CHAPTER 7 （2）

Green-Reading, the 15^th Building Block (阅读果岭)

7.10 What about the Grain？（草纹）

Something else to factor into your green-reading is the grain of the grass. To many amateurs who don’t understand grain and consider it in their figuring of how their putts will break. Grain is nothing more than the direction in which grass grows. The roots of grass grow down to their source of nutrition and moisture, while the blades grow up and toward their source of moisture and light.

Grass first seeks out a consistent source of moisture (the most consistent being from a nearby lake, pond, or ocean). Since most greens are watered by sprinkler systems, most grain follows local downhill slopes toward low areas where water will collect. On greens with excellent irrigation systems and drainage (which distribute water equally), the grain tends to follow the direction of the afternoon sun. In locations where there is no moisture or sun-angle bias, grass will grow in the direction of the predominant wind, providing the wind blows often and strong enough.

另一个要考虑的影响果岭阅读的因素是草纹。对于业余球员来说，这些很难弄懂，也很难计算草纹对推杆的实际影响。草纹是果岭草的生长方向。草根的生长会循着营养物质和水源，草叶会循着水分和阳光。

草首先会循着水源，有的时候会是附近的湖、池塘或是海。现在的果岭基本上都是由喷灌系统来浇水的，所以，草的生长偏向地势低的区域，因为那里聚水。如果果岭的喷灌和排水系统非常良好，这种情况下，草纹会循着下午太阳的方向。如果既没有水源也没有太阳偏角，但是当地经常刮风而且风力又非常强，草会循着风向长。

Sometimes the most significant grain effects occur on putts that do directly with or against the grain. If your putt against the grain (that is, the grass is growing directly into the rolling ball), its speed will be slowed, and all breaking putts will break a little more than normal. Putting with the grain not only gives the ball extra speed and distance, but also keeps it rolling more on line and breaking less than normal.

顺草纹推和逆草纹推对推杆的速度会有比较大的影响，如果是逆着草纹，球滚动的速度会变慢，“线”会比正常的多一些；顺草纹刚好相反，不仅会获得加速和增加滚动距离，而且“线”也会比正常略少。

There are a few quick ways to judge the way the grain is running on any green. First, look to see if it’s obvious – that is, if you can see that the blades of grass lie all in one direction. Then check if you can see the sun’s reflection on the grass: if the grass appears whitish or shiny, it means the grain is growing away from you; if the grain looks darker, you’re seeing a little shade under the blades as you look in the tip ends, which means the grain is growing toward you.

Grain will have the greatest effect on a putt near the hole, since that’s where the ball rolls slowest. So check how the grass is growing around the hole. Also examine the edges of the cup. One side many look clearly cut while the other is ragged, which indicates how the grass is growing. A clean edge means the grain is growing from that side toward the hole; the ragged edge is on the side of the cup that lost its roots when the cup was cut, so the grain runs away from the hole on the ragged side.

有几种方法可以判断草纹的方向。首先，看看叶子是否都是朝一个方向伸展；然后再看看阳光在叶子上的反射，如果叶子是发白闪亮的，那么是顺草；如果纹理显得暗一些，叶尖上有一些影斑，那么这个草纹是逆草。

洞口边的草纹对推杆的影响最大，因为这时候球的滚动速度最慢，所以要看一下洞口边的草纹情况和洞杯的边沿。或者是被整齐地切下，或者有些毛糙，这都表明草的生长方向。杯沿整齐的表明草是向洞杯中心方向生长，粗糙的一面是因为切洞时草根被切断而造成的，表明草纹是往洞杯外的方向。

Then there’s the “drag test” – simply dragging the leading edge of your putter face firmly across the grass to see what happens. If the grass continues to lie flat, your drag is in the direction of the grain; if the grass bristles up, that’s the against-the-grain direction. While dragging your putter provides the best test of grain, it is illegal under the Rule of Golf to check this way during play or anytime on the day of play. But you can always do it on the practice green and compare the conditions – notable, how the different grains look – out on the course. If you’re playing in a tournament and there’s a practice round, by all means conduct the drag test and mark the prevalent gain direction on each part of each green in our yardage book or on a scorecard. It’s legal to gather the information beforehand, just not on tournament days.

