The new

way to putt
PUTTING SPECIAL

The sad truth is

that most golfers
make the wrong
read 100% of
the time because
they base their
decisions on
nothing more
than guesswork

AimPoint is revolutionising the way many Tour pros

read greens and it will help you hole more putts, too

WO R D S K I T A L E X A N D ER P i c t u r e s H OWA R D B OY L A N

ave you ever watched

television coverage of the
PGA Tour and seen that
blue line pop up between
the ball and the hole to show
exactly how the putt is going to break? Do
you find yourself thinking I wish it was
really that easy? If youre one of the majority
of golfers nodding their head to that question
you could be about to experience an epiphany
because the same technology that draws that
perfect line has been converted into a green
reading technique that will help you hole
more putts.
AimPoint is the brainchild of IT-based
inventor Mark Sweeney and hes teamed up
with British coach Jamie Donaldson to create
a system that takes all the guesswork out of
the dark art of green reading and replaces it
with cold, hard science that anyone can apply
to make more accurate reads and improve
your putting whether youre Tiger Woods
or a 28-handicapper.
About four years ago it struck me that
there was nothing in any manuals or passed
on by golf coaches on how to read greens,
Donaldson told TG. But its a part of the
game that determines who wins and loses
tournaments and can save amateur golfers
countless shots a round.
I did a little digging and I discovered

Jamie Donaldson
One of only two level 3
AimPoint instructors,
Cambridge-based PGA
member Jamie offers
tuition across the UK
and Europe. Follow
@golfdonaldson on
Twitter; email jamie@
aimpointgolf.co.uk

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Perfect line: The AimPoint technology has been

used to show break on live PGA Tour coverage.

AimPoint, and its creator Mark Sweeney.

Mark shared his knowledge and findings with
me and together we converted the AimPoint
technology into a technique which allows you
to determine the amount of break to any pin
location in around 20 seconds or less. Its a
system thats been widely used on all Tours
over the last four years it has amassed
multiple wins and propelled Stacy Lewis to
the top of the womens world rankings.
Every golfer on the planet has to read at
least 18 putts per round and theres absolutely
nothing to stop you becoming a brilliant
green reader. But the sad truth is that most
golfers make the wrong read 100% of the
time because they base their decisions on
nothing more than guesswork and

misconceptions. Just imagine how much your

scores would improve if you got a couple of
reads right in a round and rolled the putts in.
What about five correct reads, or even nine?
That would still only be half the holes in a
round but I dont know any golfer whose
performance wouldnt improve beyond
recognition if they saved nine shots.
If your green reading improves, so will
your overall putting performance. Bad reads
can be the root cause of errors in the set-up
and putting stroke, says Donaldson. If you
choose the wrong amount of break you have
to aim incorrectly, vary ball speed and push
or pull putts in order to make the putt; all of
which we are all desperately trying to stop
doing. They are also the factors we usually
blame for our missed putts.
So good putting all starts with the right
read, and the key to a good read is determining
the three key elements that affect how much
the ball will break; distance, slope and angle.
Combining these three pieces of information
will enable you to calculate exactly how much
the ball will break with a little help from the
AimChart. We have an exclusive reader offer
for you to purchase the chart at special knockdown price at the end of the feature, but you
can still learn a lot from AimPoint without it.
Turn over now to become a better green reader
and hole more putts.

AimPoint helped me to get to No.1 in the world Stacy Lewis

Stacy
Lewis

Began AimPoint
rankings

2009 2010 2011 2012
Wins
0 0 1 4
Rolex Ranking 47th 34th 10th 2nd
Money
47th 21st 4th 3rd
Putts/GIR 88th 20th 9th 3rd
Scoring Avg 43rd 14th 7th 4th
Birdies
43rd 10th 2nd 1st

2013 YTD
2
1st
2nd
2nd
1st
1st

Ladies European Tour player Stacey

Keating has risen 408 places to 70th in
the world rankings since she started
using AimPoint in 2011: AimPoint has
changed my game; the stats dont lie.
Working with my caddy and practising the
techniques regularly we have found the

results astonishing. My awareness of

the undulations on the greens and
locating the direction of the slope
has guaranteed that I aim at the
correct side of the hole every time.
Ive never been this excited to
get on the greens!

