AimPoint Success Stories

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Played in a nine hole "mens group" last evening.  I am in general taking some serious flak from most of the members about Aimpoint.  So I am really trying to not let it slow play at all as well as only use it when I have a liner situation, as I have no idea how to do the crowns and saddles yet.  I am still working on finding zero line (again still no actual clinic) but made a fantastic read and shut them up at least for a hole or two.   

I was about 18 feet away on a down hill right to left-er (around 30% or one o'clock).  3% slope... scared to death because if I went 3-4 feet by it could end up being 20 feet away with the sever slope just past the hole (stimp was a solid 11).  One of my playing partners (member for about 12 years) gave me "his read," but when I lined up he could tell I was not aiming at it.  Took out my book, trusted AimPoint, played it 30 inches out and drained it.  It was one of those moments when you just smirk and get a couple of high fives from the two players that did not give me their read.  

Sometimes life is good 

I took four hours of aimpoint this winter in Florida. It was awesome. I was burning edges, holing putts. I played a few holes with the instructor and made a birdie on the first hole (a 25 foot putt over two planes).

But when I got home, I couldn't read slope grade by myself. I knew my reads were off because I would miss putts by quite a bit, but I didn't realize how off they were or exactly where I was making my mistakes with the read.

Recently I got the aimpoint bubble and used it during my round on Saturday. I had never used it before -- not even in practice. 

I had 25 putts (only 6/18 GIR). 

It was a revelation. And it was the first time I consider myself having used AimPoint because before this I kept getting the slope grade wrong.

This system is absolutely amazing. Man, I hope I can read the slope and find the straight line with my feet sometime soon. Until then, I will continue to use the AimPoint bubble during my rounds until I develop this critical feel.

I was playing with an older gentleman during the round and he was blown away by how many putts I was making. I explained the system to him, but I think he found my explanations too complicated, even though I kept insisting there were only five variables you needed to find in order to get the read (to be fair, I remember being severely confused during the first three hours of my aimpoint lesson. It wasn't until the next day, during the fourth and final hour (when I had a chance to practice it by myself and then make a list of questions to ask him) that I started to understand it).

1. Slope grade %

2. Where straight is (angle of the slope)

3. The distance of the putt in feet

4. The stimp

5. Whether the putt is uphill or downhill

The Bubble tells you numbers 1, 2, and 5.

Well, I'm about as fired up as can be about AimPoint right now. 

Some highlight putts from the round:

1. Third hole -- 15 footer up the hill for par. I was shocked to see it was only a 1% putt. AimPoint telling me to aim one inch outside the right edge. Draino.

2. Fifth hole -- 6 footer up the hill for par. AimPoint telling me to aim 2 inches left. Draino.

3. Sixth hole -- 15 footer down a very steep hill for par. Looks like its going to break 24 inches to the right. AimPoint telling me it's actually only 2% and that I'm right on the zero line. Aimed left center of the hole. Draino.

4. Ninth hole -- 15 footer down the hill for birdie. Severe downhill. Looks like it will break 24 inches to the right at least. AimPoint telling me it's 4% (maybe even 5%) and that I'm right on the zero line again. Aimed at the left edge and tapped it like I was hitting only a 6 inch putt if I was on level ground. Ball rolls for like 5 or 6 seconds and then draino.

5. Fifteenth Hole -- 55 footer for birdie. AimPoint telling me to aim 60 inches right. Burns the right edge and I leave myself a tap in for par.

6. Sixteenth Hole -- 25 footer for birdie. Looks like 2% with only 5 or 6 inches of break. AimPoint telling me it's actually 3% and I need to aim 16 inches to the left. Burns the edge. Tap in par.

7. Eighteenth Hole -- 45 footer for birdie. AimPoint telling me to aim 36 inches left and that I need to hit this putt HARD (3% up the hill). I barely miss and tap in for par.

I made a number of bogey saving 3 to 5 footers too, with the help of the bubble. I hit the ball horribly on Saturday, but putted like a tour pro. Figures since I haven't been to the range in over 3 weeks or something. 

Haven't hit a putt in like 4 weeks either. AimPoint is legit. Having an Edel putter certainly helped my cause here as well. Best putting day I've ever had.

I played my first round yesterday post Aimpoint.  I only hit 28% of my greens, but got up and down 53% of the time with a total of 8 one putts... And 28 total putts for the day (no 3 putts).  My up and down averages have been ~ 35% for the year.... So I made a lot of par saving putts (shot 76 on a par 70).  And used Aimpoint for a lot of chips and fringe putts too.  

Using Aimpoint for chips was something that I did - and it seemed to work pretty effectively as I didn't leave myself with any thing longer than a 5ft all day.  Most were 2 to 3ft.

I thought this was pretty solid considering I wasn't 100% sure if I was doing to midpoint read correctly (finding the angle).  I think I was - but was confusing myself as I was making it more complex than it really is.... The more I use it, the more I think I'll improve.

Had a great round Sunday.  Finally beat a friend of mine.  I had 6 up and downs and 1 putts.  I also made some long putts for par.  AimPoint takes the guessing out.

Best shot was actually a chip, but I used AimPoint technique to figure the break.  It was a two tier green with a steep slope between the tiers and I was just off the back.  I found the straight slope uphill from the pin to the steep section leading to the top tier.  Then I knew where my ball had to start going down the slope.  I then read the break on the top tier at the midpoint to that spot.  It was something like a 12 inch break on the top to that spot.  So I chipped for that break.  The ball was going to roll about 10 feet on the top tier after landing, so that is the "putt" equivalent distance I used.

I chipped to my landing spot, the ball rolled to the edge of the steep slope and down the hill to, honestly ,1 inch from the cup.  Total break was something like 10 feet.  What a good feeling that was!

Quote:

Originally Posted by boogielicious 

Had a great round Sunday.  Finally beat a friend of mine.  I had 6 up and downs and 1 putts.  I also made some long putts for par.  AimPoint takes the guessing out.

 

Best shot was actually a chip, but I used AimPoint technique to figure the break.  It was a two tier green with a steep slope between the tiers and I was just off the back.  I found the straight slope uphill from the pin to the steep section leading to the top tier.  Then I knew where my ball had to start going down the slope.  I then read the break on the top tier at the midpoint to that spot.  It was something like a 12 inch break on the top to that spot.  So I chipped for that break.  The ball was going to roll about 10 feet on the top tier after landing, so that is the "putt" equivalent distance I used.

 

I chipped to my landing spot, the ball rolled to the edge of the steep slope and down the hill to, honestly ,1 inch from the cup.  Total break was something like 10 feet.  What a good feeling that was!

Nice!  Did your buddy know about Aimpoint?  I'm betting if he isn't familiar with it - he'll want to check it out if you keep chipping and putting like that! 

He does, because I've showed him the system.

Yesterday I had 27 putts on a course I have only played once before (Red Tail at Devens, MA).  Beautiful course.  I had 9 one putts.  4 or 5 were tap in, but the rest were 10+.  One was a 25 footer for par.  I am kicking myself for missing a 5 and 6 footer because I would have broken 80.