Totally Unscientific Polls: Ban Anchoring Via Rules Of Golf

With nearly 500 votes, 56% want to see the Rules of Golf rewritten to ban the anchoring of the putter. Bifurcation took 32% but if you were to lump on the 13% for some form of split between the everyday game and the professionals, that would get us up to 45% thinking some split between the two is called for.

Previously, nearly 1000 votes were cast with 69% casting in favor of a ban.

The numbers here, which Nate Silver would not find very scientific, back up what the USGA is suggesting they have heard from the public on this delicate topic.

It's been suggested both publicly and privately that there may be player lawsuits over this, but if the public support is so strong, do those players risk reputational harm or do they have a legitimate gripe?

Either way this should make for an interesting winter.

"The development of elite players is one of the major functions of this TOUR, and we're all excited about when the next Mike Weir will emerge."

That's Commissioner Canuck Thursday talking about the PGA Tour saving the Canadian Tour from extinction and providing a feeder tour to the Web.com Tour.  Someone asked the Commish about money. Big no no!

Q.  I know that the PGA TOUR had lent both strategic and financial support this past year.  Can you elaborate on how much financial assistance was given to the Canadian Tour?

COMMISSIONER FINCHEM:  It wasn't an extreme amount.  I don't see any reason to talk about that publicly.  We wanted to be of assistance, and we certainly wanted to make sure that every opportunity was available to look at the future here, both from the standpoint of what it wound up to be, but also from the standpoint of if it didn't go this direction, our assistance allowed other options maybe to come on the table.  It developed, and it is going to go this direction.  Now we're past all of that and moving forward.

Ian Hutchinson with the details from the Canadian perspective, including the loan amount, which turns out is nothing more than a low level PV VP salary.

The tour floated the struggling Canadian Tour an operating loan last year believed to be in the $750,000 range. Over the years, the Canadian Tour has faced limited fan support and rapidly changing sponsors.

“This is the logical next step for the tour’s sustainability and growth,” said Pierre Blouin, chairman of the Canadian Tour board of directors.

The Donald Is Positively Thrilled About BBC Airing Of "You've Been Trumped"

Following a scathing Guardian column by filmmaker Bill Forsyth, whose Local Hero is used in Anthony Baxter's You've Been Trumped documentary on the building of Trump International Scotland, The Donald is agitated.

Couple that with Trumped airing on BBC2 this Sunday, The Donald took to Twitter to (apparently) encourage viewership by insulting the fillmmaker. Severin Carrell reports:

Trump reacted to news that the documentary was being shown on BBC2 by launching a tirade on Twitter against its director, Anthony Baxter, and other "morons" who criticised his now mothballed £750m resort, which was to be built at the course.

Trump stated: "All the morons that cause the controversy in Scotland have made my development far more successful than anticipated."

He then added that the film, which has now been screened in US cinemas and was acclaimed by the radical filmmaker Michael Moore, had helped him "promote & make Trump International Golf Links Scotland so successful you stupid fool!" In another tweet, he told Baxter: "Your documentary has died many deaths. You have, in my opinion, zero talent."

Second Anchoring Poll: How To Implement The (Inevitable) Belly Putter Ban

Okay, now we know anchoring a long putter against your stomach or chest is about to be banned.

A lot of very bright people make the case that this is only an issue in the professional game and that anchoring has kept many average golfers with the yips or back issue playing the game. I'm in the camp that would hate to see someone give up the game over this and would make it reason #2,093 why bifurcation is worth considering.

So with the results from our first poll resoundingly in favor of doing away with anchoring (70% to 30%), how would you go about implementing this ban?

I offer three options and the last two would obviously protect the everyday golfer who wants to continue bracing the putter against their presumably not-flat belly. I'm pretty sure the rules wonks will lambast me about the Local Rule, but I've never heard a convincing case why the Local Rule can be used to waive some rules or enforce others to protect a field or course. It would also seem to be an easy way for a professional tour to have a few of its own rules while remaining loyal to the "Rules of Golf."

Anyway, as always thanks for voting. These unscientific polls of late have been quite fun!

How should anchoring ban be dealt with?
	Wording change in the Rules of Golf
	Local rule, a back door form of bifurcation
	Bifurcating PGA Tour and USGA/RandA Rules
pollcode.com free polls

USGA's Davis Holds Closed Door Top Secret Presentation To Tell PGA Tour Policy Board How Anchoring Ban Will Work, Share Public Feedback And What To Expect When It Happens

Credit weight loss Tweeter Alex Miceli with the scoop that Mike Davis confidentially told the PGA Tour Policy Board how the governing body intends to act on anchoring putters this fall, only to have the player members blab away about the specifics of what sounds like an upcoming ban on the act of bracing a long putter against the torso.

