help me understand why my green reading was lacking, I went to see GOLF Top 100 Teacher and PGA Tour putting consultant Stephen Sweeney for some help. You can check out our conversation below in the latest episode of The Lab, presented by Baird.
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How to read greens
When it comes to reading greens, you can take two different approaches. For some people, reading greens visually is their preferred method, while others like to use the feel of their feet to get a sense of the slopes.
No matter which way you lean, it’s important that you have an idea of the path the ball will take to the hole. Once you have this mapped out, you can find the apex of the putt — but don’t confuse this point for the start line.
“One of the things I think a lot of people struggle with when reading greens is they see the apex of the putt and they try to then aim their putt there,” Sweeney says.
However, when you aim for the apex of the arc of the putt, by the time the ball gets there, it will have broken low of that point. And when you misread a putt low, it never has a chance to scare the hole.
“People generally don’t play enough break,” Sweeney says.
In order to solve for this under-reading tendency, Sweeney says he likes to split his putts into thirds. He does this by looking at the putt from behind the ball and visualizing a track from the ball to the hole that he wants the ball to roll down. Then he marks off each third with a ball mark.
After that, Sweeney will roll putts trying to get the ball to go right over each ball mark on the way to the hole. If he hits his ball marks and the ball goes in, he knows he’s read the putt correctly and married the line and speed. But if he misses a ball mark or the hole, he knows something is off in his read or stroke.
“I generally give my [Tour pros] five different putts every day,” Sweeney says. “And they score themselves out of five based on if they got the read correct or not.”
If you want to get better at green reading, give this drill a shot. Once you start rolling the ball over your ball marks and into the hole, you’ll know you are reading the greens perfectly and matching it to your stroke.
The 2026 GOLF Top 100 Teachers Summit is set to take place Nov. 1-4 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
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