A guide to AimPoint putting and green-reading

AimPoint golf is a system devised to help you out with the final flourish at the end of a hole – the putt. While many amateur golfers focus on getting maximum distance when teeing off or using their irons, it’s too easy to fall into the trap of assuming that, just because you’ve made the distance with your earlier strokes, an accurate putt will automatically follow. This isn’t always the case.

AimPoint golf exists to help you fix this problem. In this guide, we’ll walk you through what it is, how it works, and whether it could change your game if putting the icing on the cake is your biggest weakness.

What is AimPoint putting?

The brainchild of software developer Mark Sweeney, AimPoint is a system for putting the ball that focuses not on what your eyes can see, but on what your feet can feel.

It all comes down to reading the green. Understanding how your ball is going to break based on the unique landscape of the green is crucial in determining where exactly your ball is going to end up.

The idea of the AimPoint method is to work this out as accurately as possible.

Sweeney used his background in software development to put data into the putting game, and the results were stark. As far as he’s concerned, it’s the most reliable method when it comes to putting, and that’s an opinion shared by some of the very best golfers around. Former world number one Adam Scott uses the system, and Sweeney has taught fellow stars such as Nick Faldo, Tommy Fleetwood and Lydia Ko.

In other words, he knows his stuff.

How to putt using AimPoint

This is what you need to know when putting using AimPoint.

Assigning a percentage 

The first step in using the AimPoint method is assessing the terrain, which involves a percentage system.

Stand roughly halfway between your ball and the hole with your feet shoulder-width apart. What you’ll likely notice is that there is more weight on one foot than the other, as it’s being pulled further down by gravity. In other words, you’ll be able to work out which direction the green slopes.

So, if you feel more weight on your left foot than your right, you know you’ll have to aim your putt to the right, because gravity will pull it down to the left.

This is where the percentage system comes in. Once you’ve identified how the green slopes in terms of direction, you now need to establish how steep the slope is.

Here, you’ll assign a percentage value between one and five, one being a shallow slope, and five being a noticeably steep slope. The steeper the slope and the bigger the difference between the high point and the low point of the relevant section of the green, the bigger the impact gravity will have on the trajectory of your putt.

The difficult thing about this is that discerning what a shallow slope feels like compared to a steep one takes effort, practice, and, most importantly, time. At first, assigning these percentages may feel fairly arbitrary. It will be difficult at first to instinctively know just how much steeper a three is compared to a four, for example. That’s why AimPoint golf is a system that requires patience.

Tackling your slope and taking your shot

Once you’ve assigned a percentage value to the slope, the real magic happens.

Say you’ve assigned a percentage of three to your slope, with the high point coming on the right:

• Stand behind your ball, close one eye, and hold your right hand up so the middle of your index finger appears as if it’s immediately to the right of the hole.
• Your slope is three per cent, so you’ll hold three fingers up – your index finger, which is aligned with the hole, your middle finger and your ring finger.
• The edge of your ring finger – in line with the hole – is where you’re going to aim your putt.

The same would be true if you assigned a value of one, two, four or five. The percentage of the slope directly corresponds with the number of fingers you use to aim your shot. The steeper the slope, the further away from your hole you have to aim.

Giving it time

This technique takes a lot of practice, time, and patience, but it is worth it, as countless professionals who use the system prove. 
These are the basics of the AimPoint putting method, but there’s only so much that can be achieved without a session with an expert. There are over 300 certified AimPoint coaches, and a session with one of them will offer more insight and personal advice than is possible here.

Is AimPoint foolproof?

AimPoint may be a method trusted by various PGA Tour pros and extremely high-level players, but that doesn’t mean it’s foolproof.

As mentioned before, with proper training and plenty of practice, it seems that AimPoint can have a hugely positive effect on your putting game. But it’s not guaranteed, and it does have its critics.

This method involves spending quite a lot of time discerning the slope. Assigning that percentage can involve movement throughout the green, and the reliance on how the slope feels rather than how it looks means it’s not a quick process. In fact, that’s pretty much the whole point. As a result, the pace of play can be slowed down by AimPoint, and so it’s not universally popular among all golfers.

However, if you really struggle with putting, AimPoint is definitely worth trying.

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