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A key factor in determining proper ball speed to travel the distance to the hole is whether it travels uphill or downhill. Some players have a problem in determining ball speed on sloped greens. Editors of Golf Magazine (1973) stated: “There are thousands of players who are consistently short on every uphill and consistently long on every downhill putt. And we mean every.”
The principle challenge is in establishing suitable true reference directions, either horizontal or vertical. This was excellently expressed by Palmer (1986) in his book Peter Arnold Palmer’s Complete Book of Putting:
"The human eye is a remarkably accurate instrument for detecting variations from the horizontal, that is, slopes on greens, provided that the eye can refer to a genuine horizontal such as the roof of a house or the horizon of the sea. A vertical reference, such as a pine tree, is also helpful because we are all thoroughly indoctrinated in the relationship of right angles by living in a world of rectangular buildings, doors, windows, books, newspapers, picture frames, and the like. If a picture on the wall is askew, we can detect it most easily by observing the horizontal top edge, helped by the arrangement of having two eyes set in a horizontal plane, but most of us are also pretty fair at detecting whether a vertical line is out of true if there happens to be a genuine vertical line handy as a reference. So, on seaside links -- or courses that have the vertical trunks of conifer trees or buildings by the green -- golfers can normally read slopes without much difficulty. But our ability to detect them is seriously impaired when we are denied true references, as in mountainous country. Then, indeed, nature sometimes conspires to confuse us.”
The putter is very handy in providing a vertical reference when used as a plumb bob. It also has the added virtue of providing this reference in the direction of green where you wish to judge the green slope where other references "such as a pine tree" are not available. A conventional procedure for reading the green for uphill or downhill putt is to position to the side of the ball-hole line (on the low side) about midway between ball and hole (see figure 1).
Dr. Putt (www.drputt.com) has an excellent explanation of the procedure of preparing your putter for this use (see figure 2):
"What one should do is hold the club with two fingers just below the grip and sight it to the edge of a door or some other opening that is perfectly vertical. Slowly rotate the putter until the shaft appears to be perfectly parallel to the known vertical edge. Then mark the top of the grip so that one can consistently hold the putter in this position when plumb bobbing quickly and accurately on the putting green. If the player fails to do this properly, then all the rest is an exercise in futility."
The principle challenge is in establishing suitable true reference directions, either horizontal or vertical. This was excellently expressed by Palmer (1986) in his book Peter Arnold Palmer’s Complete Book of Putting:
"The human eye is a remarkably accurate instrument for detecting variations from the horizontal, that is, slopes on greens, provided that the eye can refer to a genuine horizontal such as the roof of a house or the horizon of the sea. A vertical reference, such as a pine tree, is also helpful because we are all thoroughly indoctrinated in the relationship of right angles by living in a world of rectangular buildings, doors, windows, books, newspapers, picture frames, and the like. If a picture on the wall is askew, we can detect it most easily by observing the horizontal top edge, helped by the arrangement of having two eyes set in a horizontal plane, but most of us are also pretty fair at detecting whether a vertical line is out of true if there happens to be a genuine vertical line handy as a reference. So, on seaside links -- or courses that have the vertical trunks of conifer trees or buildings by the green -- golfers can normally read slopes without much difficulty. But our ability to detect them is seriously impaired when we are denied true references, as in mountainous country. Then, indeed, nature sometimes conspires to confuse us.”
The putter is very handy in providing a vertical reference when used as a plumb bob. It also has the added virtue of providing this reference in the direction of green where you wish to judge the green slope where other references "such as a pine tree" are not available. A conventional procedure for reading the green for uphill or downhill putt is to position to the side of the ball-hole line (on the low side) about midway between ball and hole (see figure 1).
Dr. Putt (www.drputt.com) has an excellent explanation of the procedure of preparing your putter for this use (see figure 2):
"What one should do is hold the club with two fingers just below the grip and sight it to the edge of a door or some other opening that is perfectly vertical. Slowly rotate the putter until the shaft appears to be perfectly parallel to the known vertical edge. Then mark the top of the grip so that one can consistently hold the putter in this position when plumb bobbing quickly and accurately on the putting green. If the player fails to do this properly, then all the rest is an exercise in futility."
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