About Time Too

Earlier this year it was announced live on TV by Jack, that the long putter is going to be banned. Well it looks like he was correct and if it comes in, it seems a few players are going to court:

http://www1.skysports.com/golf/news/12230/8217146/Keegan-Bradley-Ernie-Els-would-fight-a-rumoured-ban-on-long-putters

Its been done on here plenty of times, but I'm in favour of the ban

Ban anchoring, yes. Kuchar uses a long putter but because he effectively just straps it to his left forearm he's not anchoring in the same way chest or belly putters are.

Doc wrote:Earlier this year it was announced live on TV by Jack, that the long putter is going to be banned. Well it looks like he was correct and if it comes in, it seems a few players are going to court:

http://www1.skysports.com/golf/news/12230/8217146/Keegan-Bradley-Ernie-Els-would-fight-a-rumoured-ban-on-long-putters

Its been done on here plenty of times, but I'm in favour of the ban

Seconded.

I am struggling to see how Bradley et al can take the USGA and R&A to court over it, surely as custodians of the rules of the game they are free to change them as they feel fit. I take the point that they have been used for 20+ years but my understanding is that it isn't so much the broomhandles suspended under the chin as used by Sam Tarrance and others that is the problem but the belly putter where it is held against the body by two hands lower down the grip and achored there. This is a more recent development. It seems to me that it would be very easy to frame a rule that stipulates that the top-most point of contact with the club must be a hand.

On a related subject, I read recently that there was a suggestion from some of the top players back in the 1930's that a putt should only count as half a shot. The reasoning being that competitions were being won by the best putter, not necessarily the player with the best all-round game. I guess LW might agree but what do others think?

J

Too late to change it in my opinion.

If they had concerns they should have done something about it when they first arrived.

Whoa - my son has spent a few years developing his physique so that he has a nicely sized anchoring point for his belly putter!

You're not Shane Lowry's mum are you?

Quite agree LJ - they've been around for far too long now to be banned. Should have been banned when they first came out - must be getting on for at least 15 years ago now! I'm not saying I agree with them, just that it is too late to ban them. What next? Ban large-headed metal drivers?

The ban won't be on the putters but on the method of using them. There's precedent as well - I don't know how long the likes of Sam Snead putted sidesaddle for before that method was banned, but given the infrequency with which rules are changed it must have been a while.

I'm not so sure about that - just because the opportunity to ban it 10 years or more ago wasn't taken, doesn't mean the situation couldn't be rectified now. It does seem contrary to existing rules after all! Large headed drivers on the other hand don't really contravene any existing rules - and when the COR issue arose a few years ago, that was dealt with fairly quickly

Yes, Its the fact of "Anchoring" the putter that is being banned.

Not the putter itself.

Though how you can use it without "anchoring", I wouldn't care to guess.