An asphalt shingle is provided, in which a base mat is impregnated with an asphalt material and has headlap and tab portions, with the tab portion being a plurality of tabs separated by slots, with adhesive applied to the top surface of the shingle in the headlap portion and above the upper ends of the slots, but wherein the headlap portion of the shingle has adhesive-free zones above the centers of the tabs.A roof covering is provided with the shingles being in overlying and underlying courses, with shingles in each course being laterally offset and with the adhesive-free zones being such that no adhesive on a shingle in an underlying course is visible through slots of shingles in a next-overlying course.The method of making the asphalt shingles includes applying a substrate to a layer of shingle-forming material, the substrate having indicators at predetermined spaced-apart distances, with the indicators being sensed as the shingle-forming layer is moved along a predetermined path, with adhesive zones being applied to the shingle such that the application of the adhesive zones is synchronized in response to sensing the locations of the indicators, and with the shingle-forming layer then being cut into individual shingles.