AUGUSTA, Ga.—There’s a trap at Augusta National, and players walk into it willingly every day.some
It happens on the practice putting green. In fact, it is the practice putting green. A small part of Augusta National’s multimillion-dollar practice facility that doubles as the nicest range on earth. It’s a haven for players, flanked by a beautiful new player services building.
Camping out on this pristine putting green presents an issue, though. It’s tempting because of how nice it is, but there’s only one problem: the putting green itself is fairly flat. Unlike anything they’ll experience on the golf course.
That’s the trap that smart players know how to avoid.
The best putting practice is out on the course 
J.D. Cuban
Technically, players could walk up to the practice putting green by the more sloping 10th tee, which is a better reflection of what they’ll find on the course — but almost nobody does.
Putting coach Stephen Sweeney, on the practice putting green by the 10th tee:
“This green has some slope…I wish more players would make the trip up and do their work up here. I think in their minds, they use this green to hit their token 20 putts before the first tee.”
Put simply, players aren’t going to find many big breaking putts on their comfortable practice-area putting green that will mirror what they’ll find on the course. The trap is when players lock into the practice putting green and think they can do all their putting work there.
Adam Glanzman
As putting coach Phil Kenyon explains:
“Players have to dial in their speed quicker, and that’s made more difficult because the practice putting green at Augusta doesn’t reflect the greens on the course. The practice putting green on the range is actually very flat. The best way to prepare is to spend as much time as you can on the golf course.”
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So that’s what players — the smart ones, anyway — do. They spend a strategic amount of time on the practice green working on technique, and a far larger chunk of time on the golf course.
“I feel like you can work more on technique there, and once you get to the golf course it’s a lot more imagination,” says Nico Echavarria. “I have spent a little more time on certain putts that are going to break, and accept the fact that there is technique and then there is imagination.”
Kenyon says he tells players to look for the biggest breaking putt on every single green during their practice rounds to get a sense of Augusta’s greens.
“I did a ton of loose lag putting out there today,” says Brian Campbell. “I’m learning it’s not always where you want your ball to go, it’s knowing where it could end up, because it could end up in some random places with these greens.”
The only place to learn that? Players getting outside their usual comfort zone, and onto the golf course itself.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
