Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson and Ernie Els. Not only are these three golfers winners of three out of the last four majors, they also use "long" putters and did so when capturing their respective majors: Bradley at the 2011 USPGA, Simpson at the 2012 US Open, and Els at the 2012 Open Championship which concluded this week.
However at the Open Championship, most of the talk surrounded Australian Adam Scott and his putter, due to the fact he led the tournament by four shots entering the final round. People on the Golf Wrx Forums were labelling him a "janitor", the guy who uses the "broomstick," and hoped that the "golfing gods" would take care of him on the last day. They did, but they still allowed another long putter user, Els, win their most prestigious tournament. How dare the gods do something like that. Shouldn't they crown a traditional putter, like Graeme McDowell or Tiger Woods, both near the top of the leaderboard as round four commenced, their "Champion golfer for 2012?"
The long putters fall into two main categories: bellys and broomsticks. Belly because the player anchors his putter to his belly button or surrounding area, and broomstick because they are ridiculously long. Adam likes to connect the tip of his putter to his chest while other simply hold it out in-front of them. It would be a fair contest height-wise if I stood beside this putter.
Long putters are not a new phenomenon. Johnny Miller is regarded as the first pro to use a long putter in a PGA Tour event, back in 1980. So is the reason they are causing such a big stir because players are using them to win at the pinnacle of golf?
Ernie made the switch to the belly putter earlier this year after some average form, especially with the putter, saw him miss the Masters for the first time since 1993 and his first major of any kind since 2005. It has worked wonders to his game and brought him back in side the world's top 50.
A lot of golf fans, most of them purists and traditionalists, want these long putters to be banned for good. This is not how golf was meant to be played, they say, with players anchoring their putters to their body giving them unfair advantages in terms of controlling the path of their stroke. Essentially, a passive-aggressive way of calling them cheats. Technically though, what the likes of Adam Scott and Ernie Els are using, and doing, is not cheating. The R&A's rules of golf state that putters must not exceed 48 inches (1.219 metres) in length.
But many are calling for a rule change, most notably Tom Watson and Greg Norman. Watson argues that a swing with a long putter is not a "stroke of golf." Norman speaks along the same lines, "When you
have something hinged to an
anchor, it’s not a true swing."
Where do I fit into the picture? Would it be too extreme of me to say I want them gone completely? I agreed with the groove rule change 3 years ago, which was intended to place more importance on hitting the fairway while giving golfers less chance of generating spin from the rough. But the pros are that good that I'm sure they haven't noticed a huge difference. Bubba Watson still kills the ball off the tee and can hook a wedge 30 yards, as witnessed during the Masters playoff this year.
If they are going to ban long putters completely, then why not do something about the drivers. Most golf courses - especially those on small land areas that are unable to keep lengthening the holes to compensate for golfers making a mockery of their short distances - cannot keep up with the driver technology. Manufactures are continuously finding a way to increase the MOI (moment of inertia), which reduces twisting at impact. I argue that long putters give just as much advantage as movable weight technology in driver heads. Surely the golfing gods hate the fact that we can just insert a screw, change the loft, and manipulate the lie angle. Whatever happened to just hitting a driver with head, shaft and grip? Why can we use drivers that are square? Although these have not lived up to the hype which surrounded them in their infancy. Should we get as picky as banning the white coloured heads, which some manufacturers believe provide greater contrast with the green grass for our eyes? No let's not go that far.
What I'm trying to say here is that distance is ruining golf. Pros should not be allowed to reach a 600 yard hole in 2 shots in neutral wind conditions. Gone are the days where 470 yard par 5's were challenging. Tiger even tees off with his 2 iron on holes this long, and not on par 5's, but on par 4's.
Back to the main discussion on putters, if their length and capability to anchor with the body is supposedly unfair, and if they help some golfers to overcome the "yips," then why are golfers allowed to install those chunky grips on their putters to quiet down their wrist movement?
A complete ban on long putters, I'm not talking about the anchoring component but the actual length, would mean the end of golf for seniors. People still like to see the old greats like 1985 and 1993 Masters winner Bernhard Langer and Australian Peter Senior, who at 50 years of age won the 2010 Australian PGA.
People have various physical hindrances that halt their ability in various ways. Some people just have problems with their wrists, like some people might have a problem with their foot. However when does a physical hindrance become a disability, and where do you draw the line for golfers to accept that they just cannot play golf anymore the way it was meant to be played? It is a complicated issue, but after coming across Greg Norman's assertion, I think I have finally made up my mind: "When you
have something hinged to an
anchor, it’s not a true swing" There it is, keep the long putters but throw out the anchoring-to-the-body component. It is almost impossible for golfers to not anchor the putter to their arms or wrists when putting and this is how it has always been, but no more anchoring to the body, chest, stomach, whatever. Hypocritically, if my man Sergio had of made his 8 foot putt to win the 2007 Open Championship, with his putter touching his belly, I probably would love them nowadays!
Anyway, I think it is ridiculous that even if a change is made by the R&A, it will not be implemented until 2016. Yes, that's right, in four years time! So the purists will have to put up with the cheats for just a wee bit longer. The R&A seem to take their time when it comes to rules. Unless I miraculously become a nationally recognized amateur on international pro, I can keep my deep-grooved irons until 2024. The pros still get more backspin with their legal, more shallow-grooved irons than me. On the flip-side, I still have another 12 years to figure how to do it with mine.
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