This topic is meant to address the question of at what distance you see the putt coming off the club more quickly, hence having to play less break.

Obviously, this topic had several different opinions, with no one being able to nail down exactly what you can expect from longer putts.

To expand, I wanted to see if someone knew the distance(s) that the “governor” for your putter changes to allow you to get longer putts to the hole. Let’s say I have a 60 foot putt with 3 degree break. I don’t know whether to play the break as if it’s a 30-foot putt, or as if it’s like an 80-foot putt. I don’t think I have to play as much break on the longer putt because of the extra power, but I’m wondering where those break point(s) are so I can know what to expect when the ball leaves the putter.

Some people think the 50-60 foot mark is where you see a change. The so-called “turbo putt” happens for long distances outside 60-65 feet, and it’s a long-lived IT glitch that they’ve been trying to fix for 10 years. With 2008 Live, the turbo putts are more inconsistant than they were before (anything outside 65 feet is guess work, especially in the 80-100 feet range). More specifically, the “turbo” distance seems to be within 86-116 feet.

Others claim there is no “strong putter” or “weak putter.” There is no set distance where it changes, and the reaction you get all depends on the hole and the specific putt.

A common recommendation is to try to hit EVERY putt the exact same speed. Speed control on putting is HUGE, as it allows your muscle memory to remember the angle and speed of every putt. The only time to hit a putt any softer is when you have severe down slope — like 9 or 10 degrees. For putts like these that also have side slope, you can either pull back to the A (or C) and hit it slightly softer. For straight downhill putts, you can pull back straight just a tiny bit to B and hit it very softly to 2.

Another example: a 50-foot putt on flat ground will always play the same. A 50-foot uphill putt will change speed depending on how much slope you’re going up (for an up 10, expect the ball to be dying in the hole).

One final note for long putts — if you use your thumbs to putt, play more break on a longer left putt and less break on a longer right putt. If the putt is uphill, of course, you’ll need more break on both of those.

Any additional comments are welcome as we try to nail down specific details of longer putts, if any more details even exist!

If you’ve played enough, you probably have encountered the unpleasant occurrence of having a downhill putt roll right over the center of the cup and keep going.

So how do you avoid this happening to you? Well, there’s a couple things you can do. First off, be aware of the holes that are infamous for this behavior. Here’s a list of some holes where you have to be careful: Cumberland #18, Cypress Cove #s 16, 17, and 18, Misty Springs #s 16 and 18, Eagle Crest #s 16, 17, and 18, Bayou Bay #17, and Summit Lakes #s 17 and 18. Basically, when you get to a sloped green one of the final 3 holes on any course, be careful!

Secondly, there’s a trick to avoiding the rollover — if you have a downhill slope of 6 degrees or more, pull the trackball back to A or C before you putt. This should help keep the ball in the cup if it’s traveling too fast, but it doesn’t always work! It’s best to combine this trick with controlling your speed.

This article stems from a comment by DesignMaster about the strength of the putter relative to distance from the hole. Here is his original post:

“I’ve been testing this theory this past week and have learned a few things, mostly that I can’t putt. LOL. I’m still trying to proof this, but I’m working on the hypothesis that there are different ranges for the putter. For example, the putter is preset for 20 feet, 40 feet, 60 feet and 100 feet. Thus, a 19 foot putt is going to break severely with a 20 foot putter, whereas a 21 foot putt barely breaks when you have the 40 foot putter. Also, you can’t reach a 20 foot putt with an up 10 degrees with a 20 foot putter. Unfortunately, you don’t get the choice of what strength your putter will be. I’ll update this when I have more accurate numbers, until then, let’s just say that this is an unproven tip.”

Since, there have been several replies. This was Dannyboy’s original reply:

“I’m 99% sure they do it based off of a percentage. Just guessing here, but I think it’s set at about 125%. (up to 120 ft though)

And the reason some putts come off different is a couple things.

1: The game will say 6′ and you putt it in and it says 4′. That is a nice not. So that would be why a putt didn’t feel right when you hit it, the game misread the distance, so it didn’t allow for enough hardness to hit it with.

B: Certain greens play different than the rest. You just need to remember which ones, because they are consistantly different. (quick example: meaning if hole 6 of Summit rolls over on a down 5 putt, it always will in the same situations while every other hole with a down 5 will never roll over)

One thing to remember if you are a thumb putter, a big left breaker is harder to hit because of the way the rollers are set underneath. And when you thumb it, the ball will tend to hop off the rollers at the beginning and not allow you to hit it where you are aiming.
Lots more practice needed for this type of putt.”

