Keegan Bradley: say hello to his longer-than-standard friend. *ahem*
Golfweek’s Alex Miceli, currently in China for the WGC-HSBC Champions, has filed an interesting report on the growing resistance among exponents of anchored putting techniques to the idea of an equipment ban.
Some tour players, sensing their livelihoods at risk, are apparently willing to consider legal action in the event of a rules change.
Foremost among the would-be challengers is 2011 USPGA champion Keegan Bradley, the first player to win a major championship employing a longer-than-standard putter.
“I’m going to do whatever I have to do to protect myself and the other players on Tour [italics mine]… I look at it as a whole, as us all together. I don’t look at it as much about myself. I think that for them to ban this after we’ve done what we’ve done is unbelievable.”
A similar sentiment was expressed by Ernie Els, once a vocal critic of anchoring, who turned to the belly putter in recent seasons as a means of mitigating long-term putting problems.
The change worked out, of course, helping the South African to a fourth major championship, at Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s earlier this summer.
“They’re going to have a couple of legal matters coming their way… It’s going to be a bit of an issue now. I’ve been against it, but since I’ve been using it, it still takes a lot of practice, and you have to perfect your own way of putting with this belly.”
Whether or not belly putters take getting used to seems immaterial; the question, surely, is whether or not using one elimates points of difficulty central to the performance of a traditional stroke?
On this subject, Tom Watson had something to say during a conference call with organisers of the Australian Open.
“I think what they’re going to do, and it is kind of common knowledge, is that the USGA and R & A are going to ban the anchoring of the putter on any part of the body…
“To me I have never felt the broomstick putter was a stroke of golf. I may be in the minority but one of the things you see in teaching golf here in America, is a lot of kids are being taught to use the long putter.” [The Australian]
Players at the WGC-HSBC Champions and next week’s Singapore Open will be encouraged to attend a seminar on the subject with a representative of golf’s governing bodies.
Mike Davis of the USGA has already conducted a similar meeting with the PGA Tour Policy Board, following which Davis Love III anticipated a defensive response from a number of his colleagues.
“I would be concerned, if I was them, because you’ve got a bunch of guys that are going to want to fight it. Not the Tour but the players individually. A bunch of players that aren’t going to like it.” [Golfweek]
“If they said today: ‘We met with the Tour [and] we’re going to change putters’, Keegan Bradley is going to get himself a 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.” [Telegraph]
According to the Telegraph’s James Corrigan, the current consensus favours a ban, possibly following its ratification by vote in March of next year.
[For what it's worth: my objections to the belly putter, together with an outline of the issue, can be found here.]
Conor Nagle
I don’t understand the whining. It’s not like only certain players are allowed to use the long putter. Anything that is available to all participants is not an advantage.
If the USGA is intent on driving people out of the game, they are ensuring their own irrelevance.
It’s a pity that the R&A and the USGA didn’t get on this case twenty years earlier.
Anchoring a putter is clearly outside the spirit of the rules.
I don’t blame the pros, it’s a lucrative business but the authorities have kicked their heels too long and it may now be too late to fix the problem.
What next? A set of rails that attaches to the clubhead to ensure that the putter head doesn’t go offline? After all, we don’t want those who can’t putt great to get fed up with the game, do we?
Clearly outside the spirit of the rules? Show me where that is made clear in the rules?
Ugh, this is incredibly stupid. Everyone talks about how the anchoring should be illegal blah blah blah, but I haven’t heard anyone against have an original thought about it in a very long time. If it were so awesome, i) more pros would be doing it, and ii) more players who are statistically the best putters would be doing it. Neither it the case.
This should be left alone. Changing it now is incredibly stupid and should be a nonissue. Besides, what if eliminating it puts an end to some young players like Webb Simpson who’ve used on it for so long? Is that helping the the Tour? By quelling the star power of some of the best American players?
It’s wayyyyy to late to change this now. Let it be, governing bodies.
Absolutely should be banned. You cannot sue a sport over it’s rules. Can you sue the NBA because you want to double- dribble? It is absurd.
Danny is right, he can sue if he wants, but he will lose. As far as whether or not it should be banned, I say yes. Just because there was inaction when the thing was first used, does that mean that they are obligated forever to retain it ? The consensus is that anchoring a club to a part of the body is not consistent with the spirit of the rules. @Kevin, you say that if it was so great, why don’t more people use it ? The reason is that it provides benefits to only a small subset of players – those that can’t keep their stroke still for a short to medium putt. Most players report that there is a lack of “feel” associated with the long putters, but for those that need it, they feel it is a good trade off. Just because users of the anchored stroke are not the best putters is irrelevant. They are better than they would have been without it, so that in itself is justification.
I suppose you’re going to see a lot more claw-style grips on tour once the ban takes effect.
There is precedent for the change. Sam Snead started putting croquet style in his later years and it was banned. I’m quite sure that he also spent a lot of time working on that motion.
As a recreational golfer I miss w/ a standard putter just as much as w/ a belly putter. I would imagine it’s the samr for a professional. It’s a matter of choice that being said pro athletes in every sport must use the approved equipment as presented by the NFL,MLB,NBA or whatever. Dad said life ain’t always fair.
Actually if Bradley and the other anchored putter users sue they will win. In court you need actually evidence and not vague references like the USGA is using. There is, in fact, evidence to the contrary via PGA Tour stats- no one in the top 20 in strokes gained in putting uses an achored putter. The USGA cannot allow this for many years and then all of a sudden when someone like Keegan Bradley wins the PGA, decide to ban it. This is a very stupid fight for the USGA. It will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and in the end they will lose.