46 Scoring zone

In an exclusive excerpt from their new book, The Lost Art of Putting, Gary Nicol and Karl Morris explain why pace is more important than line

How the hole changes size depending on a putt’s speed.

In your opinion, what is the most important factor in putting: line or pace? Whenever we ask this vital question, the most typical initial response is line. Definitely line. Line is everything.

If we then ask golfers why they prioritise line over pace, the most common answers include: “Well, if it’s on line, it always has a chance of going in”… “The ball can’t go in if it’s not on the right line”… “Now that I come to think of it, I’m actually pretty good at getting the line right, but my pace isn’t always great.” That is generally the moment when the penny drops. The moment when they realise that while they may be placing more importance or value on line, the reason they don’t hole more putts is pretty straightforward: they aren’t getting the pace right. After a bit of thought, deliberation and a short discussion, 100 per cent of the people we work with then decide – we don’t tell them, they draw their own conclusions – that pace is in fact more important than line. PACE IS KEY AND PACE IS KING. PACE GIVES