What Jordan Spieth says is the ‘number one thing’ he does when reading greens which could help amateur golfers hole more putts

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When it comes to some of the best putters out there on the PGA Tour, Jordan Spieth is one of the top guys.

Spieth’s run between 2014 and 2016 saw him hole putt after putt to win his three majors and numerous PGA Tour events as he laid down his marker on the TOUR.

Since then, Spieth hasn’t quite managed to get back to the levels he showed there but in the main, he remains a real presence around and on the greens.

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Indeed, it was only a few years back that Spieth revealed one of his big secrets as he told AJGA Golf all about his technique for green reading.

Jordan Spieth’s top tip for reading greens to make more putts

With Jordan Spieth being a three-time major winner and being among the best in strokes gained for putting in a number of seasons on the PGA Tour, he’s worth listening to.

And in explaining how he reads his putts, Spieth said a few years back that it’s all about breaking it down into thirds.

“I would say in green reading, the number one thing that I do is that I don’t walk above the hole. I look at it from behind, I walk around the low side of the putt, to the backside of the hole and read it from the backside of the hole, back around the low side. I learned this from Dave Stockton Senior in maybe 2013. It was kind of the way I already read putts but he explained it better than I just did naturally. You kind of just read it in thirds. The first third matters the least, the second third matters second, and the last third is the most important part of the putt because the speed gets lost so there is more break,” Spieth explains.

“After going along the low side of the hole and seeing it on the back side, you realise that the putt is going to break a little less at the beginning and a bit more at the end, I start to see the arc that you would see on TV when they show the point outside the hole.

“Essentially you’re saying I think this is going to go in at 7 o’clock, so I start to see the arc of the putt and within that I find a mid point of that putt, a blemish on the green, or a piece of poa annua and I am rolling it based on the speed of what I just read. I read it speed first and then go into, with the speed I want to make this, where does this have to track into the hole.

“I start to find that mid point, I want to roll it around, underneath or over in the mid point of that putt and it keeps my outwardly focused. It keeps it away from the stroke and instead in matching line to speed. And I think that is a reason why from the midrange I have been very successful over the last eight years on tour, or whatever it may be”

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Jordan Spieth’s best putting year on the PGA Tour

He might not have won for a few years now but Jordan Spieth is still one of the big stars on the PGA Tour and retains significant pull.

His putting has remained consistent and even so far in 2025, he’s in the top 60 for strokes gained with the putter and ranks 26th for one putt percentage.

However, it was back in the 15/16 season where Spieth really excelled.

That season, he was in the upper echelons in nearly all putting stats, dominating the field.

Those numbers above are something special and if Spieth can ever get back close to that, then we might finally start seeing him win again on the PGA Tour.