AimPoint Express Fans Beware: Don't Touch Your Line

No one has been penalized, but as Doug Ferguson notes in his weekly AP notes column, it seems like only a matter of time before the growing list of players who use AimPoint Express to figure out putt breaks is under scrutiny for violating the Rules of Golf.

Ferguson writes:

One part of AimPoint Express is to pick an area halfway toward the hole where the feet can feel the slope (and from there players will hold up one or two fingers to help them figure out where to start the putt).

Rule 16-1a, however, makes it illegal for players to touch the line of their putts, which is defined as the line players want their balls to take and includes a ''reasonable distance on either side of the intended line.''
The European Tour went so far as to post a video explaining how the rule can be breeched if players are not careful. The variance of the line will be greater on longer putts than the shorter ones. No one is believed to have been penalized yet (two-stroke penalty or loss of hole in match play).

''You can't stand in your own line, but your own line is vague,'' Chappell said. ''When it first became big, it came up. They were going to try to outlaw it a few years ago, and then it became like, 'OK, your line from 4 feet is much smaller and precise than your line from 40 feet.' But it would be pretty hard to stand in your line from 40 feet and have them prove you have an advantage.

''I haven't been warned, but I've had discussions about it.''