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#OWN125 Cleveland Golf Putting Clinic

#OWN125 Cleveland Golf presents Pelz Corner

#Own125 Cleveland Golf Putting Clinic

From Pelz Corner:  It’s all about the Short Game

#Own125 Cleveland Golf Putting Clinic with Dave Pelz.  We present you the complete listing of golf videos for Pelz Corner presented by Cleveland Golf for putting.  Every photo is linked to a golf video by Dave Pelz for Cleveland Golf.  If you missed the series now you have the whole putting clinic at your fingertips, categorized and arranged for you by the folks at Greenskeeper.org and Cleveland Golf.  Bookmark this post for future reference.

It really is all about the short game.  80% of your strokes lost to par focus on the short game.  Knowing what to do and when, is the key to lowering your score.  Put more effort where it counts the most — making those chips and pitches onto the green, getting close to the hole and making par putts.

Don’t be a statistic.  Make the majority of your shots 125 yards and in.  Shoot better scores.  Watch this video.  See for yourself why you should #Own125.

Use the tools made available from our ongoing #Own125 series to make those scoring opportunities a reality. Save more pars, make more birdies with this great tip from Dave Pelz and Cleveland Golf.  Check out this great, informative video below.

#OWN125, Own the Short Game

#Own125 Putting Series

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#Own125 Preshot Routine with 2135 Technology
#Own125 Preshot Routine with 2135 Technology

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#Own125 Putting Speed
#Own125 Putting Speed

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#Own125 Lag Putting from Cleveland Golf Where Scoring Matters
#Own125 Lag Putting from Cleveland Golf Where Scoring Matters

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#Own125 Putting Balance with 2135 technology
#Own125 Putting Balance with 2135 technology

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#Own125 5 Eyes at Setup with 2135 Technology Cleveland Golf
#Own125 5 Eyes at Setup with 2135 Technology Cleveland Golf

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This is the final in the series of putting sponsored by Cleveland Golf and their 2135 Technology.  If you missed any of our informative videos you can click on the links below.  Enjoy!

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

Aimpoint Golf Review: Part 7 of my Aimpoint Odyssey

AimpointFirst round after my lesson. Casual round at my home course. Was able to take my time with my reads. I was playing with a friend who is a pretty good putter herself. I made 5-6 7-10 footers, one for birdie. Made great reads, but my speed was off, too hard on most of the bad ones. I was able to put the fall line, aka break line, reads in action. It is pretty simple.

My friend’s comment was: “You do what I do, but with feel, instead of seeing it. I just see it.” Which is true, but ultimately, she’s guessing her read and I’m not. I may be wrong, but I’m not guessing, and what she does works for her. She totally bought into it, but wasn’t as enthusiastic as I was… maybe because she’s a good putter already. She was impressed with my putting overall, for what that’s worth.

So I’m caught up timeline wise. I’m taking lessons with our head pro, which is helping my swing immensely. As soon as I get my swing up to speed, I’m gonna be dangerous! But seriously, we’ll see. I’m gonna play golf with Peter, my Aimpoint instructor, which will hopefully be enlightening.

Here’s the clinic page for Aimpoint. Dates of the clinics. Highly highly recommend. http://www.aimpointgolf.com/clinics.asp

As the Aimpointers say: 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 IV)

Aimpoint Golf Review: Part 4 of my Aimpoint Odyssey

AimpointApril 9, 2011

I played golf this morning. I played at my home course, and my friend had me come out early… like 2nd group off early. It’s 3 of us, and these 2 guys are intent on finishing in under 3 hours. Obviously, this is bad for me and my green reading. I want to pace off the putt, find my zero, figure out my aimpoint, aim my aimpoint, take my practice swings to dial in my speed…. and these guys are playing ultra ready golf. There were a few times where at least one guy finished while I was still not on the green. Ultimately, I didn’t mind, since I knew what I was getting into, so I just had to adjust. I’m a decent speed player… I normally spend most of my time on the greens. I don’t take long at all with my full swings. So on the greens, I did my best to quickly find zero, pace off my putt. If my putt was <2% slope and inside 10 ft, and I was close to zero, I would just estimate a 1 inch aimpoint, give or take, depending on what kind of break I SAW with my eyes. If I was further, or it was a more complicated putt, I’d work as fast as possible, which meant trusting my feet quickly, find a zero quickly, pace off quickly, look at my chart quickly, one practice swing, commit. On a few holes, I was first on, so I was able to take more time. And maybe on birdie and par putts, I was a little more deliberate, but faster than I was comfortable with.

