I Use AimPoint Because I Am a Feel Player

by John Graham, AimPoint Level III Instructor

I use AimPoint because I am a feel player. That may come as a surprise to some of you as you see me discuss the minutiae of all things related to the golf swing, instruction and green reading. Those things are just pieces of information. I don’t play golf with pieces of information in their minutiae form. I play golf with general information and feel. It applies to my swing and it applies to my application of AimPoint.

Many times I hear from players and coaches that they fear AimPoint will take away their feel for reading the green. To someone that has been using the system for almost 4 years, I simply can’t understand that point of view. Of course, I am looking at it through the lense of someone that has been doing it a long time and has converted the information to feel. Looking back to when I first learned AimPoint has helped me better understand this concern and explain to them why it won’t be a concern that lasts long.

Like most players and coaches, I learned how to read greens with information available to me at the time. This information included: Look at the ground, look from both sides and the low side, imagine pouring a large bucket of water on the green and visualizing where it would flow and so on. These ideas are all valid and have worth but whenever I asked the question of how much the answer I received was it depends (which it does) but it would become easier with more experience. It was a ‘skill’ that could be acquired with lots of time, a great imagination and a great memory. Over time I would discover the feel for predicting break. Like all good golfers, I did acquire a feel for break prediction but it wasn’t always reliable. One of the reasons was this little piece of advice that, sadly, is still around today. Visualize the curve and then aim straight for the apex. Here’s a little video to show why that just is not reality.

AimPoint Instruction is feel based. I don’t know how to say it any other way. That’s the fact. Break Prediction, on the other hand, is science. We offer both. We teach the feel in order to effectively use the science. Don’t get me wrong.

We don’t replace the feel.

We add to your feel.

We enhance your feel.

We inform your feel and in some cases, retrain it.

The quality of your read is direct result of the quality of your feel. It’s a direct result to the quality of your skills. Those that have embraced that idea know exactly what I mean. There are very definable, measurable variables that need to be determined in order for the science to be effective. These variables require skill / feel to ascertain and quantify. This is why, as a feel player, I use AimPoint when I play and teach the AimPoint system to those looking to improve their feel for reading greens.

I use AimPoint because I am a Feel player.