The AimPoint Express Clinic That Changed My Putting Overnight

Day 4 Afternoon: Els Club Putting Green

The Lesson That Changed Everything

Sometimes the most important moments of a golf trip happen after the golf is over.

I’d just finished my best round of the week at Dubai Hills – 91 gross with a 43 on the front nine that had me feeling like I might actually figure this game out. The afternoon was free, and I had a choice: head back to the hotel and rest, or take advantage of being at Els Club to work on the part of my game that had been holding me back all week.

Learning green reading from Mark Bentley on the Els Club putting green

Putting.

I’d been missing reads all week. Short putts that should have been automatic. Medium-range putts where I was guessing instead of knowing. The kind of tentative, uncertain putting that costs you 4-5 shots per round without you even realizing it.

Enter Mark Bentley and the AimPoint Express putting clinic that would change my approach to green reading for the rest of the trip and beyond.

What Is AimPoint Express?

AimPoint Express is a green reading system based on feel rather than sight. Instead of trying to visually read the slope of a green – which can be deceived by optical illusions, lighting conditions, and grain – you use your feet to feel the slope and translate that into a precise read.

The Sports City skyline behind us. Two hours on this green changed everything.

The basic concept: stand behind your ball, feel the slope under your feet, and use your fingers to create the correct amount of aim to account for that slope. It’s systematic, it’s repeatable, and once you learn it, it takes the guesswork out of green reading.

Mark Bentley, one of the certified AimPoint instructors, was at Els Club that afternoon offering clinics to Skillest Pro-Am participants. I’d heard about AimPoint but never tried it. This seemed like the perfect opportunity.

The Clinic: Learning to Feel

The Els Club putting green is massive – easily one of the best practice facilities I’ve ever seen. Multiple pin positions, slopes in every direction, and perfectly maintained surfaces that putt true. The ideal laboratory for learning a new system.

Mark started with the fundamentals. AimPoint isn’t about reading with your eyes; it’s about feeling with your feet. You stand on the line between your ball and the hole, feel the slope, and use that information to determine how much the ball will break.

For a right-to-left slope, you feel the slope under your feet, determine the grade (1-6 scale), and then use your fingers to aim accordingly. One finger width for slight slopes, more for steeper ones. It sounds simple because it is simple. That’s the beauty of the system.

But simple doesn’t mean easy. Your brain has to learn to trust feel over sight, which goes against every instinct you have as a golfer. Your eyes tell you one thing, your feet tell you another, and you have to choose to trust the feet.

The Breakthrough Moment

The breakthrough came on a 15-foot putt with about 2-3 inches of break. I’d been reading it as straight or maybe just a hair left-to-right. Using my eyes, using my instincts, using everything I thought I knew about reading greens.

Mark had me stand on the line, feel the slope, and apply the AimPoint system. The read said the ball would break significantly more than I thought – nearly 6 inches outside the left edge of the cup.

“Trust it,” Mark said. “Hit it firm, aim where the system tells you, and trust it.”

I aimed 6 inches left, made a confident stroke, and watched the ball curve perfectly into the center of the cup.

That putt changed everything. Not because it was a difficult putt – I’ve made plenty of difficult putts by accident. But because it was the first time I’d made a putt where I knew it was going in before I hit it. The system gave me certainty where I’d always had doubt.

The Mental Game Component

What Mark taught me went beyond just the technical aspects of AimPoint. He helped me understand the mental component of putting that I’d been missing.

“Most golfers miss putts before they even address the ball,” he explained. “They’re uncertain about their read, so they make tentative strokes. They’re trying to guide the ball instead of committing to a line and speed.”

AimPoint eliminates the uncertainty. When you know your read is accurate, you can make confident strokes. When you’re confident in your stroke, you hole more putts. It’s a virtuous cycle that starts with trusting the system.

The hour we spent on that putting green wasn’t just about learning a new technique. It was about changing my entire relationship with putting from guesswork to knowledge.

The Immediate Impact: Dubai Hills Day 4

The real test came the next morning at Dubai Hills. Same course where I’d struggled with lag putting and short-putt confidence. But this time, I had a system.

The difference was immediate. Putts that had felt uncertain the day before now had clear reads. Lag putts were finishing closer to the hole because I understood how much they would break. Short putts became automatic because I knew exactly where to aim.

The numbers tell the story: I shot 43 on the front nine, the best nine holes of my entire trip. The putting was a huge part of that. Not because I was draining everything, but because I was two-putting from everywhere and making the putts I was supposed to make.

Mark was right – confidence breeds success in putting. When you trust your read, you make better strokes. When you make better strokes, you hole more putts. When you hole more putts, your confidence grows. The cycle feeds itself.

