Golf Industry Central Autumn 2012 | Page 28

“Once you understand that there is a pattern there, it’s predictable what the golf ball does. AimPoint to Europe where it was been an overwhelming success. “I thought it would be fairly accurate and it was really, really accurate. If you understand some basic concepts, it’s very simple.” “It has just spread like wildfire in Europe, Still, it wasn’t easy convincing many “old school” golfers who considered the technology a gimmick. “Once you do the process and see the putts keep going in then they can’t argue,” Sweeney said. “You have to give up the argument at some point.” Once established in the US, Sweeney took 26 “ I asked my pro and he said the more you do it the better you get at it, which I thought was an inadequate answer. “ Sweeney took his new-found technology to CBS in 2004 and it went to air in 2005, but it was the Golf Channel that really embraced the technology and picked up an Emmy for their trouble. much faster than it did in the US,” he said. “We have been teaching the system for four or five years and every year it has quadrupled from the previous year.” The Golf Marketing Professionals www.golfindustrycentral.com.au Now Australians are getting in on the act. Sweeney and European senior instructor Jamie Donaldson recently visited Australia to pass on their green-reading expertise to teaching professionals and players. “Our goal for Australia is the same as it was in Europe and the US and that’s to get as many golfers as possible learning and using the system,” Sweeney said. “We want to place local certified instructors and have four or five, but our aim is to have a limited set of instructors. “We’ll focus a lot of time and effort to get them trained to be good representatives of the brand and basically give them some exclusivity to own the AimPoint franchise in their area.” Golf Industry Central Spring/Summer 2011 26