putting has become too easy. Since the advent of green reading books, the 1-putt percentage has skyrocketed, 3-putts have all but been eliminated, and players and their caddies have no greens duties. there is no longer any judgement, skill, technique or feeling involved. players simply plot green numbers into an equation and the ball always goes into the hole. Do you remember Al Czervik’s putter? the one made by his friend, albert einstein (“good man, good man. he made a fortune in physics”) with the sights and lasers? using a green reading book is something like this…
except none of that is true.
You are reading: Golf green books banned
but green reading books will stop being used in pga tour tournaments on january 1st, so let’s examine what will happen, how it happened, how it will be enforced and what is allowed and not allowed.
deep breath…
this decision to ban green reading material from the pga tour is entirely player driven. it will be a local rule, as permitted by the usga and r&a. out of everyone I’ve talked to, the reasoning is that they (not sure who they are) feel that green reading books have taken away the ability to read a green by eye. that should be a necessary skill to be a successful putter. It has nothing to do with the pace of the game. it has to do with the optics of players and caddies looking at their books like it’s a high school geometry final exam they just can’t pass.
Do they make putting on easier? sometimes. more difficult? sometimes. there is an ability to use a book of greens correctly. it’s a different skill than using your eyes and the feel of your feet to read a putt, but it’s a skill. when I caddyed, I saw as many putts made using a greens book correctly as missed using one incorrectly. I won’t go down a stat rabbit hole to back this up, but here are two basic stats that represent the comparison. From 1996 to 2007, more than a decade before the green books, 3-putt avoidance on the PGA Tour averaged 3.14%. That means that in all putts attempted on tour during the twelve years prior to the greens books, pros 3-putted 3.14% of the time. from 2008 to 2021, that number was 3.10%. between 2006 and 2007, the conversion of 1 putt was 37.43%, while between 2008 and 21 it was 38.1%.
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infinitesimal improvements and differences that cannot be exclusively correlated with green books. an improved knowledge base, an aim point, better drill and device training, better agronomy (read: softer greens) have all contributed. Also, for the last three years, players have been allowed to touch the pickaxe marks, something that has never been right in the history of the game. For a statistical comparison, in 1996, the average haul for driving distance was 265.9 yards. last year? 296.2. Hmm. if the players have the power to, in effect, fork the rules, which is what is happening, can they enact other local rules? Can they, as a tour, decide that the ball is going too far and the drivers’ heads are too forgiving? Doubtful, because there’s a lot of money coming from those equipment companies…not much from Mark Long, the maker of the greens books.
There was a time when judging distances by sight, touch, and experience was a big part of the game. players had to remember, “okay, yesterday I hit a 7-iron near this tree in an easterly wind. now I am near that tree again, the pin is up, but the wind is coming from the west… 9-iron.” Then Deane Beman, long before he became tour commissioner, began pacing courses during practice rounds, noting the distance between A and B and between B and C. A young man named Nicklaus tried it and, as Beman says, “After that, I don’t think Jack ever played a round without having the ability to know very, very well the length of whatever shot he was facing.” nicklaus and beman did their own work, their own mapping and course measurement.
Later, as the practice gained acceptance, mass-produced books measured by others became the norm on the PGA tour. today’s books used weekly provide players and caddies with an incredible amount of correct information, information gathered through technology and from an outside source. so naturally the backlash began, and it was decided that judging distance by feel and experience was a necessary skill for players to have, and yardage books were off limits… but they weren’t. and golf improved because of it. the yardage books were an advance of the game.
Let’s talk about the rule itself, what’s allowed and what’s not, and how it will be enforced.
Tour players and caddies will receive a tour-approved yardage book at each site before the tournament begins. it will contain all the usual information from tee to green. that won’t change. however, when it comes to the greens, information will be kept to a minimum. shape and depth of a green, as well as small lines and arrows that will identify any slope (large levels, false fronts, etc.) that measures 4.5% or more. other than that, it will be blank. Players and caddies can do homework, roll balls, watch others putt, watch the TV broadcast, and take notes in their book to help read putts. a player may also look at his caddy’s notes, but nothing more. however, the way that information is collected is very specific and limited. you can have a coach tell you, “this putt on 12 breaks hard left.” but he cannot write that information. must be remembered. A caddy can sit down with one of the locals at Augusta National (many do), but they can’t write down any of that information. must be remembered. You can’t write, “Carl Jackson says Rae’s Creek doesn’t shoot this putt” or write an arrow showing that break because you didn’t get that information yourself through experience. remember it, but don’t write it in your yardage book.
Anything you wish to record must be written in the book approved by the committee. So, for example, Phil Mickelson’s detailed short game notebooks will not be allowed during tournaments. the information can be used and annotated, but only if they are written in the approved book. Levels and measuring devices may not be used during a practice round or when a caddy is walking the lane. lasers can be used anywhere to measure distance or slope percentage across the green, but nothing on the green. launch monitors can be used to measure clubhead speed, ball speed, trajectory, or spin from the fairway or rough. but no technology will be allowed on the greens. I’m not sure I understand the distinction. If a caddy is willing to do this labor-intensive job for his player, he should be allowed to separate himself from his teammates when doing so.
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Let’s talk notes. ecological reading books are not going to disappear. they will still be produced for use during practice rounds. the information will still be there, and this is where it gets tricky. grades in your book will be judged using the honor system. a player or caddy may not copy information from one putting greens book into the new yardage book. any penalty for a suspicious entry will be removed by a player or caddy saying, “no, I hit that during the practice round.”
