By Jason Blanchard
Spring is here and with it comes the first golf major of the year, the Masters, a tradition unlike any other. Each year, more than 10,000 people enter a lottery for a chance to walk along the grandfather pines of Augusta National and what many golfers call the Mecca of the golf world.
Since most of the tickets to the Masters have been passed down from generation to generation, it has been either impossible or ridiculously expensive for the golf fans to see the Masters and Augusta National in person. Although thousands enter the lottery, only a few are selected, but when you receive that letter in the mail, it is something special; you have won the golden ticket.
With Augusta in mind, the thoughts of undulating greens will be the topic of this month’s golf tip. People always ask me what is the best way to read a green. You need to survey the green as you walk up to it. Get a feeling for which way you would think the water from a rain storm would run off of it. This will give you a general overview of what you can expect.
As you line up your putt, make sure to check out both sides of the hole. What looks like a right-to-left putt from behind the ball may look totally different when you walk around the cup and look at the same putt from a new vantage.
When deciding where to aim, always give yourself a point to putt at. This point may not always be at the hole but at the apex of where the ball may start to break or a spot maybe just a few inches from the edge of the cup for those straighter putts.
The real way to get better at reading greens and making those putts comes from practicing. If you don’t study, you can’t pass the test.
We look forward to your comments or questions about the game and the world that surrounds it. Please feel free to email me at golfguyosprey@gmail.com. Also, check out our weekly golf tips on our youtube channel, “From the tee !” at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKORi1BixPjP_wCndPJ1ahA.
Jason Blanchard, PGA manages the 18-hole Summerfield Crossings Golf Club as the COO/General Manager. The course opened in 1987 and was designed by Ron Garl. Visit https://summerfieldgc.com/.
