Tag: michaelko

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Aimpoint Clinic: My Personal Odyssey to Putting Enlightenment (Part VIII)

AimpointI went to Palm Springs, played Desert Springs and Shadow Hills, and I golfed with my instructor Peter Brown. Here are some of my thoughts about these past experiences and how it relates to my Aimpoint experience.

Outing in Desert Springs & Shadow Ridge:
I putted very well. I hit the ball crappy, but I putted very well. I made a ton of putts, (except for the 2 birdie putts inside 5 feet I left short.) At this point, I figured I should start keeping stats. I want to know how many 7-15 footers I make a round. I want to know how many putts I make a round. I want to know how many 3 putts I have. My initial feeling is that my putts per round won’t go down until my ball striking improves. However, the number of 3-putts should go down, and my Mid-range Putts Made should go up. I know for a fact that those 2 things have improved. My personal statistical analysis should confirm this. I also make at least 1 10-foot putt per round, if not 5 or 6 — in the past, I never used to make those.

With my Instructor, Peter Brown:
I played golf with my instructor, Peter Brown. He’s a pretty good golfer, and obviously, he putts well. We were able to play a casual round and spend some time on a few greens to work through some difficult putts and reads. He taught me how to make a “combo-read”. So when you putt over changing shapes, you break the putt into sections and figure out the breaks for each section, and combine them to get a net Aimpoint. It’s complicated to explain and visualize through text, but it’s really simple once we went through it a few times. More practice for me. He read a few of the more complex putts for me, gave me an Aimpoint, and was spot on. I had 3 1-putts out of 4 in one stretch (12, 15, and 20 footers). I had one 3-putt on the first green; 29 putts for the round overall.

So a few random thoughts of things I’ve learned through this process, epiphanies, if you will:

 

  • If you want to improve your putting, and could only change ONE thing, work on speed. Speed. Speed. SPEED. You’ll make more die-in-the-hole putts, and never 3-putt.
  • The thing that Aimpoint has helped me the most is that I only have to concentrate on one thing over the putt: speed. I make the read, line up my aim, and trust my stroke as far as starting it out on line. Once that is done, all I think about before pulling the trigger is speed. This has helped clear my head, and THAT has improved my putting.
  • If you miss the putt, or have a bad putting day, it’s user error. This system is impeccable. Missed putts are due to bad stroke, poor speed, or misreading the slope. Gravity is NEVER wrong.
  • I practice better. Before Aimpoint, putting practice was almost pointless. I guess the main benefit I got out of putting practice pre-Aimpoint is a solid stroke so that I could start putts online… but even then, I see how much more I have to perfect. I worked on lagging, but for me, overall putting practice was very unfocused.

 

Now, I have so much better understanding on HOW to practice. This is a part of my checklist:

 

  • Work on speed (which I’ve found the key is consistent tempo for all distances… yeah, didn’t really understand that until now).
  • Work on “green-feeling” with my feet… finding zero lines. Rolling balls.
  • Work on recognizing slope steepness.
  • Work on the actual green reading. Identify green shapes, make reads, and confirm. Now I have to work on the combo reads.
  • Work on aiming from 5 ft, 25 ft. Recognize what 12 inches looks like from any distance away. A marked yardstick will help with this.
  • And now, I’m adding starting putts on line. I’m using an elevated string line to help with this.

 

 

Putting practice is so much fun now.

Anyways, I think this is a good place to end my blog. I hope I’ve inspired some of you to give Aimpoint a try. Take a clinic. Check their website for clinic dates in your area. www.aimpointgolf.com. Take a clinic. Or call a local instructor for a lesson. They have a directory on the site. Take a clinic. Or call a local instructor for a lesson. They have a directory on the site. I will continue to update my progress or share interesting stories as I see fit. Click the ‘discuss it’ button above to go to the original thread and leave me a question or comment. Reread the previous entries.. maybe you’ll get something new out of those by reading them again.

Until next time: Make Everything.

About GK Member michaelko:
Our resident physical therapist from Northern California and one of the original GK Staffers. He is also one of the individuals responsible for making the GK Casual Golf Events possible. Way back when it was only an idea, michaelko, was one of those individuals that made it possible with our first outing of six members at Rio Hondo Country Club, Downey CA.

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Aimpoint Clinic: My Personal Odyssey to Putting Enlightenment (Part VI)

Part 6 of my Aimpoint Odyssey.

AimpointMay 7, 2011

Well, I played last week. At my home course, I continued the improve my putting. However I still had tons of questions, tons of mysteries that needed to be demystified. It’s been 10 weeks since my original Aimpoint clinic. I’ve read everything I could get my hands on in the Aimpoint forum, watched every video there was on YouTube, I needed some hands on instruction. So I gave my instructor a call.

Quick plug to Peter Brown, certified Aimpoint instructor out of Roseville, CA, which is the Sacramento area.

So we got together. The next 90 minutes were, in one word… awesome. Peter explained all of the questions I had. Let’s see if I can explain some advanced concepts here.

The fundamental class covered planar green reads. Simple zero lines that extend straight into infinity, and how to aim off of that. But what if that zero line curved? There is a close correlation to the zero line, which is the line on which the putt will be aimed straight, and the fall line. The fall line, as you may know, is basically the line in which water would flow off of the green. On a planar green, it will flow in one direction. On an undulating green, the flow will curve. So, in theory, anywhere on that fall line, if you aim straight at the hole, the putt will go in (assuming 6-12 inch speed). Now, I’m not saying it’s a straight putt… I’m saying it’s a straight aim. If you can grasp that visual, it’s pretty mind-blowing. Here’s a pic:

 

Straight Putt vs Straight Aim
Straight Putt vs Straight Aim

So the flag is at the top of the green, and you see 4 lines coming out from the flag. Those are the 4 zero lines for that pin placement. You see the 2 bottom lines curving… that’s due to the undulations. Any putt anywhere on that line is aimed straight at the hole. It may double or triple break, but it goes right to the hole. On an uphill putt, if you are left of the line, you aim left of the hole. How much is where the figuring out comes in, and too complex to explain here. So I learned how to find those lines and how to figure out the aim.

