Wind Putting Key For R&A In Anchoring Re-examination?
Jim Achenbach features more of Mike Davis' quotes about the USGA's interest in belly putters and also shares some insights into the R&A's thinking on the matter.
USGA officials declined to offer details, but an informed Golfweek source said Davis, Nager and USGA equipment standards chair Dan Burton have committed themselves to participating with the R&A in a top-to-bottom examination of belly putting and chest putting.
The source talked at length about the influence of British weather.
“The R&A do not like the fact that golfers can steady themselves by using a putter as a crutch in windy, rainy or cold weather,” the source said. “In essence, they are steadying themselves with the putter. This was never intended under the Rules of Golf. They are using the putter for something other than a traditional stroke.”
And there was this which probably seemed obvious to most of us for some time. But they move slowly in the R&A world...
“Nobody (within the ruling bodies) wants children to know nothing else but sticking putters in their bellys,” the source said. “It now seems possible that an entire new generation of golfers could learn to putt this way and never use the traditional method that has been the bedrock of putting for hundreds of years.”
Monday, February 6, 2012 at 02:33 PM
Reader Comments (14)
Rubbish - any right minded individual would look at things like Belly Putters, 460cc Drivers and NASA designed balls as tangental to the basic elements that constitute the game of Golf.
If these guys had no ego, then there would be no qualms about slaying this Hydra.
You think the 'Rocketballz' 3W that goes further than most drivers is a coincidence? Smart men know how to circumvent what is telegraphed ahead of time.
2 if you think adding 12 inches to a club in the wind with hands far apart helps in stability in the wind you have never used a long putter, personally I think your club with the least loft should be the shortest is the simple solution and I use a long putter.
Yes, and so many deprived children will never experience the near-orgasmic purity of hitting a wound balata ball with a polished persimmon driver, those poor sad wretches.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: when golfers sporting long putters start to make 10-footers seem like gimmees and regularly roll in five or six 30-footers in a round, only THEN will we have something to worry about. If you look at the stats (as I have) there are NO users of the long putter on the PGA Tour anywhere near the top ten or twenty. So a bad putter can feel a little more comfortable. Ho hum. The fact is, while some form of "anchoring" may upset the purists with how it looks (echoes of Sam Snead and his croquet method) it's simply a FACT that nobody is putting great with a belly or a broom.
So let's get real here...... it's all a matter of AESTHETICS.... you just don't like how it LOOKS. Well, hell, if that's the problem, let's fix it by all means and while you're at it let's ban other unsightly abominations.. You there, Arnold Palmer, Miller Barber, Lee Trevino, Doug Sanders and Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey. Those swings are fug ugly. Pick it up --- YOU'RE OUTTA HERE!
And, I used a long putter for a few tournaments in '96. If anyone believes it is EASIER in wind,
please post how! I felt like the guy from the Weather Channel covering hurricanes every
time it blew more than 10mph
However it looks, it's still weird that you can jam a part of the club into a body part to stabilize the stroke. I agree it's a good way to putt...but IMO it has always been more of a teaching aid and we all know using those on the course is not allowed under the rules.
Maybe a new rule stating that the only body parts that that can touch the club while putting are the hands.
Glad to see they are looking at them though.
Make the putter the shortest club in the bag-simple.
I was referring to the ENTIRE SEASON of 2011.
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My question is...the best players of today ranked in the top 20 grew up using and practicing with the standard putters. They are already great putters so switching doesn't make sense. Tomorrows best players at this rate will all be using the long putters.
If you want stats to back up that long putters should be banned, look at the guys who struggled putting and then magically became average or better putters. There are a lot of guys that are decent putters with the long putters and people point to them as why the long putter doesn't make you great. I look at it as these guys are horrible putters who would struggle keeping their card if they didn't have the help of the long putters.
Long putters take all the nerves out of the stroke. The USGA has so screwed this up by waiting this long to ban them. Doesn't surprise me as they are always late to any change. They can't see a day in the future, always looking behind them.