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PUTTING SPECIAL

Get your facts right

Green reading perfection begins with the disproving of some long-held misconceptions...

36 inches
past the hole
1.4 inches
HOLE diameter

24 inches
past the hole
1.9 inches
HOLE diameter

n If the ball is travelling

fast enough to stop three
feet past, the hole
becomes a third of the size
- meaning your putt has
to be incredibly accurate.
n Two feet past the hole
and its just less than half
the size.
n One foot past and the
hole is nearly two-thirds
its actual diameter.
n By hitting putts nine
inches past you ensure
the ball will hold its line
and the hole is threequarters the size.

12 inches
past the hole
2.6 inches
HOLE diameter

How to gauge the right distance

Determining how far you are from the hole may seem easy, but many golfers get it so wrong

Under-reading and speed issues

Gauge distance from side on

A common mistake that golfers make is

to vastly under-read putts. When I ask
my pupils, including Tour pros, to read
a putt before Ive demonstrated the
AimPoint method, around 90% of the
putts will be under-read. If you make
this error when reading, the only way
you can hole the putt is to hit it hard
enough to roll well past the hole or,
even worse, manipulate your putting
stroke and push or pull intentionally to
start the ball on the correct line. The
chances of holing are very slim,
resulting in a long return putt or an
inconsistent stroke.

You need to stand halfway between your

ball and the hole and 15 to 20 feet away
from the line on the low side of the putt to
accurately judge the distance. As you can
see from the picture, the markers now
look like they are at regular five-foot
intervals and you can accurately judge the
distance. Standing on the low side gives
you the best perspective of the putt and is
vital for the next stage of the process when
you walk to the midpoint between your
ball and the hole to assess the gradient of
the slope and angle you will be putting
across it. Approaching from the low side
ensures you wont tread on your line.

How much it really breaks

Pace it out to make sure

This image is a great visual

representation of how much break
increases from five, 10, 15 and 20 feet
from the hole on a typical green with 3%
slope. Using a putt that breaks four
inches (measured from the edge of the
hole to the first tee peg) from five feet, we
can see how the break changes as we get
further from the hole. Notice how the
amount of break increases at least
threefold from five to 10 feet and then in
more uniform differences from there on
out. It would break roughly 12 inches
from 10 feet, 20 inches from 15 feet and
28 inches from 20 feet.

If you struggle to accurately gauge the

distance by just looking at the putt from
side-on, you can pace it out. Two average
steps will equal five feet for a fully-grown
man, but its well worth taking the time
to measure exactly how far each of your
strides is so you can accurately determine
the distance of your putt by simply
walking along it. You would never hit an
iron shot without an accurate yardage
and the same must be true of your
putting. Walking the length of your putt
can also help to give you a feel for the
slopes and undulations your ball will
travel across en route to the hole.

DIRECTION OF PUTT

9 inches
past the hole
3.2 inches
HOLE diameter

full hole
diameter
4.25 inches

The real hole size

How fast the ball is travelling when it reaches
the hole impacts how big it is in real terms
and how accurate the putt has to be for the
ball to drop. Its important to have a
consistency of distance beyond the hole on all
putts so you can accurately judge the amount
is su e 310 Todaysg olfer .co.u k

of break and maximise the chance of holing it.

The magic number is nine inches past the
hole; any shorter and the ball is knocked offline by green inconsistencies and farther than
this and the target size shrinks rapidly and you
increase the risk of lip-outs.

