Billy Casper - Anchored Putter?

[Archie Bunker]

Was watching a Shell's Wonderful World of Golf the other day and noticed Billy Casper's unique putting style. Billy was a very "wristy" putter, and used a rather short, mallet style putter. Stood close to the ball, and anchored his left arm securely against his left thigh during the stroke, which was done entirely with the wrists. Tried this myself, and it seems to be a rather effective way to putt. But would this be considered "anchoring" by today's standards? Most of the "anchoring" today has been done with long or belly putters. Billy used a standard putter with a short shaft length. It looks as though Casper's technique anchors the arm, but not the club. Illegal or not?

[Vinsk]

2 minutes ago, Archie Bunker said:

Was watching a Shell's Wonderful World of Golf the other day and noticed Billy Casper's unique putting style. Billy was a very "wristy" putter, and used a rather short, mallet style putter. Stood close to the ball, and anchored his left arm securely against his left thigh during the stroke, which was done entirely with the wrists. Tried this myself, and it seems to be a rather effective way to putt. But would this be considered "anchoring" by today's standards? Most of the "anchoring" today has been done with long or belly putters. Billy used a standard putter with a short shaft length. It looks as though Casper's technique anchors the arm, but not the club. Illegal or not?

It would be very helpful if you could post a video or at least a still of this style.😁

[iacas]

Yes, it's anchoring and thus not a legal stroke.

And, it's not a great way to putt on faster greens, particularly, using the wrists as much as he did. It worked for him, and maybe a few others, but it isn't generally a great way to control your speed.

[Archie Bunker]

Greens seemed to be generally much slower back then. Longer putts were more difficult to judge the speed. Arnold Palmer's stroke had some anchoring similarities back then too. His elbows were glued to his sides and he used a lot of wrist to hit the ball. Anchoring too? Is the simple technique of holding your arms to your body considered "anchoring the club"? Seems to be a hard one to define, since the wrists can move independently to the arms. 

[iacas]

4 minutes ago, Archie Bunker said:

Greens seemed to be generally much slower back then. Longer putts were more difficult to judge the speed. Arnold Palmer's stroke had some anchoring similarities back then too. His elbows were glued to his sides and he used a lot of wrist to hit the ball. Anchoring too? Is the simple technique of holding your arms to your body considered "anchoring the club"? Seems to be a hard one to define, since the wrists can move independently to the arms. 

It was easier to judge the speed back then.

[fredf]

10 hours ago, Archie Bunker said:

Greens seemed to be generally much slower back then. Longer putts were more difficult to judge the speed. Arnold Palmer's stroke had some anchoring similarities back then too. His elbows were glued to his sides and he used a lot of wrist to hit the ball. Anchoring too? Is the simple technique of holding your arms to your body considered "anchoring the club"? Seems to be a hard one to define, since the wrists can move independently to the arms. 

Elbows locked against the body is not 'anchoring', no rule breach. See  https://www.usga.org/content/dam/usga/pdf/2019/rules/2019_Anchoring_FINAL.pdf

[Archie Bunker]

14 hours ago, fredf said:

Elbows locked against the body is not 'anchoring', no rule breach. See  https://www.usga.org/content/dam/usga/pdf/2019/rules/2019_Anchoring_FINAL.pdf

Looks like Arnie would be ok today but Billy might be in violation. Casper admitted in interviews that he would lock his left forearm against his thigh and stroke the ball with his wrists only. Palmer accomplished pretty much the same thing by anchoring his elbows and putting almost entirely with his wrists. You don't see anyone putting like this on tour these days, but it is interesting to try this for yourself on the practice green. Either way locks in some stability to your putting stroke.

[iacas]

21 minutes ago, Archie Bunker said:

Either way locks in some stability to your putting stroke.

I disagree that flipping your wrists is what I’d call “stability.”

[Archie Bunker]

4 hours ago, iacas said:

I disagree that flipping your wrists is what I’d call “stability.”

If your arms don't move, it's one less part to worry about. Everybody has their own putting style. Worked pretty well for Casper and Palmer. Palmer even putted knock-kneed to eliminate body movement and make himself more stable. 

 

 

 

 

 

[iacas]

1 minute ago, Archie Bunker said:

If your arms don't move, it's one less part to worry about.

No.

[fredf]

9 hours ago, Archie Bunker said:

Looks like Arnie would be ok today but Billy might be in violation. Casper admitted in interviews that he would lock his left forearm against his thigh and stroke the ball with his wrists only. Palmer accomplished pretty much the same thing by anchoring his elbows and putting almost entirely with his wrists. You don't see anyone putting like this on tour these days, but it is interesting to try this for yourself on the practice green. Either way locks in some stability to your putting stroke.

Again, please check the link I provided earlier. Having the forearm against a thigh is not anchoring unless the player has created an anchor point. Casper did not appear to create any anchor point.

[Archie Bunker]

33 minutes ago, fredf said:

Again, please check the link I provided earlier. Having the forearm against a thigh is not anchoring unless the player has created an anchor point. Casper did not appear to create any anchor point.

Yes, thank you - I did read it. Hard to imagine how Casper could stand very close, freeze his forearm right up to his wristbone against his thigh, could not be considered anchoring. Looking at the link and reading the copy, I could see how it could read either way.

 

[iacas]

42 minutes ago, fredf said:

Again, please check the link I provided earlier. Having the forearm against a thigh is not anchoring unless the player has created an anchor point. Casper did not appear to create any anchor point.

Yes he did.

It’s no different than holding your forearm against your chest.

[fredf]

6 hours ago, iacas said:

Yes he did.

It’s no different than holding your forearm against your chest.

Clearly, there is scope for opinions to differ. The stuff I've seen of him with a longer putt, there was no anchor, it was  a wristy stab (virtually no follow through) using a conventional reverse overlap putting grip (I've never seen anyone anchor putting with such a grip) where his sole objective was to keep the face going back square. This from Golf Digest published when RBs were first considering an anchoring ban:

He never anchored the putter to his thigh during his career and his entire putting theory involved keeping the putter face square and if he had anchored his putter to his thigh, it would have been impossible to keep the putter face square.

 

[Archie Bunker]

Actually, both Casper and Palmer stood so very close to the ball, they could barely move anything but their wrists. Try it yourself. So maybe they weren't intentionally anchoring, but forced to do so via their close proximity to the ball. Their forearms were glued to their bodies.

[billchao]

13 hours ago, Archie Bunker said:

Actually, both Casper and Palmer stood so very close to the ball, they could barely move anything but their wrists. Try it yourself. So maybe they weren't intentionally anchoring, but forced to do so via their close proximity to the ball. Their forearms were glued to their bodies.

That’s just how the putting stroke was back then. They used a wristy stroke, so having the arms tight against their thighs or their elbows against their torsos reduced moving parts.

[Rulesman]

3 hours ago, billchao said:

That’s just how the putting stroke was back then. They used a wristy stroke, so having the arms tight against their thighs or their elbows against their torsos reduced moving parts.

Has anyone got any photos or videos of them putting?

[iacas]

5 hours ago, Rulesman said:

Has anyone got any photos or videos of them putting?