Mel provides some handy tips about reading greens to improve your putting accuracy in this month’s video golf tip. So try this out next time you’re out on the course, and let us know what you think!

What should you look for first?

When you walk onto the green, the first thing to look for when you walk onto the green is on the line you are about to putt. Where is the highest side, and where is the lowest side. Obviously, the ball will curve from the high side to the low side.

What is the Fall Line?

The fall line is the line water will run if a bucket of water was poured on the green. The water will “fall” to the lower area. So if you are not sure where the fall line is, visualize standing on a spot between your ball and the hole, pouring that bucket of water, wherever you see the water running in the fall line. If your ball is to the right of that fall line, your ball will break to the right. If you are to the left of the fall line, the ball will break to the left.

How much break?

It depends on how far away from the fall line you are. If there is only a small difference between the line from your ball to the hole and the fall line, your putt will not break a lot. The most break is when you putt it at 90 degrees to the fall line.

Obviously, the more you play, the better your green reading will become. Go to your local putting green, read the putt, and then go ahead and hit the putt. If you were wrong, go back to the same point, look at the green and see where you went wrong. Practice reading greens. It works!