Just when I was feeling so good about the trajectory of banning anchoring, Webb Simpson had to go and inject these thoughts into the skill/rulemaking debate.
First though, Hank Gola shares Graeme McDowell's discussions with the USGA's Mike Davis and his counter position on anchoring a long putter.
"They feel like their research has shown that putting under pressure down the stretch on the back nine on Sunday, when you can anchor the putter to a part of your body . . . that just takes one extraneous movement out of the putting stroke," he said. "It's just kind of a physical fact that if you can just take one element of movement and motion out of the stroke that holing putts will become easier.
And here's Simpson's comment that certainly makes sense.
"Do I think they should be banned? No, and here's why," he said. "You take a wooden driver compared to a 460 cc's titanium, and to me that's a lot bigger difference than a 35 inch putter to a 45 inch putter. Also last year, the strokes game putting, nobody in the top 20 used a belly putter or a long putter. If anybody says it's an advantage, I think you've got to look at the stats and the facts."
There goes any potential run as a USGA poster child!
The story also includes comments from Keegan Bradley, who is concerned that taking away long putters could cost the manufacturers "millions" of dollars.
"To me, to change something that big and to cost manufacturers millions of dollars, you've got to have some pretty good facts," he said. "I think just because some of us are winning majors or winning tournaments with the belly putter, I don't think that's a good reason to say, 'hey, we're going to take them away. That's my real take."
DJ Gallo posts a short but sweet plea to Michael Phelps begging the swimmer not to become an Olympian has-been by sticking to his desire to play a lot of golf. A sampling of his take on other past Olympic greats:
