The clockface model for reading putts describes the green around the hole as a single tilted plane, visualized as a circular clock. Instead of vague descriptions of slope, the system uses the fall line as a precise geometric reference. The fall line is the straight uphill-downhill line passing through the hole and represents the maximum slope of the green. It defines both direction and steepness and acts as the master reference for every putt.

Perpendicular to the fall line is the sidehill line at 9 and 3 o’clock. Because these two axes are ninety degrees apart, the vertical slope of the fall line becomes an identical left-right tilt on a pure sidehill putt. Once the fall line slope is identified, the entire green becomes predictable, as every other putt is simply a fraction of that slope based on its position on the clockface.

Putts on the fall line at 12 and 6 o’clock have no left-right break because the surface tilts only up or down. At 9 and 3 o’clock, the green expresses the full fall line slope as sideways tilt, creating maximum break. Putts thirty degrees away from the sidehill axis, such as at 2, 4, 8, and 10 o’clock, experience about eighty-seven percent of the fall line slope as break, commonly rounded to ninety percent. Putts sixty degrees away, at 1, 5, 7, and 11 o’clock, experience exactly fifty percent of the fall line slope. These relationships are fixed by geometry.

The model also defines elevation. All putts on or below the 9-3 axis are uphill, while those above it are downhill. Diagonal positions form symmetric pairs, meaning the tilt is identical even though speed control differs.

The fall line slope is measured using a rise-over-run method with a standardized run of one hundred centimeters. A one-centimeter drop equals a one percent slope, while a two-centimeter drop equals two percent. This value defines the entire clockface plane.

For a Stimp 10 green, break is calculated with one base rule: break in inches equals half the fall line slope percentage multiplied by the putt length in feet. Faster greens require a small increase, slower greens a small reduction.

By identifying the fall line, its slope, and the ball’s clock position, a golfer can read any putt using consistent geometric logic instead of guesswork, creating clarity, confidence, and repeatable accuracy on the greens.

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