The grain will rarely do more than add or reduce the break you read by 10 percent. A large effect will be when you have to read putts that are with or against the grain, then modify your touch and feel to lag your putts the proper distance (be aware that distance can be affected by 25 percent or more.

有一种“耙”测法：用推杆杆头的前沿刮过果岭。如果果岭的草依然是倒伏的，那么推杆拉动的方向是顺草；如果感觉草立了起来，那么推杆拉动的方向就是逆草。在比赛练习轮，做做这个“耙”测法，让自己记住顺草和逆草的不同感觉，并且在码数本和记分卡上标记每一块果岭草纹的主要情况。收集果岭信息是不违规的。在比赛期间这么做是违反高尔夫规则的，但练习果岭上可以。草纹会对“线”有10%左右的影响，但是如果是几乎直线推的顺草或逆草，那么对距离的影响会有25%左右。

7.11 Plumb Bobs Don’t Work（铅锤法测“线”没有科学依据）

One practice many golfers use that they think helps them read greens is plumb-bobbing. However, most of those who plumb-bob have no grasp of the scientific principles behind a plumb line, and can not explain how they’re using their putters even as they hold them in front of their eyes.

The reason they can’t explain how their plumb-bob works is that it doesn’t. The principles of a plumb-bob or plumb line are violated by the way golfers use them to read putts, which is an interesting phenomenon. Plumb-bobbing a putt could indicate the slope of a green and the break direction of a putt only if:

很多球员使用一种“铅锤法”来帮助他们读果岭的“线”。但是用这个方法的很多球员其实并没有弄明白铅锤线的科学原理，即使他们把杆放在眼前，他们也无法解释垂挂的推杆到底是如何指明推杆的“线”的。至于他们为什么无法解释的原因，是因为“推杆铅锤”并不能测出什么来。铅锤或铅锤线有自己的工作原理，球员们并不知道使用条件，而在那里比划。铅锤只有在以下的情况之下才能表明斜坡和推杆的“线”。

1.       The green surface between the ball and hole is flat and at a constant slope angle to the horizontal.

2.       The flat green surface and constant slope extend back past the ball on the ball-hole line at least to the point where the golfer is standing.

3.       The golfer stands with his feet straddling the ball-hole line, and holds his body perpendicular to the slope so his head and eyes move downhill relative to being vertically above the ball hole line.

4.       The golfer holds a vertical putter shaft in front of one open eye, so the bottom of the shaft appears to be positioned over the ball.

Only when these four conditions are met will the plumb line appear to be on the upper side of the hole, indicating that the putt will break from the upper to the low side of the hole. And even then, under no condition will the plumb line indicate the amount of break.

1.       在球和洞之间的果岭表面是平展的，而且是一块与水平线相比连续的斜坡。

2.       这块平展而且连续斜坡的果岭至少延伸到球手站的地方。

3.       球手两脚分开站在球洞线上，身体与斜坡成直角，这样他的头和眼睛就垂直于球洞线。

4.       球手把推杆杆身放在开着的一只眼前，让杆身的末端刚好停在球上面。

当以上四个条件同时成立的时候，铅锤线（杆身）刚好在洞杯上坡一侧，表明了“线”是从视线出去的位于上坡的推杆杆身到洞杯下坡杯沿的距离。但即使这样，也不能表明这个距离就是“线”。

*** The Conditions Are Not Right（条件不具备）

But look closely at these four conditions.

In 1 and 2, green surfaces are seldom truly flat and at constant-slope angles all the way from where the golfer stands behind the ball to the hole. Condition 3, on sloping ground, humans tend to stand with one knee bent, subconsciously correcting for the slope to hold their bodies vertical. Stand vertically eliminates any chance for the plumb line theory to work for putting. In fact, if a golfer stands exactly vertical with his eye on the ball-hole line and holds a true vertical plumb line in front of his eye so it passes over the ball, the all putts, no matter how the green slopes between the ball and the hole, will appear to be straight. Condition 4 is similarly seldom true. Golfers use putters, which seldom hang vertically.