Now I’ve been practicing this concept about 3 1 hr sessions: OH MY GOD!!!! 40-50 foot putts that I would normally try to read visually and have NO CLUE what to do, has been made simple with Aimpoint. And again, I’m not reading these putts with my eyes. I’m feeling the slopes, I’m feeling the fall lines with my feet, and trusting the feel. I think this was the main reason I had a hard time with the Temecula greens: I didn’t understand how to handle the more complicated greens, and this helps explain that. There are other advanced concepts I don’t understand. But I’ll worry about that later. For now, I think what I’ve learned so far will help me 75% of the time.

I can’t wait to play again.

Editorial Note:
Here’s the full video that the screenshot above is taken. It’s a overview of the software they use to digitally map greens that would then be used to make the Aimpoint lines on TV.

Click HERE for the YouTube video

About GK Member michaelko:
Our resident physical therapist from Northern California and one of the original GK Staffers. He is also one of the individuals responsible for making the GK Casual Golf Events possible. Way back when it was only an idea, michaelko, was one of those individuals that made it possible with our first outing of six members at Rio Hondo Country Club, Downey CA.

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Aimpoint Clinic: My Personal Odyssey to Putting Enlightenment (Part III)

Part 3 of our Aimpoint Odyssey

AimpointDue to weather and time issues, I have not yet played a round. I have had a 2 hour putting practice session, and I spent 2-3 hours today charting 13 greens at my home course.

The putting session consisted of walking the greens, feeling changes in slope, seeing if I can predict the zero line, see if I can predict how much each putt breaks based on how far off the zero line and using the chart. At the same time, working on speed control (12 inch past the hole).

The charting session consisted of walking the greens, feeling changes in slope, seeing if I can predict the zero lines on different pin placements, identifying high and low points of the green, recognizing different green shapes, using my digital level to chart slope % on different parts of the green. I made a notebook of these greens.

I have also read and re-read the different resources AIMPOINT has as far as examples, message boards, and videos, to understand the more complicated stuff.

So far, after all of this, here is my status:

I am pretty good at feeling where the slopes change from uphill to downhill (inflection points), which is important. I can find the straight putts most of the time(>75% accuracy), and I can tell you which way a putt will break on most greens.

The hard part is understanding how putts act and how greens behave on crowns and saddles. I am starting to understand this. I am also starting to see the more subtle green features, as there are small crowns and saddles on sections of greens and this will affect the putt.

Today, after spending about 15 minutes on a green, I was able to roll the ball and predict where it was going to go, without really ‘reading’ the green. ‘Reading’ in the traditional sense of using my eyes… I used my feet to find the inflection points and correctly predicted the putt most of the time.

I still need practice, but I am very encouraged so far.

Tuesday March 22, 2011 — Update 2:

So I finally got out yesterday… a brief respite from the rain and the kids… played 10 holes by myself twilight… course drained pretty well, and greens were running at an 8. the greens at this course are quite big… it’s a links course, wide open, with big greens.. the greens are not drastic, but have subtle features that are not easy to see. the slopes were rarely over 2%, most of the putts i putted were 1-2% grade.

The fact that I was by myself with no one behind me was helpful. I felt like I wasn’t taking long with my reads… I don’t know. It’s hard to gauge when no one is waiting for you, but here are some results:

• Made one 15 ft putt
• 3 good lags from 40+ feet (less than 5 ft leave)
• 3 bad reads, thought they broke but were straight or overread break (but did not read the wrong break)
and 3 good reads but just missed the putt (either speed or did not hit online)

The hard part was knowing when a putt was straight. On a planar green, it was easy, but when the crowns were involved, it gets tougher… you have 4 zero lines instead of 2, and the putts on top of a crown are all pretty straight, so if the crown is broad, you have more straight putts (if the crown is not tilted).

Also, when the green double breaks, or the line runs into mounds, it’s a bit more complicated, and I’m still trying to figure it out… but the positive is I can feel and see the breaks, and I can figure out the AIMPOINT. I just don’t know how exactly to figure out the zero line on longer putts that change features.

I had one long 60+ foot putt (back of green to front pin location), and I was able to find that zero line 50 feet away and putt accordingly.. left a 1 ft putt.

On the putts inside 15 ft, I was able to use my chart effectively, I think… made good reads and AIMPOINTs.

…Keep in mind, all 10 greens, I did not ‘read’ one green with my eyes. When I use the word ‘read’, I’m talking about feel. I felt the slopes with my feet, tried to find the zero line, and aimed accordingly. I did roll a few balls after I holed out to try and predict what the putts would do.

I continue to be encouraged, and am pretty excited at the idea that I can be an expert green reader. I hope to play 3 or 4 more rounds in the next 2 months, and then contact the instructor for some more advanced green reading instruction.

About GK Member michaelko:
Our resident physical therapist from Northern California and one of the original GK Staffers. He is also one of the individuals responsible for making the GK Casual Golf Events possible. Way back when it was only an idea, michaelko, was one of those individuals that made it possible with our first outing of six members at Rio Hondo Country Club, Downey CA.

Keyword:  Aimpoint Putting Clinic