图示3：米克尔森和他的王牌球童“骨头”吉姆·马克凯 Jim （Bones）Mackay

　　01. 第一眼是最可靠的

　　吉姆是米克尔森的球童用自己近20年的球童生涯的经验教训告诫球手们：在果岭上看线时，往往看的时间越长，就越犹豫。在观察果岭的拐线时，还是要相信老话有道理：第一眼的直觉最准，一定要坚持(Your first instinct is best. So trust it)。

　　接着昨晚没有完成的作业。刚从万柳归来，昨晚匆忙只读了两条，今天就用上了这一条，第18洞3杆洞，标on,距旗洞7码多，斜下坡推;因为前边盯着两洞，所以鸟推是快大肥肉。同组的何总(差点11,)也是标on,距旗洞3码，上坡推。另外一组都是两on，都是+1，只能眼睁睁地看着我们任意宰割了。参见图示1，我先推，按第一眼的直觉设定好拐点，没有犹豫轻松推出去，小球缓缓滚入旗洞，抓鸟提洞，一片欢呼!何总已经轻松了，为了成绩，左右看线，结果上坡推力度不够，保par。这只鸟，好好又给身边的可爱铁杆们上了一课(估计那二位现在正咬着牙偷偷看我的笔记吧?哈哈)。

　　02. 用脚去读果岭(用脚‘看’线)

　　吉姆为了帮助老米设计出最佳的推杆线路，他通常都会站在球前看线，观察拐点，他不仅用眼睛看，也会用脚去感受。当他向下看球时，可以准确地观察出球是比脚高一寸还是矮一寸。然后，他还会通过其他的观察来综合判断推杆的拐线。不要忽视了感觉：每个人的都会通过定位时的站位用双脚来感受出用眼睛看不出的拐线。

　　这一条我今天在万柳果岭上尝试了一下，好像有些吃不准，估计我的脚没有王牌球童的那样敏感，看来还需要继续锤炼。

　　03.推杆时力度稍大一些不见得是坏事(果断的推击应该提倡)

　　吉姆认为，米克尔森有着其他球员少有的特质：当遇到需要通过速度来减少拐线影响的时候，他从来不会犹豫。即使是在速度很快的果岭上，哪怕是很小的偏差也会出现严重失误，尤其是在压力下的推杆。

　　吉姆举了米克尔森的两个例子，我就略去了。我还是拿今天的现身说法吧!今天万柳第9洞，4杆洞，锅背果岭，一般情况下这洞打par，我们就偷笑了。今天一号木开球，小球被风吹到右边的水前，下坡球位，距果岭175码，顶风上坡，我用5铁直接把小球打上果岭距旗洞2码，鸟推(见图示4，到果岭前信心满满的得瑟照，哈哈)。2码的下坡推，因为考虑到前边还顶着一洞，摆好线，心里就想着：par就可以提一洞，至少要保par;转念又一想，抓鸟就会使成绩达到80小几杆了，就这样优柔寡断地、犹犹豫豫地用推杆轻轻碰了一下小球，小球根本没有按照预想的拐线行走，从洞口的右侧划过，直接溜下坡，变成了另一个4码的上坡推...... 最后，只抓到了‘破鸡’。

　　所以了，吉姆告诫球手们：如果某天你的推杆状态很好(我个人认为，即使状态不好也没关系)，那就不用担心，完全可以靠推杆速度来让拐线减半。

　　04. 掌握一种保险(保底的)的看线方法

　　吉姆认为：最难的推杆线路是略带点拐线的6英尺推，比如，左洞外半颗球，从常规角度看完线后，会决定拐线的大小。然后，我会用自己最保险的方法在确认一遍。可能每个球手的方法不同，但是我喜欢用常规的方法，蹲在球的后方看线，想象如果对准洞杯的中间推球，球会如何滚过去。一般情况下都会看到球会从左向右拐，偏离洞杯，于是之前看的拐线就得到确认了，瞄向左侧推杆一定没错。不管用什么方法，每个球手都应该有自己最保险的看线方法。

　　05.本特草只有一种看线法，百慕大草有两种看线法

　　本特草的果岭速度很快，只有一种看线方法，只要球不进洞，就会过洞至少一尺半以上;而相对本特草，百慕大草的果岭比较慢，暗线比较多。吉姆认为有两种看先方法，因为你可以通过推杆速度来选择拐线的大小，稍用些力推，拐线就会小一点，就算没有推进也不会过洞太多。

