Anchored Putters Rules Change (Effective January 1, 2016)

[phan52]

Originally Posted by JerseyThursday

If banned, are they going to reimburse me the $230 I spent 4 months ago on the Nike Method belly putter?

I don't think it is going to change for amateurs. I think this is only at the pro level, and not until 2016 at that.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by mvmac

Seems like Kuchar would still be ok to use the style he uses.  Almost belly length but puts the grip against his left forearm.

Yeah, and I can foresee him getting a lot of inquiries for tips from all of the current belly putter users who might soon be considered "non-conformers," since his method is less of a drastic change than going all the way back to a standard putter.  If they are already of the mindset that anchoring works better for them, then I'm guessing that a slightly different form of anchoring would appeal to them more than the old "yippy" way that didn't work for them.

On the other hand, I wonder if there are some younger players out there using belly putters who have never really given a short putter a chance (Keegan Bradley?) who might find out that they actually putt BETTER with the short putter?

[cipher]

Originally Posted by mvmac

Seems like Kuchar would still be ok to use the style he uses.  Almost belly length but puts the grip against his left forearm.

I bet a lot of these guys will go to this style who are using the belly putters.  I guess the question may be are they going to look at banning anchoring, or will they also look at something like Tiger wants?  "PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Tiger Woods has a solution to long putters - make them no longer than the shortest club in the bag."

[goob3r]

Originally Posted by cipher

I bet a lot of these guys will go to this style who are using the belly putters.  I guess the question may be are they going to look at banning anchoring, or will they also look at something like Tiger wants?  "PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Tiger Woods has a solution to long putters - make them no longer than the shortest club in the bag."

My main issue is with anchoring, but I think the shortest club rule would be a great way to do it.

[Sticky]

Originally Posted by phan52

I don't think it is going to change for amateurs. I think this is only at the pro level, and not until 2016 at that.

I don't think there should be rules that are different for pros versus ams.  The rules of golf are the rules of golf, you're either playing the rules or not.

[goob3r]

Originally Posted by Sticky

I don't think there should be rules that are different for pros versus ams.  The rules of golf are the rules of golf, you're either playing the rules or not.

.I agree 100%.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by goob3r

I think the shortest club rule would be a great way to do it.

Ray Floyd disagrees. He stood very upright, held the putter only in his hands, and his putter was pretty long.

And El Pato Angel Cabrera won the Masters with a long-ish putter that he gripped only in his hands, too.

[hanalei]

+1 to shortest club rule. I'm sure there will always be a disgruntled exception but there needs to be rules... There are rules on grips, wedge grooves, and pants, its time to reign in those taking advantage of putters.

[Fourputt]

I disagree with changing the putter length.  I think that the rule should address how it is swung.  As long as using any club with a pivot or anchor point other than the hands or forearms is disallowed, then the length is irrelevant.

[airguard]

Will this only be for putters? Suppose your under a tree and you can not stand upright and you need to jam your club into your belly to just get it back into play?

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by airguard

Will this only be for putters? Suppose your under a tree and you can not stand upright and you need to jam your club into your belly to just get it back into play?

If such a rule is instituted, then It would be no different than kneeling on a towel to protect ones pants when unable to stand up to make such a shot.  An illegal swing would be illegal regardless of the circumstances.  The rules don't allow a breach just because you've hit a bad shot.

By the way, I've hit from under uncountable numbers of trees in the last 40 years and I've never had jam the grip into my stomach to make a swing.  Had I been in such a poor lie I'd have taken the unplayable option first.

[Burner Turner]

ok so I have been fooling around with an old putter and a belly putter with the iPing app, I found that using the belly putter as a "training aid" (taking 10-15 strokes with the belly and then the 5 with the standard putter) increases consistency and helps with keeping the butt end of the standard putter pointed at the belly.  Some of you may be like "Well Daa!", but i think that even if the PGA decides to ban the anchored putters, they can still be used to improve the stroke with a standard putter, being used as a training aid.

I am unable to find the article now, but on @GolfTips.com, there was an article about how keeping the butt end of your standard putter and using the same muscles to make the stroke as you would with a belly putter, result in much better consistency and performance.

[JohnLund]

I took up the broomstick two years ago to take nervous old hands out of play. It works great, especially for short putts and out to 10 feet. If they make me go back to a short putter, so be it. I will make it work. Shame though...I was getting comfortable with the thing but then if they don't ban them until 2020 or so, they will have to come and get it. They have golf courses in heaven...right!?

[JerryTimes]

I hope they ban it for professional golf.  I don't mind if ameteurs use it, but I feel a pro should putt the way putting was meant to be.

[bplewis24]

Hurry up and do it already!

[iacas]

2016.

And it's not an equipment rule, it's a "stroke" rule.

[mvmac]

Steve Eubanks talks about how sensitive the timing is with this potential ban on anchoring.  Taking away the average golfer's right to anchor a putter against the torso body might not be the thing for the game.  Tim Clark, understandibly because of his condition where he can’t rotate his arms outward, is getting ready to file a lawsuit and has some strong opinions.

Quote:

Why is banning the long putter (or “anchoring,” as the ruling is most likely to be worded) a good thing? Or more aptly, why is keeping things as they have been since 1936, when Paul Runyan put a belly putter in play at the Belmont Open, a threat to the game?

If anyone can answer that question, they haven’t stepped forward.

“I don't know nearly enough to make any assumptions,” Finchem said. “I mean, we just have to take a process and follow it through. That includes educating if this moves forward, educating our players as to what it is, specifically, and how it's going to be implemented. We have an equipment committee. We have a group of people that work with them on the rules and evaluate what it means to us as a professional sport.

“But also, one of the three parts of our mission is to assist in the growth and protection of the game. So what our position would be, if any, as it relates to the game as a whole, and how that would flow into it is impossible to project at this point.”

Players are less obtuse in their opinions.

Tim Clark, who has been playing with the long putter since he was 16 years old, has hinted at litigation, saying of the proposed ban, “Essentially, they’re probably taking our livelihoods away.”

And this week at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson told the Associated Press, “If the USGA bans (long putters), I think it’s going to be a whole other ballgame (than) if the PGA Tour bans it…If you look at the facts, last year there was no one in the top 20 of the ‘strokes gained’ category that anchored a putter. So the argument of, ‘it’s an advantage,’ you have to throw that out there. There are a bunch of arguments going around, but I haven’t heard a good one yet.”

The public no longer trusts its once-trusted institutions. This goes beyond the normal smarm of a political season -- although this year’s campaign ad wars have been particularly deceitful. It hits at the heart of what have always been considered givens.

Does anyone now doubt that Secret Service agents will party like frat boys on spring break while on duty? Does anyone believe the Bureau of Labor Statistics isn’t above fudging the numbers? Does anyone think the General Accounting Office is the best agency to control waste, fraud and abuse in government spending? And is there anyone left who believes the CIA won't time their assessments for political gain?

It wasn’t long ago that these institutions were above reproach, and questioning them was as absurd as claiming the world was flat. But no more. Their words and deeds are now discounted, perceived as another off-key note in a cacophony of background noise.

Golf’s ruling bodies are one arbitrary and capricious ruling away from the same fate. Whether the long-putter ban will be that final straw remains to be seen, but those in charge should be very careful, not just in their reasoning, but in their timing.

Because once you lose your moral authority, your ability to govern -- whether it is a nation or a sport -- vanishes in an instant.

And that is something our game cannot afford.

[bplewis24]

Let him sue.