Customer Reviews

Instinct Putting: Putt Your Best Using the Breakthrough, Science-Based TargetVision Putting Technique

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Let me start off with a little information on myself. I am a scratch golfer playing for a Division 1 college. I averaged 32.1 putts per round last year with a scoring average of 74.1 in 13 tournaments. I was dissatisfied with length putting and the clutch 4-10 footers for par saves. This book makes so much sense it just isn't funny. I was skeptical before buying it, but followed Eric Alpenfels with great interest as a Teaching Professional at Pinehurst Golf Academy. I started the technique explained in the book with the putting test recommended. The results were phenomenal! I am easily making 2-3 more putts per round and am so confident over 50 footers. I probably 3 putted 1-2 times per round from 30-70 feet, and still have yet to 3-putt one single time since finishing the book two and a half weeks ago! This book is truely revolutionary and Mr. Alpenfels has really got it right. I beg you to please read this book and improve your putting. I beleive in it so much I had to gt on here and write this review. Go IP!!

I have to admit I only skimmed this book in a book store. However, I'm a 7 hcp and have been putting like this for about 10 years and believe me, it's worth the effort to read this book and learn this technique. I average 12 to 15 putts per 9 holes and that is not a testiment to my chipping. This method makes perfect sense when you think about it; if you were firing a pistol or a rifle at a target would you be looking at the back of the bullet? Of course not. You would be looking at the target. Same idea here. It may take a leap of faith to try this on the course so try it at home first - get used to putting the ball without looking at it. Then, expect comments from the rest of the 4-some until you start averaging 12 - 15 putts per 9 holes.

Anyone who claims to have mastered putting is a liar. No negotiating. A liar, plain and simple. Instinct putting, where one watches the hole rather than the ball, makes a whole lot of sense--ever try to make a free throw watching the basketball.

It's in the application that the concept starts to struggle a bit. Even with some practice, applying the techniques on the course, in a round that counts, is a bit like changing horses in a wild stretch of rapids--scary. One must be ready to miss putts in a new and different way rather than in the old, familiar way.

Luckily, I'm comfortable missing putts any old way; I'm an expert. So far, the misses are puttable, mostly, making instinct putting a useful lag technique. And that's all I'll commit to at this point.

The first thought that comes to mind when you see a book co-authored by a famous golf instructor from world-class resort and a Ph.D. is that they are going to take a simple concept like putting and pound a prodigious number of words into the smallest ideas and decorate them with complicated and convoluted graphs and charts. At least that was my thought. And then in the introduction I read "Your skill would improve dramatically if you learned to concentrate WHERE to putt the ball and didn't try to think so much about HOW to execute the stroke." How simple is that?? And when I read the rest of the book, and put it into practice, I discovered Alpenfels and Christina are right. I like simple. I like making putts. For anyone else who feels the same, check this book out.

Spent about 45 minutes at the practice green this morning. In short, I was amazed with this technique. I made three putts over 20'. Something I rarely do to be honest. I somehow could see the line so much better than usual. I almost felt like I could read the green for once. Not sure what the deal is, but it is obviously the fact that I am looking at where the ball is going, rather than the ball. On short putts under 7-10', I was less accurate. But just flipping through the book this morning I read that is to be expected. They actually lay out a 14 session training program and you are not supposed to pick it up overnight. But on day one, right out of the gate, my 10+ foot putting was much improved. To be honest, I was amazed at how much. I am going to start the 14 practice sessions soon as I can get back to the course. Short, very focussed sessions, but they graduate in complexity as you build skills. Sounds very logical and from what I saw this morning on the practice green, after a few weeks of this "Instinct Putting", I will change the way I putt forever. This was an unexpeted surprise to say the least. From the book, Jim Dent on the Champions Tour is using this now.

Instinct Putting: Putt Your Best Using the Breakthrough, Science-Based Target Vision Putting Technique

This book instructs you to look at the hole and use enough speed to stop 18 inches behind the hole if you miss it. The authors compare it to sports such as football where the QB looks at the receiver while throwing, and say that that allows your athleticism to takeover. They also each you how to hold the putter in a way to treat it as part of your "bionic" arm. But this is AFTER you do all the usual things golfers do the to make putts such as adjusting feet, club face, and so on. It seems to work for me. It also teaches how to "read" a green and other useful things. It's a great book.

I bought this book out of curiosity more than anything else as the basic tenet of what you are required to do seems so bizarre. However after reading it and then following suggested drills in the suggested order (I am up to day five at the moment) I am actually improving to the point where I am already more confident standing over a fifteen footer than I was putting conventionally. It feels very strange to start with but this disappears very (like five minutes) quickly and I haven't miss hit a ball for three days now. You really can get a solid strike fairly near the sweet spot consistently without looking at the ball. However this is only practice green stuff; I am going to try it in a round this weekend and that will be the real test.

I'm 65 years (young) with an 8 handicap. Putting has been my biggest handicap since starting golf. I leave a large percent of my putts short; some within 1/2 to 2 inches from the hole!! Grrrrr. I've heard of this "instinct" method before reading the book but never adopted it because 'if it was so good, why weren't more golfers doing it?' Anyway, I went back to the method after reading the book and the results are fantastic. When looking at the hole from up to 50 feet away, my putts are no longer feeble and short. I may miss them but I'm making many more than I ever did. I love the effect when my friends say, "Nice birdie or nice putt," instead of "Ohhh, too bad." I haven't perfected this method with very long putts like 50 to 75 feet because I have to take the putter back too far for even instinct to work. I'll keep working at it and I'll soon do all my putting this "Instinct" way.

I think this concept makes great sense, I have used it a lot on short and medium putts. I did learn not to use it on fringe and uneven ground putts. This book has a very smart and organized practice plan, I have not completed it all yet, but find it helpful and plan to continue working toward incorporating it in my game.
I recommend this book.

I`ve read the book and I have tried the recommended "looking at the hole" method.
The method is not new to me,I have tried it earlier to and fro. My experience so far is that distance control is better than "looking at the ball-method". On the other hand other advantages mentioned by the authors as easier to keep the head still and not being distracted by the movement of the putterhead do not apply to me personally.The autors repeat fundamentals and recommend specific drills in an lucid an interesting way. However some of this can also be found in other books about putting. And I do not find an explanation why the pros all seem to look at the ball; one should expect them to represent the cutting edge in the science of putting.

Doubtful