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Aimpoint

JB said:
And as I said, I am sure it works quite well for some people. However I am also sure that that player has been fit, has a coach that he works with and practices on the green each and every day. For many amateurs, they dont have those luxuries, and I believe before they plunk down money on something such as Aimpoint, they would be better served with a proper fitting and putting lessons from a putting coach or local professional.
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Agreed, and unfortunately most won't do that.
 
JB said:
And as I said, I am sure it works quite well for some people. However I am also sure that that player has been fit, has a coach that he works with and practices on the green each and every day. For many amateurs, they dont have those luxuries, and I believe before they plunk down money on something such as Aimpoint, they would be better served with a proper fitting and putting lessons from a putting coach or local professional.
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What didn't work for you from the AimPoint class?
 
I would like to take the aimpoint lesson, but at that price it has priced me out of the market. Sure if I had extra funds laying around it would be nice, however $200 for one aspect of the game seems a bit much. Comparitively I could take 3-4 lessons from a pga instructor and work on multiple facets of my game.

I am glad it works for many people, though at this time I can't see the justification.

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One of my good friends is a clubmaker and teaching pro. He told me the other day that he signed up to become an Aimpoint certified instructor. He told me that he would give me the run down when he finished the course.
 
Dr. Teeth said:
One of my good friends is a clubmaker and teaching pro. He told me the other day that he signed up to become an Aimpoint certified instructor. He told me that he would give me the run down when he finished the course.
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Keep hitting those HIO's and you won't need this, lol.
 
Intriguing stuff. Has anyone tried the app?
 
Dennis Sales said:
What didn't work for you from the AimPoint class?
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I did not say it did not work, or that it did not work for me. What I said was that instruction and fitting worked more for me than Aimpoint did and in my opinion (and only mine), instruction and fitting will work for more amateurs than AimPoint will. They do not have to be mutually exclusive of course, however at the cost levels of all 3, it would be hard pressed for most consumers to put in the time and money to do so.
 
An alternative; that from what I have read is cheaper than aimpoint, is vector putting (http://www.vectorputting.com/). KEep in mind this was started by instructors that were previously aimpoint instructors and based on word on the street had a falling out with the aimpoint founder. This approach is based on H.A. Templetons work, which is similar in concect to Aimpoint. From what I have read Aimpoint while good at what it does, it just never took off like it was expected.
 
SW said:
I would like to take the aimpoint lesson, but at that price it has priced me out of the market. Sure if I had extra funds laying around it would be nice, however $200 for one aspect of the game seems a bit much. Comparitively I could take 3-4 lessons from a pga instructor and work on multiple facets of my game.

I am glad it works for many people, though at this time I can't see the justification.

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Doesn't it directly relate to the club you hit the most and the one that affects your score the most?
 
JB said:
I did not say it did not work, or that it did not work for me. What I said was that instruction and fitting worked more for me than Aimpoint did and in my opinion (and only mine), instruction and fitting will work for more amateurs than AimPoint will. They do not have to be mutually exclusive of course, however at the cost levels of all 3, it would be hard pressed for most consumers to put in the time and money to do so.
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I interpreted it differently. Would you provide a more detailed opinion to why you thought AimPoint didn't work as well as the other two aspects for you? Also, do you think amateurs make compensations to their stroke based on where they think they need to aim at and past experiences?
 
I dont think its necessary at this point. You work with/for Aimpoint and regardless of my opinion, are here to promote that brand for obvious reasons. I see nothing wrong with AimPoint and as I said, I think in the right hands it will work properly and has done so for many golfers. However I personally found and believe that proper technique is the most important aspect in all of golf and definitely as it pertains to putting.
 
I was about to ask Dennis if he worked for Aimpoint, because he does seem to be defending it an awful lot.
 
Dennis Sales said:
Doesn't it directly relate to the club you hit the most and the one that affects your score the most?
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Hmm maybe. If I'm slicing driver oob or struggling with my irons then no matter how many putts I have the score will be poor. I understand you, but I would rather get the mechanics of putting solidified first.

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JB said:
I dont think its necessary at this point. You work with/for Aimpoint and regardless of my opinion, are here to promote that brand for obvious reasons. I see nothing wrong with AimPoint and as I said, I think in the right hands it will work properly and has done so for many golfers. However I personally found and believe that proper technique is the most important aspect in all of golf and definitely as it pertains to putting.
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you are getting me all wrong. I do teach AimPoint but I'm not here to defend it nor am I here to start any agruments. I enjoy talking to people and learning from their past experiences. Especially if it is regarding something I'm associated with. Asking you for your opinion in more detail is something I feel will help me improve, wouldn't you think? Way to often golfers want to focus solely on full swing and never have putting instruction. I teach putting a lot and that is the easiest way to have someone lose 3-5 shots per round. If you prefer to talk about proper technique then let's talk about that.
 
KellyBo said:
I agree about it being a little tricky to find the zero line. We were walking around trying to feel the green with our feet. He's taught me about the zero line before but I always feel so rushed when I'm playing that I wonder how I would fit all that into a round with people who play really fast.
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I took the Aimpoint class (beginner's version focussing on 20ft and in, single breaking putts) today with teaching Pro Josh Zander. He did a really nice job of explaining the technique and we were given the booklet of reads based on the inputs we need to consider when reading putts.
1) Distance to the hole
2) The grade of the green at the midpoint of putt (line from hole to ball)
3) The zero break line direction at the midpoint of the putt
4) Stimp of the greens (this obviously only needs to be done once and he showed us how to calculate this.