Kinzler rebutted with this comment:

“Sorry to tell you, this is 100% false. I have never seen an up 10 putt not get to the hole from anywhere inside 80 feet (although an up 11 or 12 may very well come up short. The only way it won’t get there is if you’re on the fringe (fringe putts may not go more than 7 yards).

Also a 19 foot putt and a 21 foot putt will break the same everytime. There are no different types of putters. The only reason the putt may break differently is the speed the golfer has hit his putt. Obviously the harder you hit a putt the less break you have to play. This is the same theory that you need to play more break on severe uphill putts because the ball is coming off the putter slower. In turn the opposite happens for downhill putts.”

FRO HOU added this point about break:

“Putts longer than 60-70 feet with break play differently than shorter putts. The ball shoots off the putter face and goes out wider than you expect. You have to play a 70 ft left 5 like a left 2.”

Finally, AMJ added this:

“I think there is a “20 foot putter” and a “40 foot putter”. That’s not to say that is how far those putters will go but once you get beyond those distances the putter will go to the next level of putt power.

That’s how I attributed the magic 60′ rollever distance. Once a putt got over 60′ is went to the “90 foot putter” and that’s why putts in the 60-75′ range might have rolled over.”

Make what you will of this conversation topic, but practice will teach you the best how putts act!

No one area can frustrate you more than missing putts. In Golden Tee, if you hit the green, you’re expected to be able to make the putt. Really, you’re expected to be able to make almost all putts on the green, but most of us aren’t that consistently good. This section contains some tips to help you sink more putts.

I was skeptical of this for a long time, but I finally decided to give it a try during a round of Golden Tee Live just a couple weeks ago. The theory here, as supported by Golden Tee master Steve Sobe, is that you have better control of your putts by pulling back on the trackball and creating a backswing before you follow through. I’m still a rookie at this, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t sink nearly every putt using that style for a whole round!

For putting in Golden Tee, a backswing just didn’t seem necessary. Since you can’t create hook or slice, why pull back? Well, that’s one of the reasons that you should! You don’t have to worry about pulling back exactly to B — just pull the thing back. Then, as you follow through to your line, it seems like your putts are more “true,” and the cup seems to suck up the ball much more often!

This method works especially well for me on long, sloped putts. You don’t have to worry as much about speed (just follow through smoothly), and I think it even takes some break out of the putt! You’ll probably be scared to try it, like I was at first, but try it for a round and see if you knock a couple strokes off your score!

These can be downright scary. Sometimes if you miss a downhill putt in Golden Tee, your ball will carry all the way off the green, and sometimes even into sand or the water! You want to putt with confidence, but if you miss, you surely want to have a putt back up the hill at the hole.

Contrary to uphill putts, the side slope on downhill putts affects the ball less. So, the best tip here is if you have a 2-degree slope to the right on a downhill putt, you can play it as if the slope were only 1-degree (I’d play about half as much slope as I’d play the same shot on level ground).

As mentioned above, the worst thing that can happen is you putting the ball all the way off the green. I don’t like to hit downhill putts very hard at all, and I don’t recommend it either – I try to feel out the side slope and finesse the ball in the hole. I might miss an extra putt per round by playing soft, but I could also save several strokes by keeping it on the green for the return putt back uphill, if needed.

Nailing putts in Golden Tee is all about gauging slope vs. distance. The further away you are from the hole, the more the slope is going to affect your putt, so the more break you’ll have to play with the same degree slope.

In Golden Tee, one great tip to know is that you can’t hit a putt so hard that it lips out of the hole. So, a lot of guys really crank their putts to try to take some break out of the shot. The harder you hit a putt, the less the slope affects the break, so the more you can aim right at the hole. The risk in this, of course, is that you can blow the ball way by the hole if you do miss the putt (see section on “Downhill Putts”, especially). Or, you might not be as accurate in your direction if you try to putt it too hard.

Long putts do require a strong shot – the worst thing you can do is leave a putt short and never give it a chance to go in!

Slope vs. distance is a constant battle that you’ll get lots of practice at. On most medium-distance putts of only 1 or 2 degree break, you can aim at the high-side of the cup and make them pretty consistently. When you start to see a lot of break, you’ll need experience to gauge strength vs. direction in your shot. For instance, you’d probably play a 70-foot putt with 1 degree slope, a 35-foot putt with 2 degrees slope, and a 20-foot putt with 3 degrees slope all on the same line. Really, the best thing to do here is get lots of practice, but I can help with some specific tips in certain situations within this section.

