AimPoint: Alignment and accuracy drill

At the start of his career Jamie Donaldson was a golfing for 15 years. Since then he has gone on to become Europe’s first AimPoint coach and worked with tour professionals such as Adam Scott.

Here he shows an AimPoint drill that is effective at improving your putting and reducing your score.

Gateway Drill

Clearly, the best ‘read’ in the world is of little use unless you have the ability to consistently start the ball on your chosen line.

This is an area tour players are constantly working on with various drills and checkpoints to make sure they align the putter-face squarely to their intended line. Repeat a stroke that sees the putter return square and roll the ball on that line.

There are a number of ways in which you can help yourself here. A chalk line is one of the most popular; Poulter uses this all the time, running a line from about 6-8 feet on a dead-straight putt. Repeat this and set up rolling the ball down that line to the hole.

Another drill you can try is to create a ‘gate’ to a straight four-footer. Make sure the gate is just wide enough for the putter head to fit through. Make sure the gate is perpendicular to the line and then rehearse your routine. Align the putter, complete your set up, make the putt. How many can you make in a row?

You can take this drill a stage further to test your accuracy. Place the tees a foot or so ahead of the ball so that the line to the hole passes directly between the two of them – just far enough apart to allow the ball clearance.

You can do this on a straight putt or on a gentle breaking putt with an aim point a finger or two fingers outside the hole. The challenge then is not only starting your ball on the perfect line but at the pace which sees it run through the gate and into the hole.