I have always been a decent putter, but certainly not a great one. I feel comfortable starting the ball consistently online, but I have often struggled with reading greens. It’s a deflating feeling—to ...

You have a 10-foot putt. Sensing it will break a little right-to-left, you aim just outside the hole, and it misses on the right. Did you push it, misread it, or simply have too much speed? Or was it ...

I teach a number of golf schools and clinics, often working with groups of students. One of the most common questions I hear at the start of these events is, “How can I read greens better?” With the ...

Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you play smarter, better golf. Golf is a difficult — and complex — game. The best way to make it a bit easier is by ...

Learning how to read greens in golf is one of the most important lessons an amateur can learn, but some are oblivious to the key information that can be gathered on and around the putting surface.

Padraig Harrington says there’s a lot of tips, and he’s not being hyperbolic. Need proof? Just Google “most important thing in reading greens.” We’ll wait. [Makes dinner.] [Reads book.] [Comes back ...

Only once in his career has Kevin Na cracked open of those detailed green-reading books. It was last year, on the 17th green at Waialae Country Club, where Na needed a birdie-eagle finish to shoot 59 ...