Reactions vary to anchoring ban
Long putters are not being outlawed, golf’s rulesmakers argue. Nor is creative putting. Just drop the anchor.
Calling it a matter of defining a stroke rather than an equipment issue, the U.S. Golf Association and Royal & Ancient Golf Club unveiled their proposal as expected Wednesday to outlaw anchoring a club to a part of the body other than the hands or forearm.
“We believe a player should hold the club away from his body and swing it freely — whether it’s a putt, a chip, a pitch, a bunker shot, an iron shot, a recovery shot or a shot played from the teeing ground,” USGA executive director Mike Davis said.
The change wouldn’t go into effect until 2016, when golf’s rule book makes its next quadrennial revisions. Next up is a 90-day comment period — an interlude that includes a mandatory PGATour player meeting in January outside San Diego.
“If you want to have a lot of fun, I would try to sneak into that meeting,” Paul Goydos, a member of the tour’s policy board, told Golf Channel.
The proposal, which would go into the book as Rule 14-1b, contains just 20 words: “In making a stroke, the player must not anchor the club, either ‘directly’ or by use of an ‘anchor point.’ ”
That would eliminate current putting styles in which an extended shaft rests against a player’s stomach, or stabilizing an even longer putter against one’s chest. Though the method dates back nearly a century, it was considered a novelty until recent years when players began winning some of golf’s biggest trophies.
Starting with Keegan Bradley’s victory at the 2011 PGA Championship, three of the past five major winners have employed a belly putter. Webb Simpson followed at this year’s U.S. Open, and Hall of FamerErnie Els — a grudging convert — captured the British Open.
Adam Scott, ranked No.5 in the world and runner-up to Els at Royal Lytham, uses the longer “broomstick” putter. So does Carl Pettersson, a five-time PGA Tour winner, and Champions Tour favorites Bernhard Langer and Tom Kite.
“We are now seeing a growing advocacy of players who are using it,” Davis said. “Also, instructors are saying that this is a more efficient way to make a stroke. … It stabilizes the club and gives extra support and stability.”
Reaction, understandably, has beenwidely varied. Tiger Woods called the anchored stroke “something that’s not in the traditions of the game.”
“We swing all other 13 clubs,” golf’s top draw added. “I think the putter should be the same. It should be a swinging motion throughout the entire bag.”
Bradley has been perhaps the most outspoken opponent, saying l ast month he would “do whatever I have to do” to fight the ban — a quote many interpreted as contemplating legal action.
The Jupiter pro, though, eased off his stance in speaking with reporters at this week’s World Challenge in California.
Simpson, meantime, said he’s already started working with a standard putter at home and would put it in play when he felt comfortable with the stroke.