THE MOST TALKED ABOUT PUTTING STROKE IN GOLF

Adam Scott’s decision to return to an unanchored long putter has reignited a fiery debate. We look at how his stroke has changed, whether it’s working and if you should try it.

It’s hard to argue against the theory that Adam Scott’s 2013 Masters victory wielding an anchored long putter played a significant role in the R&A and USGA’s decision to ban anchored strokes.

The image of Scott, often held up as one of golf’s poster boys due to his enviable golf swing, draped over what was always considered an ‘old man’s’ club clearly didn’t sit right with the game’s governing bodies. Nor did his steady putting performance, that while not nearly as good as his early days on Tour with a short putter, was good enough to take him to the top spot of the world rankings.

Once the poorly worded and slightly reactive rule was written, and a date set for it to come into eect, Scott set about finding a new putting method, admitting a frustrating close to 2015 with the long putter made it an easy choice to return to the short stick.

With mixed results, the search continued into 2018, as the Queenslander changed grips, putters and seemingly everything in between to find some consistency, rather than occasional streaky performances.

Now, having admitted at the 2017 Australian PGA , where he temporarily reinserted an unanchored long putter, to being influenced by the controversial success of Bernhard Langer and Scott McCarron on the Champions Tour, Scott has once again put the broomstick in play. This time he has given more thought to the setup of the club itself and the best way to perform a legal unanchored stroke.

And so far the decision has been a good one, helping the former World No.1 continue his major championship start streak and find some consistency on the greens. But not without some unwanted comments from the peanut gallery of course.