How AimPoint Changed the Rest of My Trip

The impact of that clinic extended far beyond the next round. For the rest of the week – at the Majlis, Montgomerie, Trump International, and Faldo night golf – I had a putting system I could trust.

More importantly, I had removed one major source of doubt from my game. When you’re playing unfamiliar courses in unfamiliar conditions, eliminating variables becomes crucial. AimPoint gave me consistency in the one area where I’d been most inconsistent.

The two birdies I made at the Majlis – including the iconic par-3 7th – both came after confident AimPoint reads. The putts on the 7th especially: I felt the slope, applied the system, aimed accordingly, and trusted it completely. Ball in the center of the cup.

That’s what systems do. They give you confidence when confidence matters most.

The Philosophy Behind AimPoint

What appealed to me about AimPoint goes beyond just the technical aspects. It’s based on physics and feel rather than guesswork and hope. The ball is going to follow the laws of physics regardless of what your eyes think they see. AimPoint simply helps you account for those laws more accurately.

Mark explained that most golfers read greens with their eyes and then try to adjust for what they think they might have missed. It’s a compensation mindset that introduces errors at every step.

AimPoint flips that: you read with your feet, which are in direct contact with the surface, and then trust that read completely. No adjustments, no second-guessing, no trying to factor in what your eyes think they see differently.

“The green tells you what it’s going to do,” Mark said. “You just have to learn how to listen.”

The Long-Term Impact

Six days after that clinic, flying home from Dubai, I realized that learning AimPoint had changed more than just my putting. It had changed my entire approach to golf improvement.

For years, I’d been focused on swing mechanics, course management, mental game – all important elements. But putting is 40% of your score, and I’d been treating it as the least systematic part of my game. I was relying on instincts that weren’t reliable and hoping for the best.

AimPoint introduced systematic thinking to the most critical scoring aspect of golf. It’s not magic – it’s physics applied consistently. But the results feel magical when you start holing putts you used to miss.

The 5 by 50 challenge isn’t just about getting to a 5 handicap. It’s about becoming the kind of complete player who doesn’t leave shots on the course unnecessarily. Before Dubai, I was leaving 3-4 shots per round on the greens due to poor reads and tentative strokes.

Now I have a system. A repeatable, trustworthy system that works on any green, in any conditions, under any pressure. That’s the kind of foundation you can build a handicap improvement plan around.

Making It Stick

The key to making AimPoint work isn’t just learning the technique – it’s trusting it enough to commit to it fully. Half-hearted AimPoint reads are worse than no system at all because you’re introducing doubt into a method that requires confidence.

When I got home, I spent hours on my home course putting green, calibrating my feel for different slopes and practicing the finger positions until they became automatic. I practiced reading putts both ways – with my eyes and with AimPoint – and noting the differences.

The pattern was consistent: AimPoint was more accurate, especially on subtle breaks that eyes tend to miss. The system doesn’t lie; it just takes practice to trust it completely.

The Dubai Test

That putting green at Els Club became one of the most important hours of my entire trip. Not because it was the most fun or the most memorable, but because it gave me a tool I could use immediately and for the rest of my golf life.

Mark Bentley’s clinic cost me one afternoon of rest. In return, it saved me dozens of strokes over the remainder of the trip and gave me confidence in an area where I’d always struggled. That’s the kind of trade every serious golfer should make.

Looking back, I wish I’d discovered AimPoint years ago. But I’m grateful I discovered it in Dubai, when I needed it most, and with an instructor who could teach it properly.

If you’re serious about improving your putting – and by extension, lowering your scores – AimPoint Express is worth investigating. It’s not a magic solution, but it’s the closest thing to a cheat code for green reading that I’ve found in golf.

And sometimes, that’s the difference between shooting 95 and shooting 85. Between making bogey and making par. Between doubt and confidence on every putt that matters.

Trust the system. Feel the slope. Make the putt.

About AimPoint Express

What it is: A green reading system that uses feel (feet) rather than sight to determine break

How it works: Stand on the line, feel the slope, use finger positions to aim for the correct amount of break

Key benefit: Eliminates guesswork and provides systematic, repeatable reads

Learning curve: Can be learned in one lesson, takes practice to trust fully

Best for: Golfers who struggle with green reading consistency and want a systematic approach

Learn more: aimpointgolf.com

Find an instructor: AimPoint has certified instructors worldwide

Key Takeaways from the Clinic

• Feel over sight: Your feet are more accurate than your eyes for reading slope
• Trust the system: Half-hearted application is worse than no system
• Confidence matters: Certain reads lead to confident strokes
• Physics works: The ball follows laws of physics, not visual perception
• Practice required: Learning the technique is quick; trusting it takes practice
• Immediate impact: Can improve putting performance in a single round

This is part of the Desert Grind: 8 in 6 series. Eight courses across Dubai and Abu Dhabi at the 2026 Skillest Pro-Am.

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