"Double the distance": Phil Kenyon's fantastic drill for green reading
Learn to read greens with more accuracy by using Phil Kenyon's easy and simple drill that only requires three tees.
Reading greens correctly is a vital part of putting well, and being able to judge the severity of a slope can, at times, be difficult.
Thankfully, we were recently able to witness a putting masterclass from one of the best putting coaches in the world, Phil Kenyon, and he showed the group a fantastic drill that can be used to give you a better grasp of green reading.
The drill is simple and only requires three tees. The first thing you need to do is place a tee two-thirds of the distance to the hole in a direct line between yourself and the hole.
You will then need to place a second tee in line with where you think the ball will roll through, or in other words, where you would typically aim in an attempt to hole the putt.
With the third tee, you want to double the distance, thus placing the tee in line with twice the amount of expected break.
From there, you want to aim your putts at the third tee, and this will give you a greater understanding of just how much the ball is actually going to move from left to right or vice versa.
Kenyon said that a lot of amateurs will often undervalue how much a putt will break, so by doubling the distance and aiming at the third tee, you will be able to train yourself to understand the severity of slopes better.
We've tried this drill, and it's a fantastic way of being able to convince yourself to commit to more break than you first thought.
While we didn't hole every single putt we made, we did find we were missing far more often on the “pro” side above the hole, which is at least giving the ball a chance of going in.
If you struggle to read greens well, we advise heading out onto a green and trying this drill from a variety of different slopes to gain a better appreciation of what your ideal starting line should really be
