Welcome to Aimpoint Express. You have to learn this simple and efficient way to read greens! Many of you are familiar with the old Aimpoint process that included using a book to help you figure out the read. With Aimpoint Express, there is no need for a book, you just use your fingers. This process is just a few months old but it is already taking off. Everyone who has tried it loves it and comments on how easy it is to learn and apply. 

I just roll my eyes when TV commentators say that putts break away from mountains and towards the ocean. The bottom line is that putts are only affected by the ground over which they are rolling. It sounds simple but it is true. Green reading is judging the effect of gravity on a putt. Aimpoint Express teaches you a simple method that takes about 5 seconds. 

You will no longer bend over or have to walk to the other side of the putt to "guesstimate" the read. A few years ago, when I first became Aimpoint certified, I mentioned that very seldom does something in golf come around that is so revolutionary. We actually figured out a logical mathematical way to judge break. The challenge was that it took a lot of practice and you needed to learn how to use the Aimpoint Book. 

Aimpoint Express has taken simplicity and ease of use to the next level. My junior golfers love it and so will you. I can't wait to teach it to you!

I was not a good putter in college. I would come back to my fraternity house after a tournament and complain about the 3 putts I had during my round. Next thing I knew, my pledge name was "3 Putt". Yes, it was on the back of my pledge shirt. Luckily it did not catch on and most people called me Josh. Others weren't so lucky :)

I made a huge step in my putting when I started disassociating myself with the outcome. Quite simply, I stopped worrying about making the putt and I simply made a good stroke. I love Jack Nicklaus' line :"I made it, it just didn't go in". 

In 1992, Dave Pelz explained to me all the reasons a putt can miss that are not my fault. The green is not a perfect surface. In fact, the best payers in the world make about half of their 8 footers. 

A few months after that talk with Dave Pelz, I qualified for the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. I had a streak of 5 birdies during one on my qualifying rounds. I have been a great putter ever since. 

Jim Hardy told me a story about David Duval the other day. Jim had asked David what he was thinking about when he had the putt for 59 and the tournament victory at the Bob Hope Desert Classic. He told Jim that he deliberately did not go to his ball right away. In fact, he told his caddy to stay away from the putt until it was his turn. He didn't want to over read it or second guess himself. He wanted to go with his first instinct and let it go. He did and he won the tournament and recorded that elusive 59. If you get a chance, read Malcom Gladwell's book "Blink". It explains how first impressions are often correct. But more importantly, Duval knew of the pitfall of getting in his own way and trying too hard. That just doesn't work in sports. 

I think tossing a ball at the hole is a great way to practice your distance control. I remember Greg Norman doing this at the 1987 U.S. Open at Olympic Club. He was at the practice green tossing balls at different trajectories to see how the ball was going to react on the green. What I also like about this is that it makes you target focused. You are looking at your target when you toss a ball so your brain is in touch with distance and less on how to throw a ball. I am all for correct technique but if your distance control is off, you will not get the ball up and down.  Once your contact is solid, shift in to the same target mode that you are in when you toss a ball and you will get it close and sometimes in!

I saw something really cool last month. Rory Mcilroy hit one of the greatest shots in the history of the game. He was one shot out of the lead on the 18th hole at the Honda Classic. He had 245 yards to the hole with water on the right and a bunker in line with the hole. He proceeded to hit a high cut 3 wood that landed 10 feet from the hole. Johnny Miller said that there were only a handful of players on the planet who could hit this shot much less pull it off under pressure. What an amazing shot but what was more amazing was that Rori had gone 6 over for the previous 13 holes and had lost his lead. His ability to put that behind him and hit such an awesome shot showed one of his best skills, the ability to put everything behind him and execute the task at hand. Amnesia is a great skill in golf. We can all learn a lesson from Rori on this one.

What is Masters Champion Adam Scott doing with his fingers?  The answer is that he is reading his putt using the Aimpoint Express method. Guess what, nobody is paying Adam Scott to use this method. He is trying to win a golf tournament. I played in a scramble a couple of weeks ago and after the first few holes, the group was just letting me do the green reading. While they were looking form all angles, I already had the read. When they realized that I always had the best read, they just deferred to my read. We holed a 60 footer and 3 other putts over 30 feet. It was fun and easy, now those are two words you don't often hear when people talk about golf!