ProAim putting trainer
'Anything that's going to help putting is going to affect scores and certainly ProAim has started to benefit me a great deal,' says Darreen Clarke. And if it works for him...
If Darren Clarke wins the Volvo PGA Championship, which starts today – and living on the Wentworth estate, he’s one of the favourites – he’ll be thanking Butch Harmon for introducing him to a new training device. The Irishman has incorporated the ProAim virtual alignment system into his putting regime. At the Daily Telegraph Damovo British Masters recently he shot four birdies on the final five holes to rocket up the leaderboard (earning £4,000 for Sport Relief) after using the unique putting trainer on the practice green. Despite again finishing high on the leaderboard his putting wasn’t quite on song in the Deutsche Bank but he’s fully confident the dark spectacles with the imprinted putter alignment, will soon help earn the title he has been threatening to claim. Clarke has consistently averaged around 1.7 putts per hole for the last four years but knows it needs to improve to reach the goals he has set himself and to claim the major title he craves. "The short game is everything for us on the Tour," he explained. "Hitting the ball is one thing but you've got to knock your putts in. Anything that's going to help putting is going to affect scores and certainly ProAim has started to benefit me a great deal." Wearing the ProAim glasses, he says, helps keep his head still. "The old bad habits can still appear but with these I'm starting to get a lot better," says Clarke. | |
Using a breakthrough technique called Optical Imprinting, ProAim projects a virtual guidance grid into the golfer's field of vision and by keeping the clubhead within the lines of the projected grid, the golfer sees the proper head position, clubface alignment and swingpath all working together. "It’s simply the best alignment training aid I have ever seen," says Harmon. "You are grooving a swing that is not full of flaws." When I tried the glasses it was easy to see how natural it can be to fall into bad habits – a slightly closed or open clubface and a swing path that hovers inconsistently and goes outside the line or even too far inside. Though obviously not allowed in competition play, the spectacles help maintain your concentration over the ball when practising and help create muscle memory with a repeating stroke. A couple of my club’s teaching staff tried the ProAim specs and noticed immediately how the image projected helped keep their head still. They were also handy in showing beginners the importance of alignment without the need for laying parallel shafts on the ground. | |
Verdict | |
Don’t expect overnight success with ProAim, which has just been reduced in price by £20. But once over the embarrassment of the sniggers you’ll get on the practice putting green and showing the dedication to fit your putting swing to the lines in front of you, that regular handful of three putts per round will become a thing of the past. | |
Golfmagic rating: 8/10 | |
