PGA Tour golfer told by top coach: Educate yourself so you don't look silly
PGA professional and AimPoint expert Mark Bentley has told GolfMagic Lucas Glover's claim that the system hasn't helped anyone is 'complete rubbish'.
One of the UK's top AimPoint putting coaches has urged PGA Tour golfer Lucas Glover to educate himself so he doesn't look 'quite so silly in the future'.
The green reading system has come under heavy scrutiny over the first few months of the 2025 campaign.
Debates have raged about slow play and some high-profile players - such as former U.S. Open champ Glover - have called for AimPoint to be banned.
"I watch a lot of golf and I see a lot of Tour players doing it incorrectly," PGA professional Mark Bentley told GolfMagic.
"They are not doing it the way that - if they had been taught properly - they should be doing it."
So what is the correct way?
Well, understanding AimPoint does take quite a bit of time. Bentley teaches his students in two-hour sessions.
That being said, he believes that golfers using AimPoint - amateur and professional - don't need to be taking an exhaustive amount of time on the greens.
Referring to recent footage of LPGA Tour player A Lim Kim using the system briefly over a one-foot putt, he said: "You would never be taught that.
"I would never teach a player to do that because there's no need to. There's absolutely no need to. You wouldn't get anywhere near the hole if you were doing it properly."
He added: "So I think [AimPoint] users are a victim of their own success. AimPoint is far more popular now than it has ever been, both with pros and amateurs, but if you're going to do it, learn to do it properly. Learn from a certified instructor."
One person who clearly disagrees is Glover.
In January, Glover outlined his eight-point plan to combat the slow play epidemic.
Glover contended that no player has ever benefitted from the system and implored it to be banned. "It takes forever," he said.
Related:
Collin Morikawa later hit back by cheekily suggesting long putters should be prohibited.
Bentley told GolfMagic there are at least 15 current Tour players that have shown statistical improvement since using AimPoint.
Those players include the likes of Keegan Bradley, Tommy Fleetwood, Max Homa, Viktor Hovland, Tom Kim, Robert MacIntyre, Justin Rose, Adam Scott and Morikawa.
"The list goes on and on and on," he said. "People [like Glover] are coming out with statements not based on anything.
"Every single one of these players have improved their putting since they started AimPoint."
He added: "Lucas Glover is completely wrong in what he said. Lucas Glover needs to go and educate himself or be educated so he doesn't make himself look quite so silly in the future."
As for his own thoughts on how to combat slow play, Bentley was clear.
Golfers need to be hit with penalty strokes or heavier fines.
"Or both," he said.
Bentley was talking to GolfMagic as part of the launch for The Big Golf Race 2025.
He was previously diagnosed with prostate cancer and is calling on golfers from all over the UK to challenge themselves by playing either 36, 72 or 100 holes of golf in one day to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK.
You can sign up here.
Ben joined the GolfMagic team in September 2021, initially as a content executive.
These days, he assumes the position of content manager.