仔细想想四种情况。1和2 中提到的从球手的站位到球再到洞平整而有持续坡度的果岭是几乎不可能的；第3种情况，在斜坡上，我们都不由自主地弯曲一条腿的膝盖，下意识地保持身体的垂直站立。如果在斜坡上身体是垂直站立的，那么铅锤理论用来测“线”的可能是零，事实上，如果球手站直，眼睛在球洞线上，用一个真正的铅锤，放在眼前，让铅锤的线通过球，那么不管果岭如何倾斜，得到的“线”都是直的（图M、)。至于第4种情况，悬着的杆很少是垂直于地面的(图Q）。

 图M：当球手垂直站立在斜坡上，杆垂直于球上(图A)，出现的结果是杆身通过洞杯，直“线”（图B）；

     当球手垂直站在斜坡的另一面，杆垂直于球上（图C），出现的结果也是直“线”（图D）。

图Q：悬着的杆很少是垂直于地面的

*** What Are They Looking At?（他们能看到什么）

So what are golfers who plumb-bob doing? What are they looking at? I have determined that they all violate the third rule of plumb-bobbing listed above. They don’t really stand behind the ball exactly on the ball-hole line. When they hold the putter over the ball in front of one eye（and that eye is now on the low side of the ball-hole line）, the top of the shaft appears to be on the high side of the hole, confirming a break from the high side down the slope. All this means is that the subconscious knew where to stand, and which way the ball would break, before the golfer ever lifted the putter to eye level. So, in truth, golfers who plumb-bob to read their putts, position themselves so they see what they already (at least subconscious sly) knows.

那么球手到底在做什么？他们能看到什么？我可以判定上面的第三条他们肯定没做到。他们虽然在球后，但是不在球洞线上。当他们把杆放在球上面和一只眼睛前面，那只眼睛其实已经在球洞线的低的一侧，杆把相对来说在球洞线的高的一侧，于是“线”出现了。（图N）所有这一切只是表明，当球手把杆举起来之前，下意识就已经知道哪里是他想要的站位和球的拐向。也就是，下意识（潜意识）知道“线”，然后自己把自己放在了那个位子，然后就是举起了“铅锤”（杆身）做样子而已。

图N：如果球手的双腿是站直的，他的头就会偏向球洞线下坡这一面，这时，他手

中垂直的杆身指向洞杯坡高的一侧（图A\B）。他站到相反的方向，也得到同样的结果（图C\D)。

*** One Thing a Plumb Bob Can Do（可行的铅锤测“线”）

It can do one thing that’s productive if you use it properly. Find a putter that truly hangs vertically (so the shaft forms a true vertical plumb line). Then get our eyes close enough to the ground, so the ground hole looks more like a slit (or line), to do that, you’ll have to crouch way down or lie flat on the green.

Now when you had a truly vertical shaft over the hole you can see the slope of the line of the hole relative to vertical (if the green around the hole is sloped). Do this from behind the ball on the ball-hole line and you’ll see which way your putt will turn downhill as it dies around the cup. This won’t tell you how much the putt will break along the way, just the direction it will turn as it dies near the hole.

Please note: this slope is valid only if your putter shaft is truly vertical, and applies only to the slope of the green immediately around the cup. Don’t depend on this read to tell you how the ball will break on its way to the hole.

如果应用正确，推杆也是可以做对一件事。但要保证推杆一定垂直悬挂，这样杆身才成了真正的铅锤线。让眼睛尽量贴紧地面，这样洞杯看起来像一条裂缝或是一条线，为了得到这样的洞杯效果，那么必须蹲很低，或者像维勒加斯一样做“蜘蛛侠”。

如果洞杯周遭的果岭是斜的，那么一根垂直的杆身能告诉你洞口附近的斜向。在球洞线上球的后面看，能看到当球速在洞杯附近接近零的时候的拐向。但是依然无法看到“线”有多少，仅仅是方向而已。但是如果杆身不是直的，那么以上的一切依然不成立；而且仅仅适用洞杯口一圈小范围的拐向而不是拐的程度。