This is where I really feel for the official rules. They do a phenomenal job week in and week out, setting up fields, providing rules, keeping the tournament flowing smoothly. With this, I am afraid, they are in a no-win situation. it is inevitable that some players and caddies will have suspicious notes that they may have copied from an old greens book or from information previously collected using a level. Let’s say a player becomes suspicious of a competitor during a round. said competitor is constantly reviewing his book as if it were a greens book. the accusing player may request that a rules official inspect a caddy’s or player’s book. may seem extremely circumspect, but if the accused player says that he legally assembled it, that’s it. if certain players are suspected of using illegal notes or information, and are not penalized for it, others will say, “this is bs. We’re not on a level playing field, and if that guy’s going to do it, so am I.”
would that be correct? probably not. but would it be fair if one player has the information and denies collecting it illegally and another player has nothing? it is a gray area. Many caddies and players have trained in the aimpoint method of reading greens, where you get an idea of the percentage slope of the desired line with your feet, assign a value to it, and play the break or speed accordingly. if my player wanted me to do something like a greens book for him, i would work hard on aimpoint express, where i could identify slopes within decimal points of percentages. I’ve seen my aimpoint instructor, peter brown, approach slopes using just his feet and be able to say, “it’s 2.7 here, 2.2 here, 1.9 here.” then on Tuesdays he would go out with my approved book and take measurements every yard or so, at least around known hole locations. it would be time consuming and labor intensive, but if you saved a hit or two a week, it would be worth it. It wouldn’t be as demanding as a long book of marks, but it could be similar, with slope percentages and arrows written every few feet on the green. it would appear suspicious, as if the information had been illegally collected. but it would be legal. if he didn’t know the crosshairs, he could walk around the green, drop the balls from knee height, and record the direction and distance they traveled. then you have a slope and the strength of the slope without using technology.
It has been said that players want green reading to be a skill based on sight, feel and experience. if so, why are caddies allowed to help? I’ve seen some caddies that are incredibly adept at reading greens. so much so that there are days when his player wouldn’t even bother to look, just wait for his caddy’s instructions. “start here and give it a little rhythm.” so it’s not really a skill that a player should have. he can pay someone to read greens for him. if a caddy falls out or is fired during the week, a player can still use their notes and their new caddy’s notes. if you have a player who hates the new rule and wants to put a wrench in the works, can he hire an aimpoint instructor as his caddy on monday and tuesday, fire him on tuesday night and still be able to use all the notes of the? An extra $2,000 a week for someone is a drop in the bucket when a putt can be worth millions.
Now, let’s say someone is deemed to have illegally gathered information, by copying from an old book or writing something they heard but didn’t experience. Can you imagine a player saying, “yeah, you got me. he was trying to stop one on the field.” I can’t, but here’s the penalty structure: First offense: 2 shots. second infraction: disqualification. that seems simple. unless, of course, a player says, “yes, I used illegal information on the second green, but I didn’t use it the rest of the round.” again, sorry for the rules officers.
greens books are an advance in the game, like forgiving drivers and balls that go forever, don’t curve or spin around the greens; as launch monitors, as distance/slope measuring devices. why is the line drawn here? why go back here? say that it is nice and that everyone shares the same feeling about its removal. why not announce the ban and give it a year like they did with the anchored putter? players had a year to work on a new method that they felt comfortable with when the rule was enacted. there is a whole generation on the circuit that has never played a tournament without a greens book. why not give everyone a year to adjust instead of a couple of months?
Now, let’s talk about Bryson. I don’t know of anyone who has the potential to be more negatively affected by this new rule than Bryson Dechambeau. His entire greens reading system, one he’s perfected over the years, is based on slope percentages and green speeds. I would say that he has worked harder than anyone in the development of his system. you’re told to throw away something you’ve put an extraordinary amount of time and work into and learn a whole new routine in a couple of months. no matter what your opinion of bryson is, it’s unfair. he is meticulous during his preparation, using a launch monitor during practice rounds to measure spin speeds from the fairway, from the first cut and from the rough. he will write things like, “iron nine landing 4 yards on the green, frees up 3 yards. landing 8 yards on the green frees up 5 yards.” in effect, he is measuring the slope of the landing zone, in this case the green. but this method is legal because the technology used was street technology. I would have no idea how to do this as my high school physics teacher mr. frisbee (real name), I could attest. but I suspect that bryson could determine or approximate that information. He would do this 100% within the rules as I know he is a player who would never break the rules on purpose.
The USGA announced in August that it is making color-coded, arrowed green books available for thousands of fields around the world through its disability system. his ghin app will feature green reading material that closely resembles the ones used on tour. all perfectly legal, everywhere in golf except the pga tour. is forward-thinking and I commend you for making the effort. As for the pga tour? I think players who make more putts would be great for the product, not bad. most of the gallery’s huge roars come from incoming putts, not misread putts. nothing statistically supports the theory that greens books make putting easier for pga tour players. if we have a calm and warm day in the exquisite street. Andrews next year for the open championship, and one of the big movers on the ball is on a roll, there’s the potential for seven or eight eagle putts. if anyone shoots a 59 at the venerable home of golf, it won’t be for some arrows in a book.
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