　　06. 你帮着看线时，必须让同伴推杆的感觉最舒服

　　对于自己的看法不要过于坚持，如是一定要让同伴按照自己认为的线路去推杆，他会半信半疑。态度不坚决就很有可能失误。但是只要给同伴信心，他就会按照自己的线路去推杆，这样至少成功一半。帮同伴看线，最重要的是让他感觉舒服，哪怕自己心里不爽。

　　07. 最佳看线角度：球洞后方

　　吉姆多年的球童经验告诉他，到球洞后方沿着推杆线路朝球看去(见图5)。这现在是金牌球童看看线的第一位置，也是最重要的位置。从这个位置看线会更精确，因为这里离进洞前最后几英尺的范围最近。球洞附近的地形最关键：哪怕稍有坡度，球的拐线也会很明显，因为接近球洞时，球速非常慢。

　　08. 丢掉“秤砣”吊线法

用“秤砣”吊线法去看线

　　如果你看高尔夫比赛的电视转播，现在很少看到球员还在使用20年前流行的“秤砣”吊线法(见图6)。这种方法不仅复杂，而且不一定管用。也许还有些球员坚持使用，但是尼克劳斯、老虎以及米克尔森都不用这种方法，还有谁的推杆比他们好呐?如果你本来就不会这种方法，那就根本别学了。

　　09. 充分了解球场的地形地貌

　　吉姆认为：在果岭上看线时，需要了解球场的地形地貌。规则如下：1)在山地球场，球总是会朝着远离山的方向拐;2)在一些水多的球场，水流的方向一定是位置较低的方位。如果你了解了当地的地形地貌，也许会对读懂果岭有很大的帮助。

　　我本人也常听单差高手说：远看势，近看线。应该说的就是这个道理。刚才看到博友阿瑟的留言更精辟了：“似乎看线基础均是山高水低”，一看就知道阿瑟一定是单差，起码也是阅岭无数的高人。

　　10. 看线时要考虑回推(尊重回推)

　　吉姆认为：一般情况下，当你的推杆想法变得积极时，一定要考虑推过了该怎么办的问题。特别是面对速度很快的果岭，或者表面崎岖不平的果岭，推杆时一定不能太过积极，否则回推将会成为难题。

　附：英文原文

　　Don't sell your sensory awareness short: Amazing as it might seem, almost everyone will get information from the stand-at-address perspective that you can't gather from reading the green with your eyes.

　　01. First sight is best sight. I've caddied for Phil Mickelson since 1992 and have seen some tremendous golf along the way, but the first nine holes on Sunday of this year's Masters was the most exciting front nine I've ever seen. Phil got it going early, birdieing the second, third and fifth holes, and then hitting it three feet under the hole at the sixth. We grinded on that three-footer for a long time, because we had opposite reads, which is rare. Phil saw it as a left-edge putt, and I saw it right edge. As I looked at it more, I began to get confused. That's the problem with studying a putt for too long; you end up seeing things that aren't there. Fortunately, I snapped out of it and stuck with my first read. Phil drilled the putt dead-center to keep his charge going. When it comes to reading greens, what the old-timers say is true: Your first instinct is best. So trust it.

　　02. Read with your feet, too. To get a perfect read on one of Phil's putts, I stand over the ball as though I'm going to hit it. I get a great sense of the break not only with my eyes, but with my feet. When I look down at the ball, I can tell immediately whether it's a fraction of an inch higher or lower than my feet. Then I factor that in along with what I see from the other perspectives. Don't sell your sensory awareness short: Amazing as it might seem, almost everyone will get information from the stand-at-address perspective that you can't gather from reading the green with your eyes.

　　03. Speed doesn't always kill. Phil possesses one of the rarest traits a golfer can have: He doesn't hesitate to negate break on putts by hitting them firmly. This is true even on fast greens, where the consequences of missing are severe, and it's especially true under pressure. His boldness and faith in his ability are what separate him from other players. An example of this came during the 2005 PGA Championship at Baltusrol. I read only a handful of putts for Phil the entire week because he had the greens wired and didn't need my input. But on the final hole, Phil pitched his third shot to within two feet and then out of the blue asked me to look at the putt and confirm his feeling that it might break to the right. As always I did my best to help him. Although it was a short putt, he needed it to win his second major. It only got worse when I looked at the putt, because I didn't see it moving right at all. I told Phil, "I like it straight. If you put a little speed on it and hit it dead center, it won't have time to move." Phil banged in the putt to win. On days when you're putting well, don't be afraid to cut the read on short putts in half and firm them in.