The Bottom-line

End of story? I putted pretty well. In fact, the comment from my player partner was: “Wow, you’re pretty money on those 10 footers”. I missed a 10 footer on 18, and his comment was: “First one of those you missed all day”.

And I did make about 6 7-10 footers. I lagged really well. I misread maybe 3-5 putts. As usual, my misreads was playing a break when the putt was straight. I’m still trying to figure that out… The different green shapes complicate things, and I’m not seeing the multiple straight putts around the hole. Overall, 6 weeks into this, my putting has improved immensely, and I still don’t know what I’m doing!!!! I think most of it is my focus on speed control. I make more putts because I take advantage of the capture speed concept (see part IV). But alot of it is also committing to the line, trusting the system, so that ALL I have to worry about is speed control. My confidence is high, even though I’m not 100% confident that I know the system. Weird, I know.

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

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Oscar Meyer Hot Dog Putter in Action

The Hot Dog Putter

That’s right.  It’s a Hot Dog putter.  I can tell memories of that Oscar Meyer tune dance in your head.  Heck even I know how to whistle that little ditty.  It actually does exist.  And it happens to be JohnnyGK’s pride and joy –  the Oscar Meyer Hot Dog Putter.  He’s a pretty good putter to begin with and this delicious little morsel is literally the cherry on top.

Check out our tribute video to the Hot Dog Putter.

It’s had a few mentions on the Friday Foursome.  Even Fred Couples was surprised when he saw the “Dog” at a golf course tournament in Arizona recently.  And although this video is a year old, I thought it would be nice to show off our fun side.

Enjoy!

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Aimpoint Clinic: My Personal Odyssey to Putting Enlightenment (Part II — some Q & A)

Aimpoint Byron Nelson 2010

Part 2 of our weekly series on Aimpoint.

If you don’t mind I’d like to hear how you do in your first round using this.

Aimpoint

I think it will take several rounds and several practice sessions to better understand the implementation. I am going to take the next 2 months and go out to my course in the evenings and study the greens. I will go so far as to make green charts, like yardage books, of each green. The explanation I gave refers to a straight planar green. when you have saddles and crowns it’s more complicated, and I don’t quite understand that yet.

It sounds interesting but i’m having a little difficulty grasping this zero line.

 

On a planar green, which is a flat tilted green… if you went around the hole and putted a 5 foot putt at each degree (so 360 degrees/putts), 2 of those putts would be 100% straight. That line is the zero line. Every break on every other putt is calculated off of that line.

In reality, for practical purposes, the actual zero line could span maybe 5 degrees, or the length of your foot. then you figure 30/60/90 degrees off of that zero line.

 

But how do you determine slope in degrees? For me I would think severe, not so severe, and non existent? Any way to pigeon hole these breaks?

 

They use %slope. flat= less than 1%, avg=2%, steep=3%, severe=4%. They say on tour, with greens running stimp >12, it’s never more than 2.5%… more than that the putt is too hard. Slopes more than 4% will rarely hold… they’ll roll down to a flatter surface. You might have to putt through a >4% slope.. they tell you how to handle that. But the charts they give you go up to 4%.

I bought a 9″ digital level that gives you %slope… so i’m going to calibrate my eyes to learn what these slopes look like.

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 I)

Aimpoint

This is one of our original articles posted for the GK Blog by one of our members a few years back.  I always look back at that series of articles when I need to rethink my putting strategy. I think it deserves to be re-posted in our newly revamped version.  What do you think?

