Why these putts drive golfers crazy (and how to make more of them)

Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.

If you’re anything like me, you’d much prefer a right-to-left putt to one that breaks in the opposite direction. I feel abundantly more confident when I’ve got a putt that hooks rather than cuts.

When recreational players step up to these left-to-righters (assuming the golfer is right-handed), there’s a good chance you can predict how they’re going to miss the putt, and that’s low and past the hole. According to instructor Kelan McDonagh, this low and long miss is the most common among the students he teaches.

“In general,” McDonagh says. “We under-read putts and overhit them.”

This miss pattern will not only ensure you don’t make many left-to-righters, but will also lead to tons of three-putts. When the ball gets below the break line (i.e., starts missing on the low side of the cup), the ball will continue getting further and further away from the hole.

Ideally, you want the ball to be getting closer to the hole as it loses speed. And the best way to do this is by keeping the ball on the high side of the cup for as long as possible.

“Generally, what we’re trying to do with the recreational golfer is get them to see more break,” McDonagh says, “because as the ball slows down, gravity is going to take it in the direction of the slope.”

Armed with this information, you can make two key adjustments to become more successful when facing left-to-right putts.

1. Play more break than you initially may think. And 2. Don’t hit the putt quite so hard.

When you do this, you’ll keep the ball above the fall line longer, which means that as the ball loses speed, it will get closer and closer to the hole. Do that and you’ll three-putt less often and maybe even make a few from distance.

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