The EASY Way to Read a Green, from Xander's Coach + A Breakdown of Putts per Round by Handicap

TIPS & DRILLS
The Easy Way to Read a Green, According to Xander Schauffele’s Putting Coach
A Simple Approach to Help you Hole More Putts

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To Recap…

If you struggle to read putts with more than a hint of break to them, here’s a tip from Xander Schauffele’s putting coach, Derek Uyeda:

-STEP 1: Imagine if you were to hit a straight putt directly at the center of the hole. How far would it break offline to the low side of the hole? Now hold that spot in your mind.
-STEP 2: Now imagine putting the ball to the opposite (high side) of the hole, equi-distant from the spot you were just holding in your mind. This is your “die-line,” where if you hit the ball with perfect speed, the ball would “die” with its last rotation into the hole.
-STEP 3: Now imagine how much lower you could play it if you putt the ball with a bit more speed and still make the putt (taking some break out of the line). Between this spot and your your die-line spot is what Uyeda calls your “spectrum” - i.e. ask yourself “What’s the highest spot where you could make it and what’s your lowest spot where you could make it?”
STEP 4: As long as you can start the ball in the “spectrum” between your high and low spots, and match the putt with the appropriate speed, you’ll have a very good shot at holing the putt.

PRO TIP: You might note that by following Uyeda’s method, it is impossible to leave a putt short (in an ideal world, of course). He only focuses on putts that will end up in the hole or long. Burn this notion into your brain. After all, you miss 100% of the putts that don’t reach the hole.

COURSES
The #8 Best College Course in America
We’re headed to the Pacific Northwest

Palouse Ridge Golf Club
Pullman, WA

Continuing our back-to-school series, we head to Pullman, Washington where you’ll find the 8th Best College Course in America according to Golf Digest. Designed in 2008 by John Harbottle III (a legendary architect in the Pacific Northwest and California, who tragically died too soon), Palouse Ridge is home to the Washington State University golf teams. The course serves as a qualifying site for the US Open and has hosted multiple Pac-12 Championships. It is generally regarded as the 2nd best course in the conference, sitting narrowly behind Stanford’s home course.

At first glance, Palouse Ridge may not seem overly daunting. There are a few trees and small ponds on the course, but it’s mostly filled with wide, undulating fairways lined by taller fescue, making it difficult to lose too many balls during a round. But it’s also difficult to find a flat lie on the course. Harbottle took inspiration from his mentor (Pete Dye) and blended Dye’s flair for the dramatic with more traditional concepts you’d find in Scotland. He used the hilly natural terrain to put a premium on shot placement. If you miss your target line by too much, you can easily leave yourself in a world of trouble, with a pitch shot where the ball is a foot above your feet or a fairway bunker shot that leaves you no option but to play sideways. But not to worry if your front nine doesn’t go as planned. The back nine offers many more scoring opportunities, closing with back-to-back par 5’s.

The scenic vista views of the Palouse Hills that can be found on virtually every hole are incredible. Combine that with fantastic course conditioning and a challenging layout and the result is a course worth traveling to. Not many golfers are familiar with the eastern half of Washington state, but a weekend trip to Pullman is totally worth it. Even in the golf-rich Pac-12 (or what’s left of it) where you have amazing courses in Scottsdale and Los Angeles and Palo Alto, the conference couldn’t resist the allure of Palouse Ridge for it’s Championships in 2012, 2013 & 2015.

Rates: $125 for those not affiliated with the school

Check out this playing video from @quicktipswithrick
(sorry videos are hard to come by, this is the best we could find!)

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STATISTICS
Stat of the Day: Average Putts Per Round by Handicap
presented by…

The Stat: Between a 21-25 Handicap and a Scratch golfer, there’s a 5.3 stroke difference in average putts per round. And between the PGA Tour Leader and a 1-5 Handicap, there’s a 4.9 stroke difference… nearly the same separation.

The Takeaway: The ability to scramble around the greens and save par is obviously one major differentiator between great golfers and average joes, so having a decent sand game or chipping game is certainly important. But putting is the ultimate separator of “good” and “great.” It doesn’t matter how good your sand or chipping games are if you can’t hit the 6 footer to save par.

For those wondering, the PGA Tour average is 29.0 putts per round.

TODAY’S TRIVIA
Answer to Win a Rapsodo Mobile Launch Monitor
(1 winner chosen on 8/31/24 across all August trivia entries, 1,000 respondents minimum)

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