In previous posts, I have mentioned how to find the zero line for a planar pin position by rolling balls downhill and watching how they curve to see what the zero line would look like. Here’s a picture to remind you of what it looks like.
Downhill Zero Line Drill
Basically, we roll golf balls downhill starting in the original direction of the 6 o’clock line until we have a picture like this.
The problem is that this system won’t work when going uphill but you can double check your work after you’ve learned how to find the uphill zero line. It’s really not that hard but it takes time when practicing to learn how to do it so you can do it more on the fly on the course.
Here’s what you do, assuming a planar pin location and shaped green. Once you’ve determined where the 12 o’clock line is from 5 feet away place a ball on the ground at that line. Now go about 4 feet farther uphill and find the inflection point again. Reminder: the inflection point is when it switches from uphill to down hill when walking the curve. Place another ball at this point. Do this over again and again until you run out of green. When you are done, you will have an estimation of the uphill zero line for a planar pin position on a planar green.
At this point I think it’s important to say that you will need to make a slight adjustment to this line based on the general flow of the uphill line because of the downhill putt. The direction of the break will influence the ball sooner so you will want to be slightly on the opposite side of the line we created based on which way the ball will begin to break. So, if you are above the hole, this is how you will create the double break to end up with a net zero break. If you putt from the points we made, the ball will continue to break away from the high point the entire time and you won’t get the double break you need. It’s important to remember that when you are above the hole, you can think of the ball breaking away from the zero line and toward the zero line when you’re below it.
Try it and tell me how you do.
Related posts:
Is there anyway of getting a little of video on “If you putt from the points we made, the ball will continue to break away from the high point the entire time and you won’t get the double break you need”? I get the concept of a double break, but I think a little video showing the ball breaking away from the high point would help.
Yancy,
I’ll see what I can do once spring rolls around. Right now I am under 18 inches of snow and it’s still falling.
JG
I’m consistently finding that when determining either uphill or downhill zero lines, the true line is not where downhill changes to up or vice versa. Using that point (assuming the ball is on the line, I’m seeing that to a small or greater degree, when down changes to up or vice versa, there is almost always a distance of a few inches or feet in between those two points. E.g., when I sense a change from downhill to uphill, I then back up a bit and establish the zero line there. Rolling or putting balls to verify those zero lines often results in straight line rolls even though the base of two or more such lines is inches or 1-2 feet apart. Its amazing as the only reason I can imagine this happens is that there must be some kind of ‘cone’ shape to the green surface that will accommodate that phenomenon.
KonaTom,
Great Question!
Certainly, that ‘cone’ shape phenomenon does happen and you’ll begin to see that ‘shape’ the more you encounter it. Clearly we are not dealing with a perfect surface and some wiggle room can happen. I’ve noticed the ‘cone’ shape occurring more often on newer green complexes and southern greens. How old is the course you are dealing with and where are you located? The long bottom is certainly a sign that you may be dealing with a ‘cone’. When I encounter it, I usually play -1 to the side beyond half. For example, for an uphill putt with a cone bottom and I’m to 12-6 side of half way across the bottom, I will play -1 from the right edge. This has worked pretty well for me. Make sense?
Without knowing for sure, I would recommend you double check your curve walking to be sure it is circular and not oval or similar shape. Based on your question though, it seems unlikely that this is the case but wanted to mention it to be safe.
JG
Thanks for your very interesting and useful information. My home courses are the Hualalai and Ke’olu courses on the Big Island. They are about 12+ years old. Except for a few saddle and crown greens, a cursory glance at most will suggest they are very flat. It takes very sensitive feet (really) and lots of practice to identify inflections. The grain here also has substantial effect on putts so it is important to take a look for factoring in. The good news is that because of the subtle nature of many greens, if you get it wrong, you’re barely wrong and still within tap-in range for #2. Another plus is that when playing other courses with more dynamic greens, they feel relatively simple to read. I’d like to add that while I attended an AimPoint clinic fairly recently, in my view, learning distance control and developing a competent putting stroke is almost more important than getting the break down exactly right. I used to have 3-5 3-putts almost every round. With just a few weeks practice with AimPoint, I’ve played 4 rounds and have not yet 3 putted. Even I can’t believe it.
You’re welcome. Glad to hear AimPoint is working well for you. I agree that distance/speed control is very important but read plays a large part in that. if you under read, you will end up much further away from the hole given the same distance you hit the ball.
Read here to see why.
http://johngrahamgolf.com/blog/aimpoint-golf-aiming-high-better/
JG