Masters 2025: Expect 'time limitations' in Drive, Chip and Putt next year, says Chairman Fred Ridley

AUGUSTA, Ga. — If you tuned into the Drive, Chip and Putt competition this past Sunday morning on Golf Channel, you likely noticed something semi off-putting - young kids all aboard what is now known as "the AimPoint express."

For those unaware, AimPoint is a putting technique used by countless PGA Tour pros based primarily on feeling slopes on the greens, rather than trying to spot them with their eyes. Our Luke Kerr-Dineen did a thorough breakdown on the method that seems to have a stranglehold on tons of players last month, which can be read here.

As Luke explained, the players love it, while fans watching from home hate it. The two most common takeaways are 1. it slows down an already slow sport, and 2. it looks funny (some folks would sub "funny" for "stupid"). As we continue to discuss ways to improve the pace on the PGA Tour, every player adopting this putting method seems counter-productive.

Adding to the issue is the fact that recreational golfers both young and old love to emulate what they see on television. That's why it was no surprise last Sunday to see so many young golfers using AimPoint, as well as pacing off the length of the putt, during the Drive, Chip and Putt. Adding to the absurdity was the fact that all the competitors were facing the same putt from the same three lengths of six, 15 and 30 feet.

During Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley's annual Wednesday press conference at the 2025 Masters, this topic came up quite early in the proceedings. It was an A+ exchange between a reporter and Ridley, as Ridley did not hide his concerns over the pace in the Drive, Chip and Putt competition.

Q. I'm wondering what your reaction was on Sunday afternoon when you saw a little mite of a golfer use the AimPoint aim and take some time to do it. And then having lined up her putt like that, she then went on a tour of the putt and calling in at every compass point on the way around and taking perhaps as much as two minutes. I'm wondering what your reaction to that was. Secondly, in view of your comments now about pace of play, I'm wondering whether in the spirit of the great founder, who said so much about etiquette and so on and so forth, there's even the thought that you might lead the way in trying to encourage these young players to get a bloody move on.

RIDLEY: Well, I think that example really illustrates the problem, and unfortunately, these young people are looking to their heroes who play the game each week for a living as to how they're going to approach competitively playing the game.

I think it's been very -- a good thing that knowledgeable people such as Dottie Pepper have commented on this recently, and I hope that -- she made the point about respect for others, including most particularly the people who watch the game, the fans.

So I think maybe this might be a call to action that perhaps we haven't seen in the past. I've spoken about it a number of times. We will be dealing with that issue this week. I'm not going to tell you that I'm going to be happy with the results, but I think I am encouraged that the PGA Tour is doing some things, experimenting with some timing procedures that might be a little bit more aggressive than we've seen in the past.

As it relates to the Drive, Chip and Putt, I too noticed exactly what you noticed. It's interesting, but every phase of the competition has the same length chip and the same length putt, so it's really not necessary to pace that off. They know how many yards that is. But nevertheless that's what they were doing.

I think it's safe to assume that next year at the Drive, Chip & Putt you will see some sort of time limitations placed on the competition.

On one hand, this does seem like a good thing - nipping a glaring issue in the bud. On the other, critics might say that cracking down on kids as opposed to the adults playing in the Masters isn't the best look (Tianlang Guan, anyone?), but as Ridley alluded to, the PGA Tour is testing out some new pace of play guidelines on the Korn Ferry Tour starting next week. And those guidelines have already been put into action on the PGA Tour Americas. Ideally, you can expect them to reach the PGA Tour in the near future. As for the Masters, expect plenty of AimPoint-Expressing on the grounds of Augusta National this week.

MORE FROM GOLF DIGEST @ THE MASTERS

Masters 101: Answering all your frequently asked questions

How to watch the 2025 Masters

Power Rankings: Every player in the Masters field, ranked

Tee times for Round 1 and Round 2

50 defining Masters Moments, ranked

The most memorable Rules issues in Masters history

Before and after photos of Augusta National’s tree loss from Hurricane Helene

Every course change ever made at Augusta National

A brief history of Masters prize money payouts

15 people who ended up in the Masters penalty box

The Champions Dinner Tell-All, from those inside the room