Anchored Putters Rules Change (Effective January 1, 2016)

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Spyder

http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/usga-announces-final-approval-ban-anchored-putting-2016

I roll my eyes with a snort of derision ...

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

I roll my eyes with a snort of derision ...

lol I'm just going to have a beer and wait for it .... the S-Storm that is...

[inthehole]

good.     Can't wait to see Adam Scott with a short putter... like I've always said, we all should be required to use the SAME tool for the job.

[Mr. Desmond]

I do not buy the argument that the long putter saved backs. An upright posture and a 35-37 inch putter works well. Ray Floyd, I believe, uses a 36 inch putter (or did). I use a 35 inch putter and an upright posture - and am middle-aged. No back issues with the putter.

Sergio putts well with a saw grip. Some pros use a grip that limits the right hand tendency to take over. One can help with nerves by turning the belly button instead of using the arms. One can "Kuchar" it against the forearm. One can beat nerves with traditional methods.

[RonTheSavage]

This should be fun today. And yeah I dont buy the bad back thing either.

[Goldigger]

20 Years ago this same organization looked at the long putter issue and came to the conclusion that it was not a issue, now 20 years later they say it is cheating or whatever. Shame on you guys just because you have a few different board members that have swayed your original feelings 20 years ago. The PGA should have a showdown and stand by their decision to not recognize the new rule. You talking about interesting. Give the R&A; and USGA the @#$%sandwich. Golf is loosing millions of players a year because of difficulty, they should be making the game easier !!!

[jlh1508]

Originally Posted by inthehole

good.     Can't wait to see Adam Scott with a short putter... like I've always said, we all should be required to use the SAME tool for the job.

So on a par 3 we all have to hit the same club? We are all playing the same ball? Using the same brand, length, shaft of clubs?

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by Goldigger

20 Years ago this same organization looked at the long putter issue and came to the conclusion that it was not a issue, now 20 years later they say it is cheating or whatever. Shame on you guys just because you have a few different board members that have swayed your original feelings 20 years ago. The PGA should have a showdown and stand by their decision to not recognize the new rule. You talking about interesting. Give the R&A; and USGA the @#$%sandwich. Golf is loosing millions of players a year because of difficulty, they should be making the game easier !!!

I'm not sure about that last part...

Should they move the 3-point line up further for NBA players since they're used to shooting closer up in Middle and Highschool? Should we make a pool table's pockets softer and wider because you can't cut a ball? Should we standardize bumpers in bowling for professionals who can't maintain a 220+ average?

I have talked to many people who gave up the sport of Golf and I can tell you that the difficulty of the game has never once been brought up as a primary factor, or even a factor at all. The two most dominant response from a golfer who quit this sport, when asked 'Why?', from my own personal experience , has been related to either life alterting events which resulted in not having any time to dedicate towards the sport, or financial reasoning.

I am definitely not a traditionalist, but I am fine with this ban because I think the putter is ridiculous - as is the stroke and technique involved. In my opinion, saucer chipping should also be legalized if the belly putter can stick around. Why not make the game easier for everyone, right?

[luu5]

Originally Posted by Goldigger

Golf is loosing millions of players a year because of difficulty, they should be making the game easier !!!

You mean that these millions quit every year because golf is too difficult? Or they have not yet started but will not because of the difficult? And how exactly would anchoring had helped them?

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by jlh1508

So on a par 3 we all have to hit the same club? We are all playing the same ball? Using the same brand, length, shaft of clubs?

Originally Posted by inthehole

good.     Can't wait to see Adam Scott with a short putter... like I've always said, we all should be required to use the SAME tool for the job.

Well, as we know by this morning's announcement, this is not an equipment rule ... it is an anti-anchoring rule. Golfers can still use a long or belly putter. They cannot anchor.

I saw an interview in which Adam Scott claimed he would still use the broomstick but not anchor it. He might change his mind over the next 2.5 years...

[Grinder88]

Golf will be fine.  Players will adjust...Manufacturers will redesign...and the young and old pros will figure it out.  It will be interesting to watch Keegan, Webb, Langer, Clark, Pettersson and the like to see if they consider legal action...

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by Mr. Desmond

Well, as we know by this morning's announcement, this is not an equipment rule ... it is an anti-anchoring rule. Golfers can still use a long or belly putter. They cannot anchor.

I saw an interview in which Adam Scott claimed he would still use the broomstick but not anchor it. He might change his mind over the next 2.5 years...

That would be entertaining to watch. I'm not even sure how you would get a good alignment, posture, or technique with that putter without anchoring it.

This would be like watching someone try to cut wood with a circular saw, without the electricity......

[Spyder]

Thank you, whoever moved this to the appropriate thread! I did a search, but must have had a typo as I did not see any pre-existing "Officially Banned" updates/threads.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Goldigger

20 Years ago this same organization looked at the long putter issue and came to the conclusion that it was not a issue, now 20 years later they say it is cheating or whatever. Shame on you guys just because you have a few different board members that have swayed your original feelings 20 years ago. The PGA should have a showdown and stand by their decision to not recognize the new rule. You talking about interesting. Give the R&A; and USGA the @#$%sandwich. Golf is loosing millions of players a year because of difficulty, they should be making the game easier !!!

Horsefeathers!  You are playing Chicken Little - "The sky is falling!  The sky is falling !"  This will have no more effect on the game than the groove change had - that is none at all.  The anchored stroke will fade away like the morning mist and a bright sunny day will follow.

[Mr. Desmond]

Can we include a poll asking if the PGA Tour will cave, considering only about 12% of Tour Players use anchoring?

Do they really want to fight over that percentage?

What about the legacy of Tour players who would use a long putter while the remainder of the world declares it as illegal? Not good.

[ScouseJohnny]

Originally Posted by Goldigger

Golf is loosing [sic] millions of players a year because of difficulty, they should be making the game easier !!!

By that rationale, then, the R&A; and USGA should just legalize those balls that take no side spin and reportedly don't slice or hook.

I don't believe the difficulty of the game is a reason for the mass abandonment, if your assertion that "millions of players a year" are quitting golf is, indeed, true. The game has always been difficult and always will be, irrespective of the technologies marketed by club manufacturers. Amateur golfers sliced the ball off the tee with persimmon in the 1960s, and they slice the ball off the tee with titanium today. They missed putts with Bullesye putters, and they continue to miss putts with belly putters. Besides which, in my own experience, I hardly ever see a weekend golfer using a belly putter or one of those broom-handle jobs. The pro shop at my local course has one PING belly putter forlornly sitting in the putter rack, where it has sat for the whole season thus far, while many standard putters have been sold and replaced.

I wholly agree with Tiger's considered observation that, "It should be mandatory to have to swing all 14 clubs." Such is the nature of golf. Why should one club be any different?

The only part of the rule change I disagree with is the generous transition period. 1st January 2014 would have a better idea, and would have prevented the likely and unedifying spectacle of several Majors being won with putting strokes that are soon to be illegal.

[Mr. Desmond]

If anything, golf is losing players due to time, not due to a ban on anchoring.

More pitch and putts, par 3, and 9 hole courses is possibly what is needed.

[JohnLund]

POOP! I love my broomhandle. Never mind I will find a way.