Lucas Glover Explains Bizarre 3M Open Shoe Removal After AimPoint Speculation

There was an unusual moment during the final round of the 3M Open involving Lucas Glover, where he appeared to protest a green-reading method he’s known to dislike, AimPoint, before clarifying his actions later on.

Glover made a birdie putt at the 10th to move to six under at TPC Twin Cities, but it didn’t do much for his mood, with the six-time PGA Tour winner immediately walking away from the hole and close to where playing partner Max Greyserman was standing.

There, he removed his shoes and placed them on the ground before striding back and picking his ball out of the cup.

His actions appear to have been directed at AimPoint, with Greyserman, who uses the method, potentially the player his protest was directed towards.

The method is used by several PGA Tour players and involves reading the upcoming putt via the use of your feet.

Essentially, golfers stand facing the hole and estimate the severity of the putt on a scale between 0 and 6, which then helps them pick out a starting line.

However, it’s safe to say we won’t be seeing Lucas Glover employing AimPoint any time soon.

The 2009 US Open champion voiced his distaste for the method on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio last year, claiming that it not only does not help players make more putts, but is also "kind of rude to be up near the hole and stomping around, figuring out where the break is in your feet." He added: "It needs to be banned. It takes forever."

Glover making a protest against AimPoint was the consensus on the Golf Channel’s broadcast, but was his move really about that bugbear, or something else?

Following his round, where he finished on five under for the tournament, Glover responded to an Instagram post from Flushing It Golf, where he claimed it had “nothing to do with AimPoint, actually.”

He then detailed the real cause of his protest, writing that it was about “complaints behind me about spike marks. I wear metal. Someone in the group ahead of us was too. Singled me out. Just goofing off.”

Even with Glover’s clarification, his actions brought the potential pros and cons of AimPoint back into the conversation.

One thing for sure is it's far from unpopular with some other pros, with players aside from Greyserman who have used it including Adam Scott, Keegan Bradley, Viktor Hovland, Justin Thomas and Max Homa.

In fact, according to Europe's Senior AimPoint Instructor, Jamie Donaldson, the system is now used by 65 percent of players on the PGA Tour, suggesting we could see it on the circuit for some time to come.