Golf Tip of the Week: Oak Knoll Golf Course

The greens at Oak Knoll are small targets with a lot of break, making them difficult to navigate.

You a leg up on the competition.

Newswatch 12 sports josh shelton shows how to navigate the challenging greens at oak knoll golf course.

(take josh key) here in ashland, the oak knoll golf course has quite a bit of history.

It was built nearly a hundred years ago and with that -- there's a lot of trickiness when you get around the greens.

Head golf professional patrick oropallo explains why the age of this course makes the greens so difficult.

(take patrick key) patrick oropallo says, "oak knoll was built in 1927.

So that means the greens are small and very undulating.

With today's modern mowing equipment that means they're going to be really fast and you have to play enough break to be successful here."

So patrick talked me through some of his tips for golfers making their first trip out to oak knoll.

Patrick oropallo says, "so the first thing to do is to start behind the hole and get a general idea of the putt's going to break.

This putt's going to break right to left.

So my second move is to walk to the low side of the hole, relatively close to the hole and this will help me see the true center of the hole.

Where it's going to enter with good speed."

From there, it's almost automatic.

Patrick says to trust your abilities and don't spend too much time looking over a putt.

Patrick oropallo says, "the other tip to help you when you're putting is to make sure you're athletic.

And by that i mean don't focus so much on how to produce a putt.

Don't focus so much on how to execute a stroke.

Rather, react to a target, the way a great jump shooter in basketball identifies the hoop and reacts to the target."

So i gave it a try.

I wasn't as successful as patrick who drained all three of his putts, but i definitely felt ready to take on the greens that