Davis' appearance before the Policy Board indicates the USGA expects opposition when it makes an announcement, which the association has said would be by the end of the year.

According to Goydos, Davis’ presentation indicated that the USGA has received overwhelming support in letters and e-mails from the general public to ban anchoring. Davis Love III, a Sea Island resident and the recent Ryder Cup captain, expects a different sentiment from the Tour's rank and file.

Rex Hoggard had this from board member Davis Love:

“I don’t know what (the Tour) would do,” Love said. “I told Mike Davis, ‘We are going to have 10 guys who are vehemently against, and then 10 guys who are vehemently for you, and then the rest of them are just going to go play.’ That’s the way it is on any issue.”

Love’s only concern was whatever the USGA and Royal & Ancient do, they should move quickly and avoid dragging a potential rule change out.

“If they said today, ‘We met with the Tour we’re going to change putters,’” Love said. “Keegan Bradley is going to get himself a different (conforming) putter and he’s still going to be a really good putter. He’s just going to have to make a change, but you’d rather not talk about it for three years and have it be a distraction.”

It's amazing Tim Finchem doesn't have any grey hair when you know he gets reactions all the time like this one from Paul Goydos. Back to Miceli's story:

If the verdict is to ban anchoring in 2016, then Goydos thinks other issues – foremost, integrity – will emerge.

“If a player who has played with a belly putter decides to switch to a regular putter in 2014 and plays poorly, they will be looked at as a player that has cheated before,” Goydos said.

Davis counters by noting that Bobby Jones and Sam Snead used equipment and strokes eventually banned, but Goydos dismisses that point.

“That was a different world, 1930 to 2013,” Goydos said. “The USGA has a responsibility to make sure they are not labeled cheaters.”

And what exactly would you propose they do? A special non-cheaters wing to the Anchoring Hall Of Fame?

Tiger Sounding Non-Committal (At Best) On Euro Tour Membership

From today's presser to announce the field and new sponsor for the year-end World Challenge at Sherwood.

Q.  Wondering what your thoughts are on ‑‑ you mentioned before that you might be joining the European Tour a few weeks back.  I want to know what that would mean if you chose to do that.

TIGER WOODS:  Well, they asked me the question whether or not I would entertain it, and I said, yeah, I entertained it early on in my career, there's no doubt, because at the time there was only 11 events, and I believe it was eight cross‑overs, and I played once or twice in Europe, and that put me at nine or ten ‑‑ usually at 10 because I played in Asia and I played as well in Germany for all those years.  So I was only one event away.

Now it's at 13.  13 is a little bit more difficult to get to, but that's one of the reasons why I think they implemented the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup as events that count towards that number.  I certainly can see the benefits and also see the negatives of playing that much golf.  But going forward, I don't know.

First Putter Anchoring Poll: Yes Or No?

Rex Hoggard gets another confirmation from the USGA's Mike Davis that a decision on anchoring putters is coming soon: "We do plan to make some kind of announcement, as promised, later this year.”

Most feel a decision has already been made and language has been developed by the governing bodies banning anchoring a putter against your torso, with a likely implementation date in January 2016.

So the initial poll question is not very deep, but there are so many elements to the notion of an anchoring ban that it'd be informative to start off with a simple, completely unscientific poll: Yes or No on anchoring. (I'd like to save the question of bifurcation or long putters or length of club for later on.)

So for now...

Should anchoring the putter against the torso be outlawed?
	Yes
	No
pollcode.com free polls

''I can be miserable, play fast all day and wait, or I can slow down a bit, which can't hurt.''

Doug Ferguson tackles a subject that speaks to the absurdity of Commissioner Brand Image's bizarre determination to not even consider the penalization of players for slow play as a solution: fast players are openly talking about learning to play slower.

Dustin Johnson:

''Guys out here play really slow, and they're not going to speed up,'' Johnson said. ''I can be miserable, play fast all day and wait, or I can slow down a bit, which can't hurt.''

Johnson is still quick and much quicker than most. He takes a little more time when he gets to the ball, waits a few seconds to pull the club from the bag. And he's taking more time on the green, looking at putts from multiple sides of the hole.

But that's what golf has come to in this generation. Instead of the faster players bringing everyone else up to speed, they have to downshift.

''It can be painful if you play quick,'' Fowler said. ''You're going to be spending a lot of time standing there. It almost starts hurting your legs and feet when you're just standing there. I learned quickly that you have to be patient.''