AimPoint Green reading clinic will improve your game

WEDNESDAY, APR. 4: AimPoint Green reading is coming to Bermuda soon and I wanted to give you a further insight into what the clinic will be about.

When I went to a presentation it opened my eyes about greens, with identification of ‘anchor points’ being pretty mind-blowing, not because they are complex but because once I knew about them they opened up a whole new aspect to how to play my approach shots.

Favourable

The clinic lasts two and a half hours and costs $250 and compares very favourably with a typical lesson of a similar period with your local PGA.

We have John Graham, a PGA professional and a senior Aimpoint instructor, to conduct the clinic.

You also came away with your own AimChart booklet so you can convert all the mathematical modelling into a handful of easy to use charts that tell you exactly what break a putt will take on any green.

Other topics include green mapping, approach shot optimization, wind and grain effects.

At the outset I was highly sceptical about its claims, but probably within an hour my fears subsided as the clinic built on its opening fundamentals, providing additional layers of information to the point when I holed the first putt that broke the opposite way to which my eyes initially determined.

Does it make for slower golf?

I can already hear the howls of protest about the game being slow enough without introducing a system determining ‘zero lines’ and then applying them from a book.

Admittedly, it takes time to get to grips with feeling the changes of slope as you walk about the green and it’s not something that I’d recommend trying for the first time in the club championship.

But a few practice sessions when the course is quiet definitely pays off in lower scores.

Now I’ve put in the practice I can determine ‘zero lines’ within 30 seconds and apply them from the chart while others are lining up their putts in an orthodox way. When you consider the way some golfers stalk a putt, looking at it from every angle, bobbing and weaving about the green, there’s no reason the AimPoint system should slow play.

How to take part

There are AimPoint clinics held at Tucker’s Point on April 14th or 15th, with sessions in the morning or afternoon to choose from.

If you are serious about your golf then you’ve got to do it — it’s the future of putting.

Paul Adams is the PGA director of golf at Rosewood Tucker’s Point.