"It's still a bad look, I hate it" - Former PGA Tour player slams AimPoint

Former PGA Tour pro turned golf commentator and analyst Smylie Kaufman says he hates AimPoint but concedes he'd be doing the same thing if he were still playing.

Lucas Glover inadvertently sparked another debate about the controversial green-reading technique over the weekend when he appeared to stage a mini protest during the final round of the 3M Open in Minnesota. 

But the former U.S. Open champion revealed that all was not as it first appeared as he only removed his footwear in jest after a rules official informed him other players had complained about the 46-year-old leaving spike marks on the greens. 

Glover said in a statement posted on his Instagram page that he has worn metal spikes for more than two decades and he has never received a complaint. 

He urged people to stop talking too much about what he deemed "a non-issue". 

That being said, Kaufman offered his opinion on the latest edition of his podcast where he conceded AimPoint slows the game down and is disrespectful to other players.

"It's awful, man," he said. "Like some guys, I'm not going to name their names, but they go stand up right next to that dang hole. 

"And I'm just thinking to myself, man, like what would that old grizzly veteran say to this dude right now?

"Where have we gone in the game to where we're not respecting another player's through line or just just like creating unwarranted traffic around the cup? 

"Now I know you can tap down on everything, but it's still a bad look. I hate it.

"Now, I understand like it helps these guys putt better, and if it were me, I'd probably be doing the same dang thing, but I just I don't like the optics of it. I don't like the traffic of it all."

Kaufman added that it was "probably" about time that PGA Tour officials used a shot clock on the greens to speed up the slow pokes. 

The PGA Tour has made pace of play an area of focus after the past two seasons.

Rangefinders have been trialled and some players have thrown their support behind naming and shaming the slowest players. 

The Korn Ferry Tour started publishing pace-of-play data in 2026 but it remains to be seen whether this will be adopted at the highest level of the game. 

Some people believe that only stroking players shots for playing too slowly will make a difference.