Stephen Sweeney’s green-reading drill separates the curve from the start line

Stephen Sweeney’s green-reading lesson begins with a mistake that can survive a good putting stroke: aiming at the place where a breaking putt reaches its widest point. The ball has already started turning before it gets there, so that target can send the putt below the intended path.

In GOLF.com’s latest episode of The Lab, the putting coach walks Zephyr Melton through a way to see the whole route. He divides a putt into thirds and uses reference points along the curve, making the read something the player can inspect before taking the stroke.

The accompanying GOLF.com lesson explains the drill as a sequence. Look from behind the ball, picture the track to the hole and mark the thirds. Then roll putts over those reference points. A ball that follows them and reaches the hole has matched the read with its pace. A miss gives the player a specific part of the attempt to examine.

Sweeney says he gives his Tour players five different putts each day and asks them to score how many reads they got right. That keeps the exercise focused on the decision made before the stroke, rather than treating every miss as the same failure.

The video also explores how golfers prefer to see a putt. Some respond to a target described in cups outside the hole. Others find a visible curve more useful. Melton says the curved path makes more sense to him than being told a number of cups to aim away.

Sweeney looks at the putt from behind the ball, then checks the curve from the position where he will actually strike it. His point is that players normally watch their own putts from above the ball, even though much of their initial reading happens from another angle.

He also separates the read from execution. Once a player has chosen a route, the remaining checks are contact in the center of the putter, the intended start line and the planned speed. Those details give a practice session more information than the final make-or-miss result alone.

For golfers who repeatedly miss on the low side, the lesson offers a concrete practice task: build a visible route, roll the ball through it and check the prediction. The thirds are reference points for learning the curve; the starting direction still has to allow for the ball’s movement from the moment it leaves the putter.