Seems very straightforward and the technique itself is not overly complicated but the technique has some caveats... Success has a lot to do with user error if you will:
1) is you have to be able to judge speed well enough to hit putts to finish 6-12 inches beyond the hole
2) you have to be able to feel the grade (incline) of a surface with your feet and estimate the percentage (for the class we worked with a Husky clinometer with digital readout display to provide us exact numbers of grade and zero break line)
3) you have to be able to rotate your body and feet and "find" the straight uphill putt direction at the midpoint of the putt.

1 requires mechanical practice to be able to hit putts on the line intended with the speed intended
2 and 3 can be tricky... We broke off into small groups and the guy I was with was really good at judging grade and I was better at judging the zero break so if we were putting together we'd probably do ok. Individually we both need some practice with these steps.

The margin of error in the estimation of the inputs really is what requires practice. They say this can be done with 1-2 weeks of practice (I'm guessing 4-5 hours of putting practice maybe??)
My plan is to get a clinometer and get better at this and see how well I can improve my margin of error for using the system to generate a read... If I feel over the the next few weeks that the reads are improving ( and I'm mostly missing putts due to speed and starting line issues) then I'll consider this a great success.

Other issues:
1) You have to keep the book on hand or memorize it (this latter is likely too much to do). The book itself is a physical guide that works almost like a protractor with your body to point (using the ball and the uphill putt line as the segments of the angle) to the correct read number (inches of break). This is easy to use really pretty quickly but you definitely need the book.

I've been explained the Vector putting system (not an actual class) and walked through that one as well and this (Aimpoint) is far less complicated to physically accomplish the read. (Vector involves pacing off distances from your ball to the zero break line downhill of the hole at the same distance as the ball is to the hole... Just the explanation I gave is complicated... While not hard to do, you end up potentially walking in others lines and moving around a lot) Aimpoint requires no bending to read or anything of the sort. Walk up to the midpoint of the ball-hole line segment and orient yourself towards the uphill putt, your the book from that direction and make the read... Done)


I'll keep the forum posted on this. I think it looks quite promising actually but I see that there is work involved. The Aimpoint app (I've heard it's $30) gives you reads without having to flip pages in a book and has a resolution of 1/2 degree grades (the beginner's book has 1,2,3,4 degree grades calculated) While it is easy enough to calculate for larger grades or interpolate based on two different grades' numbers this gets a bit complicated. If I am convinced that the 1,2,3,4 grade resolution and my ability to find zero break and grade are good enough to get really good reads, I'll be sold. If I need to know grade to the 1/2 degree to make sure I don't miss a putt hit "perfectly---speed and intended line) than the app would be the only way (and the app is not legal for competition-- the book is). The app is apparently going to have a clinometer builtin so you could practice with it by just setting your phone down at the midpoint of the putt and going from there... Neat concept for an app but the clinometer has accuracy issues when used with a candybar size phone (ie iPhone).

I think this is going to be worth an additional $30 for a Husky digital clinometer that I can use in the garage for other projects anyway and the $30 app that reduces the time it takes to flip through a lookup book for the read so I'll probably pull the trigger on both of these purchases.

All this and my last full round I had putts gained of -0.75 which really was not a bad putting round at all for me...
But in the constant quest to get even that much incrementally better... Here we go...
 
I haven't taken the course, but you can find a lot of the information online. Got a pretty good idea of how it works and it's helped me a lot with making better reads. Just finding the zero line is very helpful.
 
I have the opportunity to take a 2 hour aim point class it's pretty pricey for the 2 hours but I'm interested if anyone has experience with it and their thoughts before I drop some dough on this class.
 
Anyone? Gotta make a decision here. Watched some videos it's def interesting to me but I'm worried about all the logistics involved.
 
Hey Buckjob,
shoot a pm to "bobgeorge". pretty sure he recently took Aimpoint with a highly regarded local pro here in VA named Erika Larkin
 
Buckjob said:
Anyone? Gotta make a decision here. Watched some videos it's def interesting to me but I'm worried about all the logistics involved.
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As Jeff (fireitup). He did it last year
 
Buckjob said:
Anyone? Gotta make a decision here. Watched some videos it's def interesting to me but I'm worried about all the logistics involved.
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Hello friend. Don't hesitate to shoot me a PM if you have time to wait for a response by evening. Would have responded sooner but didn't see it.
 
I've decided to wait and take the mid class instead of the express class. I feel like I already read greens pretty decent and I'd rather pay to take the original and more in depth class if I'm putting that kind of money out. Already reached out to a local guy who teaches to find out prices
 
Buckjob said:
I've decided to wait and take the mid class instead of the express class. I feel like I already read greens pretty decent and I'd rather pay to take the original and more in depth class if I'm putting that kind of money out. Already reached out to a local guy who teaches to find out prices
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A few of us in the DFW thread will hopefully be doing the clinic in a few weeks. Will let you know how it goes.
 
I have always wondered about these classes.

Buck, you already read greens very well
 
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