It all started with an article I read in Golf Digest magazine. It was about this thing called Aimpoint. It highlighted a different way to approach putting, or more accurately green reading: using science and physics to accurately predict how much and which direction putts will break. Instead of trying to read the green with your eyes and trying to figure out how much and which direction a putt MIGHT break, you use the laws of gravity and physics to accurately determine how much the ball WILL break. Hmmmm… a green READING system to help improve my putting…it made complete sense to me. A brief summary with basic principles was outlined in the article, and I headed out to the putting green to put it into practice. However, it was harder than I thought. A look at the website further intrigued me, but there were no classes close to me. So, I shelved the idea.

Aimpoint
Aimpoint — Reading the green

Fast forward a few months later, a forum topic on Greenskeeper.org was started: “Aimpoint Clinic, anyone do this?” This inspired me to check the website again for clinics. I was rewarded with a clinic being offered THAT weekend.. $125 for a 2 1/2 hour class only 30 minutes from home. I quickly signed up and was exposed to the single greatest golf concept I have ever learned. It was eye-opening, and fairly simple to implement. In the end, I just needed guidance.

After a month of reading and rereading forum topics on the subject at the Aimpoint forum, watching and rewatching different videos, and several hours of practice, I am more and more encouraged with the results and the system. What I have learned is that I have alot more to learn, but I am grasping concepts and techniques that have improved my green reading skills immensely. I am excited about how much better I am going to get at it. I guess if I had to sum it up in one sentence, it’s this: “I am no longer guessing what the putt will do; I KNOW what it’s going to do.”

The following is a de facto blog, I guess, of my Aimpoint experience. I plan to update it as I go through the experience over time. You can get more info at www.aimpointgolf.com, as well as clinic dates. There is a forum as well, where people talk about all things Aimpoint. I highly recommend this clinic for everyone.


Wednesday March 2, 2011 — First Impressions and Initial Feedback:

First of all, my general feeling is I am really excited about this. At worst, I’ll be able to tell which way a putt will break 90% of the time, and I’ll come close to knowing how much. At best, I will be a putting fiend!

First a little background:
You know when you watch a tourney on television; they show you the putting line, and how accurate that line is? That’s AIMPOINT technology. The inventor of Aimpoint developed a system based on physics and gravity that can accurately predict the putting line. He turned that into a green reading system and has several touring pros on his system.

The class is a green reading class, not a putting class; however, it is very important that you practice hitting the ball straight and work on speed control.

The basic premise: The ball will give in to gravity. It will break downhill — always. This guy figured out, based on the length of the putt, speed of the green, and severity of the slope, exactly how much that ball will break, as long as you always hit the ball 12 inches past the hole.

AimchartBasic Implementation:
You have to find the zero line, which is the point on the green that is a completely straight putt. From there, you plug in the data: length, degrees off of zero, uphill or downhill, right or left of zero, severity of slope, and speed of green. It then tells you how far away from the hole to start your putt.

For example: I have a 10 ft putt. It is uphill 60 degrees from zero line. Slope is steep (as oppossed to flat, average, or severe). The greens are running at a 8 stimp. Once I figure this out, I look at my chart, and it takes a second to see I have to aim say, 4 inches away from the hole. if I start my ball on the right line aimed 4 inches left of the hole (for a L to R putt), and hit it at a speed where the ball will go 12 inches past the hole, the ball will break accordingly.

After 3 hours of clinic, I was thoroughly sold. After reading the Golf Digest article I was sold on the concept, my stumbling block — I couldn’t figure it out in practice. After the clinic though, I see how easy it is All I needed was someone to walk me through it. Plus, with the chart they give you at the clinic, the information is all accurate. They say up until now, you were guessing on how the putt will break. Now, no more guessing.

A few things I learned:
1. There were many putts that I read with a completely different break than what actually happened, and the system was able to get it right every time.
2. I need to really learn what 12 inches is, what 10 feet is.. I need to calibrate my distances. I realize I’m way off. What I think versus what actually is are two completely different animals.
3. My speed control sucks.
4. The hardest part is finding the zero line, but over the 2-3 hours, I was better at it. I know with practice I’ll be able to do it.
5. Long putts (greater than 30ft), are really not that hard to read with this system.
6. You never have to read a green again; just find zero line and pace out your putts.

From my perspective, I highly recommend this clinic. I know I can master this in 2-3 months.

Look for my next article as I analyze both the practicality of the Aimpoint system and how it has helped and/or hindered me.

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.