Former U.S. Open winner Lucas Glover recognizes the existing issues in the sport, particularly the pace of play, and has proposed solutions ahead of the tour card cut from 125 to 100 next season. On a recent episode of “The Lucas Glover Show” on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio, he suggested that banning the AimPoint green-reading technique could significantly help. This method, where players straddle the lines of their putts to assess breaks with their feet, has not statistically improved players’ putting success rates since its introduction on the PGA Tour. Glover stated, “Statistically, [AimPoint] hasn’t helped anybody make more putts since its inception on the PGA Tour. It’s also kind of rude to be up near the hole, stomping around figuring out where the break is in your feet. It needs to be banned. It takes forever.”
In addition to this ban, Glover believes honorary observers should not walk inside the ropes. He explained, “Tour’s not going to like this. Honorary observers are a couple of people that the Tour puts in a group to walk inside of the ropes that probably work for the sponsor or are a guest of the sponsor. Guess what? They get in the way. They don’t know where to walk off of the greens, they don’t know where to stand. A lot of times, the group behind is waiting on them.”
Furthermore, Glover pointed out that there are too many golf carts on the course during play. He remarked, “Easily, the number one reason players back off golf shots is because a golf cart is going by or a golf cart stopping. And usually, it’s for a good reason. They’re bringing water to put in coolers or they’re shuttling people. But there’s got to be a way to eliminate some of the carts. The No. 1 reason a golf pro will back off a shot is a golf cart on the PGA Tour; I would almost guarantee it.”
It will be interesting to see if the tour considers any of Glover’s proposed ideas.
