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Jason Day delivers his verdict on AimPoint putting on the PGA Tour as slow play complaints get louder

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During his heyday, Jason Day was one of the best putters in the game, and his work with the flat stick helped propel him to world number one.

The highlight of the Aussie’s career came during the 2015 PGA Championship, where he secured a memorable victory at Whistling Straights.

Clearly, the 39-year-old can read greens and make putts under pressure. However, many players on the PGA Tour are now implementing a heavily criticised technique to assess the severity of a slope on a putting surface.

AimPoint sees players straddling the line of their putt and assessing the slope by feeling pressure in their feet. Unfortunately, the process takes time. Aaron Rai was criticised at the Wyndham Championship for taking too long over his putts, and the Englishman isn’t the only example on the PGA Tour.

2019 Open winner Shane Lowry wants the technique banned, and AimPoint has faced criticism from pundits and fans.

And Day is the latest to raise an issue with the method.

Jason Day highlights issue with AimPoint

TOUR Championship - Round Two
Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images

Day, speaking in a recent video with journalist Dan Rapaport claims he gets bugged by players straddling their line whilst he’s putting.

“I am not an AimPoint guy,” Day explained. I am not anti-AimPoint. The only thing I don’t like about AimPoint is that when it’s your putt, they’re in there reading their putt.

“Wait your turn and get out, you know what I mean. I understand, but it’s actually bugging your playing partner.”

AimPoint filters down into the amateur game

Unsurprisingly, with some high-profile PGA Tour players using the method, amateurs have followed suit.

YouTube star Rick Shiels insists he will use AimPoint even if it’s banned on tour.

“I have played with a lot of people who use it now. It doesn’t offend me. I use it. I don’t do the fingers, but I will straddle the line and learn the putt,” said Shiels.

“I think it has dramatically improved my green reading ability. I think I am a much, much better green reader now, and therefore, I have become the greatest putter in the world! I won’t stop doing it; even if it gets banned, I will go to a remote island.”

As long as the time taken to use AimPoint can be managed and the pace of play isn’t impacted, it’s hard to raise too many issues with the method in its current guise.