The wrong perspective

Traditionally, we read putts from end to end,
squatting down behind the ball and trying to
evaluate how we think the ball will travel
across the green to the hole. In fact, this is one
of the worst places to look from to get an idea
of distance. The markers in the image above

are at five-foot intervals, but as you can see,

squatting down behind the ball gives you a
skewed vision on the true length. If you do not
have a true picture of the distance then you
cant possibly hope to make the correct read
or hit the ball at the right pace.

Todaysg olf er .co.u k is su e 310

PUTTING SPECIAL

Get a feel for the slope

Use your innate balance and senses to judge the gradient and how much the ball will break
Use your feet to gauge gradient
Facing uphill, you will be able to feel
when one of your feet is lower than the
other. Rotate on the spot until you find
where your feet are completely level. You
may have to rotate past the level point and
work back to it to be completely sure.
Now you can identify where the pressure
of your weight is in your feet to judge the
gradient of the slope. Weight in the toes is
1% gradient, balls of feet is 2%, arches is
3% and heels is 4%.
The greater the gradient, the more the
ball will break. 2% is a very common
gradient as this is the slope required for a
green to drain. Anything steeper than
4% is pretty much unplayable. As an
illustration of how much gradient affects
break, a 10-foot putt at 90 across the
slope (from 3 or 9 oclock on the clockface
opposite) will break three inches from the
edge of the hole at 1%, eight inches at
2%, 14 inches at 3% and 21 inches at 4%.

How angle
affects
11
break

5 inches

0 inches

12

5 inches

1
8 inches

8 inches

10

8 inches

6 inches

6 inches

2 inches

2 inches

DIRECTION OF SLOPE

8 inches

6
0 inches

putt Start line

TRUE ROLL OF PUTT

Use a clockface to judge the angles

nn 1% gradient nn 2% gradient
nn 3% gradient nn 4% gradient

The angle that the ball rolls across the slope

will affect the amount of break and determine
its direction. Straight up or down the slope
will have no break and across the slope at 90
angle will be roughly the greatest break for
that slope amount. If you imagine a clockface
around the hole with 12 oclock straight in
front of you as you stand facing straight uphill

in the MidPoint position, you can easily judge

the angle of the putt, with reference to a time
on the clock. This shows how much a 10-foot
putt will break on a typical British green with
a Stimpmeter reading of nine and 2% slope.
If the ball is on your left it will break left-toright and if the ball is on your right it will
break right-to-left. A downhill putt can break

up to twice as much as an uphill putt on the

same angle on a steep gradient.
Remember, all break amounts are for a ball
rolling at the optimum speed, which is nine
inches past. The break amounts will increase
for a longer putt, faster green or steeper slope
and decrease for a shorter putt, slower green
or gentler slope.

Exclusive AimPoint TG reader offer

MidPoint technique
To accurately judge the amount of slope and
angle at which the ball crosses the slope we need
to stand halfway between the ball and the hole
and use a technique called MidPoint. Always
approach the MidPoint from the low side of the
hole. Face uphill and stand completely upright,
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facing dead ahead with shoulders back and chin

up. Close your eyes so youre not influenced by
the terrain and completely focus on your feet.
You will use the feedback between your feet and
the ground to judge the slope and ascertain the
angle youre putting across it.

Weve teamed up with AimPoint

to offer Todays Golfer readers the
chance to attend a green reading
class at Brocket Hall on July 24 or
25 or August 6 for the special
price of 50 a fantastic saving
of 49 (10am and 1pm sessions
available). Also included in this

price is the AimPoint booklet,

which gives you an accurate break
amount for any putt when you
know green speed, distance, slope
and angle. Attending the course
will enable you to take all the
techniques youve learnt in this
feature to the next level and use

the booklet so you never have to

guess a read again. Every student
also receives a special code that
allows them access to extra
material and videos at www.
aimpoint.com.
Please email editorial@
todaysgolfer.co.uk with the

subject header
AimPoint and
quoting the code
TG25 and the
day you would
like to attend to
secure your
place.

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