Charlie Woods discovered a putting method his father’s peers swear by—and couldn’t master it. TaylorMade, the major American golf equipment brand Tiger‘s son recently signed with, shared a video on YouTube in which Woods confessed he doesn’t know one controversial putting method. Although Justin Thomas tried to teach him, Woods admitted that he failed to pick it up.

“So I’m very visual and kind of feel-based,” he said in the video. “JT actually, a couple of years ago, tried to teach me how to do aim point, and I failed miserably.”

This moment came before Woods Jr. competed in the Junior Players Championship in early September. He was practicing for the tournament at TPC Sawgrass when he made the confession involving Justin Thomas. Regardless, in case you didn’t know, AimPoint is a green-reading technique that helps golfers determine the break of a putt by physically feeling the slope with their feet rather than relying solely on their eyes. 

Players typically straddle the putting line, use their feet to gauge the severity of the slope, and then use their fingers to establish an aiming point based on that slope. Many professionals trust the method because even very subtle slopes can be difficult to see, but the feet can feel them. This allows players to make a more precise assessment of how much a putt will break.

However, the method doesn’t exist without controversy. And the surrounding controversy largely comes from pace of play and appearance. Critics, including PGA Tour player Lucas Glover, argue that AimPoint adds unnecessary time to an already slow game, particularly when players repeatedly walk around the hole or stand on the putting line to assess the slope. Not to mention, it can also damage the area. 

Speaking of Lucas Glover, he famously removed his shoes during the final round of the 3M Open, and commentators and fans interpreted the unusual moment as a protest against AimPoint putting. Although Glover has been a vocal critic of AimPoint, he explained that he actually took off his shoes because a rules official told him there had been complaints about his metal spikes leaving marks on the soft greens. 

But coming back to Charlie Woods, after practicing for the 2026 Junior Players Championship, the 17-year-old tied for eighth, finishing at 1-under-par 215. He closed with a final-round 71 that included five birdies and four bogeys, ending seven shots behind winner JP Lynch. This marked an enormous improvement on his T31 finish from 2025 and stood as his best result of the 2026 season in a national junior event.

And midway through the month, he helped The Benjamin School win the Palm League Championship team title. However, he did not repeat as the individual champion. Woods, a senior at the Florida school, shot an even-par 71 to finish eighth individually, while teammate Andrew Tsar won the individual title with a 2-under 69. Woods still made key contributions to Benjamin’s team victory. 

He made a birdie on the 18th hole that helped secure the championship. The result followed Benjamin’s title-winning performance the previous year, when Woods won the individual championship with a 5-under 66. Currently, Charlie Woods, who holds the No. 128 spot in the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA), plans to graduate from The Benjamin School in spring 2027. 

The 17-year-old will join the Florida State University’s men’s golf team in fall 2027 and has verbally committed to play college golf for the Florida State Seminoles. But before he does that, it’s interesting to see that Charlie Woods still has things to learn about the sport.