AimPoint vs Tour Read – Green Reading Systems

[iacas]

You're making that more complicated than it is. 1% of 24" is 0.24".

 

And I guess you'd be surprised at how well you can learn to feel that.

[ryannas]

On 5/23/2025 at 11:23 AM, TonyRo said:

I haven't tested this yet, but I've always thought it would be easier to calibrate and use AimPoint if you knew both. It's quite easy to use TourRead on shorter putts because a cup is just over 4" and a ball is around 1.7", and those are easy metrics to visualize when you're 10 feet away. So find a short putt and get a good read (test it to confirm), then use that read to calibrate how far your fingers need to be from your face to match it. 

 

I spent time on a putting green for a week or two, where I would put a tee 6 inches behind the center of the cup.......then tees at 12" left/right and 24" left/right of the cup. So basically giving visuals for what a foot and two feet of break looks like. Then used the Tour Read method to just rep putts from 5-10-15-20 feet away at different breaks / slopes. You learn really quick how to calibrate. 

 

I learned to do both (AimPoint / TourRead) and the mechanics of TourRead (triangulating your read point from the low side of the putt and using your eyes to read slope) I find far easier to immediately identify the right line. I'm not necessarily saying one is better than the other......I used AimPoint with success and will still use it when my eyes are having trouble......but if I see the break with my eyes, the TourRead method of distance and slope works extraordinarily well. 

 

I will also say that it is entirely possible that TourRead works so well for me personally because AimPoint taught me what 1 / 2 / 3 degrees of slope looked like. And because my eyes and brain really had that engrained, that the TourRead system giving the tools to more accurately read putts with my eyes has a compounding effect here. 

 

I think they are both great systems but if you are someone who is good at deciphering direction of break with your eyes, TourRead is honestly insanely quick, effective and easy. If I see the break, TourRead is seconds to step the distance off and make the calculation. It is a system that is very worthy of learning and practicing. 

[TonyRo]

14 minutes ago, ryannas said:

I spent time on a putting green for a week or two, where I would put a tee 6 inches behind the center of the cup.......then tees at 12" left/right and 24" left/right of the cup. So basically giving visuals for what a foot and two feet of break looks like. Then used the Tour Read method to just rep putts from 5-10-15-20 feet away at different breaks / slopes. You learn really quick how to calibrate. 

Great stuff, thanks for responding! 

 

I keep meaning to head out to the putting green to test the Tour Read low-side read against my feet versus a level. Would be an interesting test. 😁

[ryannas]

9 minutes ago, TonyRo said:

Great stuff, thanks for responding! 

 

I keep meaning to head out to the putting green to test the Tour Read low-side read against my feet versus a level. Would be an interesting test. 😁

 

It is worth trying. I would describe it as a system that a more visual person would love......because you can look at the cup, as you make your read vs. AimPoint obscuring it and shifting the focus to an exact spot. 

 

AimPoint unequivocally works but for me personally, the way my eye focuses with my finger(s) in front of my face is just different than saying "Ok, 9 inches of break" and looking at the hole as I eyeball where that is. I find the visual read to be more accurate but again, a lot of these systems are preference. 

 

Not everyone is good at reading with their eyes and that is ok........but if you have a feel for seeing the break direction, TourRead seems like a really good fit. If you have trouble seeing break, AimPoint does a great job providing a different tool for acquiring that info. 

[kiawah]

Can someone drop the link to the Clinometer app people are suggesting? I think the correct one is $1.99 but wanted a sanity check before I actually give it a shot