I can’t stress enough that the large majority of putts in Golden Tee are missed because you don’t play enough break.  If you aren’t sure, try to err on the side of too much break — you may be surprised to see the ball go right in the hole!

Sometimes you’ll have a putt in Golden Tee that’s like 8 degrees down and 9 degrees left from 30 feet away. These are a nightmare! I’m ashamed to admit it, but sometimes I accept defeat before I’ve even attempted a horrible putt like this one. You can quickly find yourself in a vicious cycle of difficult putts, down and uphill against ferocious slope, that you can’t make, and all of a sudden you’re taking 5 putts to get it in the hole! It can totally ruin your round.

If I suspect that I’m being pulled into one of these traps, my tip is to try a lag putt just to try get the ball closer to the hole on a better, makable slope. In the example above, I’ll rotate my golfer to the right and barely tap the ball forwards. The slope will bring the ball down closer to the hole and I should be left with a putt I can make. It’s not glamorous, but I’ve salvaged a 2-putt instead of endangering my entire round.

Another time you may need a lag putt is if you’re on the green, but there’s fringe between your ball and the hole. Golden Tee doesn’t allow you to chip when you’re on the green, so all you can do is putt around the fringe and set up your next putt.

It takes lots of practice to know how far to the right to hit a 30-foot putt in Golden Tee that breaks 8 degrees left. Still, in almost all putting situations, you don’t need to rotate your golfer to compensate for severe slope. In the example above, I just try to gauge how far to the right I need to shoot the ball and hope it goes in.

As in the “Lag putts” section, there can be occasions where you do need to rotate your golfer to compensate for severe slope. I have not come across a slope yet where I can rotate one way, putt it straight, and have the slope of the green bring the ball into the hole. Rather, the tip here is to putt in the direction of the slope to help it along that way. So if I’m scared of a 10-degree slope to the left, I may rotate right and then putt the ball towards the left, with the slope, to try to get it in. It’s best to avoid these situations if you can, because it’s much easier to make putts where your golfer is facing straight on with the hole!

Break is amplified on uphill putts in Golden Tee, mostly because the upward slope slows the ball down as it approaches the cup. For uphill putts with some break to either side, a great tip is to anticipate more break than you’d see on a level putt with the same side slope. When executing uphill putts of 40-feet or more, that 2-degree break will definitely act more like a 4-degree break, especially as it gets close to the hole.

These can be very frustrating. If you’re barely on the fringe in Golden Tee and don’t have a very long putt, you can usually use your putter to get out and at the cup. Fringe not only slows down your ball a lot, but it also increases the effect of the green slope. If you’re putting out of the fringe from 20-feet away with a 3-degree break, it’s going to look like a 5 or 6-degree break once it gets to the hole. The fringe slows down the putt significantly, which causes the slope to have more affect on the break. So, a good tip I always use is to hit fringe putts very hard and play slightly more break.

Palm or thumbs?
Putting style in Golden Tee is up to personal preference, but the majority of good players putt with their thumbs. I used my palm for a long time for putts and did pretty well with it, but I recently switched to thumbs, and I’m starting to see the benefits. Thumbs seem to allow you to putt more accurately than sliding your palm up towards the target, but again, personal preference prevails!

If you’re just starting out with thumbs putting, a good tip is to try to notice where your putts end up on straight shots with no slope. When I started with thumbs, I seemed to be pushing my straight putts to the right. I picked up on that pretty quickly and was able to compensate by aiming at the left edge of the cup. If your thumbs putts aren’t going straight, adjust your follow-through so that the ball goes where you think you are aiming!

Where to look?
Another area that most people don’t think about is where your eyes are looking on your follow-through with your putt. Are you looking at the hole on the screen? If so, you may not notice if your follow-through is off-track. Are you looking down at your thumbs as you shoot? If so, you may miss the result of your putt on the screen. I try to pay attention to both, but as I eventually got more consistent, my eyes usually move up to the screen after I execute my putt with my thumbs.

Wind:
Don’t worry about wind on putts in Golden Tee – it doesn’t affect them.

Roll:
Don’t worry about roll or backspin on putts either – it doesn’t work, and you don’t need it.

Just concentrate on slope and distance, as outlined within several tips in this Putting section!