Reed Goes Minimalist On The Greens, Leads Wells Fargo By One

Like Luke Skywalker turning off his targeting computer to destroy the Death Star--okay maybe that's a bit strong--Patrick Reed has set aside his green reading guide and is using the Force to putt his way into the Wells Fargo Championship lead.

Leading by one as Teryn Schaefer notes here in the PGATour.com Takeaway, Reed credits the switch to shelving overanalysis, reports GolfChannel.com's Rex Hoggard.

“I've done that pretty well all week,” he said. “I have my green-reading book with me just to kind of confirm, not really to go off of it, just to make sure I'm seeing what the book is saying and just kind of going from there.”

Reed's comments come at an interesting time given this week's discussion of possible governing body action against the green reading books and in particular the Strackaline approach that Josh Berhow explains here for Golf.com.

Jim Stracka sees the issue as a slow play issue more than anything else.

"Some of the older guys think, 'We already understand these greens. We don't need greens guides,' and all they see is people using books and it's a perception that they are actually playing slower," Stracka said. He believes golf should have a shot clock and allow players to do whatever they want before they play their ball, as long as it's done inside the time allotted. "My opinion on slow play is slow players are slow and fast players are fast. It doesn't really matter what type of technology they have."