Should Anchored Putter Be Banned

2044 Words5 Pages

“When all else fails, the ways of old are always best” (Brainy Quotes). In the golf world today, there is a huge debate. To the outside, it may seem insignificant, but it could be the difference between making a million dollars or barely anything. Over the last four years, players have been adapting to a new club, the belly putter. Simply stated, the belly putter is a long putter where the player uses their body to anchor the club, effectively making a pendulum (USGA). Many players love this idea, many hate it. With this, naturally, there was a rules hearing. On January 1, 2016, the anchored putter ban changed golf completely. During the mid-to-late 1900’s, anchored putters began to make a scene in professional golf. The first time the belly …show more content…

According to the San Jose Mercury New, Hall of Fame golfer Gary Player agreed with the ban saying: "I spent hours and hours training my mind to have good nerves under pressure. The long putter takes away the nerves. It allows you to hide the nerves and nerves are an integral part of the game of golf," (Reuters). Player is saying that anchored putters take away a major part of the game, which is overcoming nerves, which he trained for during his career as a professional golfer. While the PGA Tour didn’t agree with the ban. The U.S. PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said: “Essentially, where the PGA Tour came down was that they did not think that banning anchoring was in the best interest of golf or the PGA Tour," (“PGA Tour Opposes Putter Ban”). Finchem said that the PGA Tour didn’t think the ban was a good idea for golf on the PGA Tour at the time. Even though anchored putters were being debated, they were still legal to …show more content…

Bradley, the first player to win a major while using an anchored putter, went from gaining .254 strokes, due to putting, to losing .631 strokes (from 2014 - 2016) (Dusek). Bradley failed to win a million dollars in prize money for the first time since 2011, he made $899,985 (Dusek), when he was making almost $4 million dollars in 2012 (“PGATOUR.com- Keegan Bradley Career”). One of the largest negative effect of the ban was by Carl Pettersson, who was thirty-first in strokes gained-putting in 2015, but he then dropped more than 100 places in the 2016 season (Wall). One of the players that kept playing at an elite level was Scott. Scott won the “Honda Classic” and “WGC-Cadillac Championship” in consecutive weeks in March during the 2016 season. According to FoxSports, Scott said “I think everyone is guilty at some point of being pretty reactive to whatever happens, and time does pass quickly [...]” (Randleman). Even though Scott was at first upset with the ban, he learned to accept the ban, and continue being one of the best golfers in the

More about Should Anchored Putter Be Banned

Open Document