　　04. Develop an insurance read. One of the toughest reads is the six-footer that has a small but telling amount of break -- half a ball outside the edge, for example. After reading from my customary angles and making a decision, I use a final insurance read that gives me a feeling of certainty. Your insurance read can be any technique you like, but for me it consists of lining up the putt in the standard way -- squatting behind the ball -- and then imagining how the ball would behave if I started it dead center. I'll almost always see the ball peeling off a certain amount left or right, so then I know to aim that far out on the other side. Like I say, the insurance read can be anything, but you should have one.

　　05. One read for bent, two for Bermuda. On Bermuda greens, which are slower and have more grain than bent-grass greens, I give two reads: a firm-speed read and a dying-speed read. You have options because you can afford to take some of the break out of the putt by hitting it harder, knowing the ball won't roll too far past. On bent-grass greens, however, there really is only one true read: one where the ball will roll a foot and a half by the hole if it doesn't go in.

　　At Augusta, where the bent-grass greens are free of grain and as fast as they get, the reads are simplified, and Phil and I decide on a line based on our mutual understanding of that one speed. When you're reading greens for a partner, though, make sure you're speaking the same language, and with consideration for the surface you're playing.

　　06. Your partner must love the read. I've found an effective way of handling the times when I don't see the same line that Phil does. You might try it when your partner wants your opinion on a read. When Phil asks for my read, I'll make my case as convincingly as I can. But I make that argument only once. If Phil is not persuaded, I immediately back off and do all I can to give him confidence that his read is the correct one.

Don't be persistent and oversell your read, because if you wear your partner down to the point where he grudgingly goes along with you, he'll have only a half-hearted belief you're right. That sliver of doubt can lead to a bad stroke. But if you give your partner confidence that he has the right line, he'll usually make a decisive stroke, and then you've won half the battle. It's crucial that your partner love the read, even if you don't.

　　07. The best look: behind the hole. Before I began caddieing for Phil, I spent two years working for Larry Mize. Larry was and is a fantastic putter, and the best part of his putting was his green-reading. What I took from Larry was his habit of reading putts from behind the hole, looking up the line back toward the ball. Today that's the first read I make, and the most important one. It provides the most accurate perspective of all because you get a closer look at the last few feet of the ball's route to the hole. The area around the hole is critical: If there's any slope at all, the ball will react to it because it's rolling so slowly.

　　08. Be wary of plumb-bobbing. If you watch golf on TV, you'll notice that fewer players plumb-bob putts today than 20 years ago. Everybody used to do it, but the fact that the trend has quieted down tells me it's either too complicated to learn or doesn't work. I realize there are players who swear by it, but Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson never relied on plumb-bobbing, and who's putted better than they have? So if you don't plumb-bob already, don't start.

　　09. Know the local topography. During the Bob Hope, you'll hear a lot of remarks on how "everything breaks toward Indio." All that means is that Indio is the lowest part of the topography in the Palm Springs area, and that putts will pull slightly in that direction as if by a magnet. There are phenomena like that all over the country.

At the 1994 Las Vegas Invitational at TPC Summerlin, Phil shot a 63 the final day by taking into account that every putt breaks toward the Strip. When we play the Masters, we know that putts move toward the 12th green. When we play Riviera, it's a given that putts go toward No. 6. On mountain courses, balls tend to move away from the highest peak in the vicinity. On courses with no such landmarks, smaller features such as water hazards and creeks take over, because that's where water drains. If you ignore the local topography, you might be scratching your head all day long.

　　10. Respect the comebacker. There are occasions when you have to consider what will happen if you miss. At Pebble Beach this year, Phil's partner was his friend Charles Schwab. Playing the final hole of the third round, Phil was roughly in 50th place individually, but the Mickelson-Schwab team was doing great and on the verge of making the 25-team cut for the final day. By my calculation a birdie on the par-5 18th would get them in.

After a big drive, Phil slung a 5-iron out over the ocean and drew it back onto the green, about eight feet from the hole. Reading his putt for eagle, I noticed there were a huge number of spike marks and all kinds of footprints around the hole, which happens at Pebble late in the day. A 2½-footer in these conditions is no gimme, and I found myself saying something to Phil I had never said in all my years with him: "You have got to lag this close." Phil looked at me like I was from Mars, but after I whispered the situation he wasn't as aggressive as he might have been and knocked it up close for a tap-in birdie.

As it turned out, they needed the eagle to make the cut, and Phil has teased me a lot about my miscalculation. But my fear of a nasty comebacker was well-founded. If you're putting greens that are very fast or bumpy, you definitely want to be careful about being too aggressive.