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Finchem says USGA stance on long putters a mistake

Tin Cup said:
Bad ruling. Bet we see a lot of local rules allowing them. Fix the golf ball, thats a much bigger issue.
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Exactly. Today's golf ball is what has necessitated 7600 yard courses. Without looking it up, I'd bet that putting efficiency hasn't changed that much over the last twenty or thirty years, with or without anchoring.
 
Shorty said:
Exactly. Today's golf ball is what has necessitated 7600 yard courses. Without looking it up, I'd bet that putting efficiency hasn't changed that much over the last twenty or thirty years, with or without anchoring.
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I wonder if there has been any studies using today's drivers with the old balata golf balls? I just wonder how much would be due to the driver and how much due to the golf ball.
 
I tried a playing partner's brand new Taylor made R-1 driver this past sunday. I own one of the old top of the line Titleist's from like 10 years ago. Was amazed that I was consistently hitting it 60 yards farther, right from the first time I hit it, played with it the rest of the round and shot 20 strokes better than the last time I played 2 weeks ago.
 
palmab03 said:
I tried a playing partner's brand new Taylor made R-1 driver this past sunday. I own one of the old top of the line Titleist's from like 10 years ago. Was amazed that I was consistently hitting it 60 yards farther, right from the first time I hit it, played with it the rest of the round and shot 20 strokes better than the last time I played 2 weeks ago.
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975D? 983K?
 
Let's return to persimmon head woods and wooden shafts, along with balata golf balls.
 
Unlike palma, I haven't found that with the newer drivers. I do find them a little longer, but for the most part the biggest advantage has been a tighter dispersion pattern.
 
The PGA Tour response was worded very interestingly:

STATEMENT OF PGA TOUR ON ADOPTION OF RULE 14-1B

PGA TOUR acknowledges that the USGA has adopted Rule 14-1b which prohibits anchored putting as of January 1, 2016.

We would like to thank the USGA for providing the opportunity for input and suggestions relative to Rule 14-1b over the last several months. During that time, various questions were raised and issues discussed.

We will now begin our process to ascertain whether the various provisions of Rule 14-1b will be implemented in our competitions and, if so, examine the process for implementation.

In this regard, over the next month we will engage in discussions with our Player Advisory Council and Policy Board members.

We will announce our position regarding the application of Rule 14-1b to our competitions upon conclusion of our process and we will have no further comment on the matter until that time.
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norm said:
Unlike palma, I haven't found that with the newer drivers. I do find them a little longer, but for the most part the biggest advantage has been a tighter dispersion pattern.
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I also bought a sleeve of NXT tours instead of the cheap-o brand I had been playing with too, not sure how much of a difference that makes.
 
I bought a Rockballz driver on sale over the winter. I'm getting about 10-20 yards more out of that than my Cleveland model of around 2005 and hitting it straighter.
 
I agree there are other issues they should be dealing with - rather than the anchoring issue. That being said, there is a lot of wrong on this thread.

Anchoring is an advantage to some people - not everyone. Some people are great putters the old fashioned way. For others, they have developed the yips or other issues which has forced them to search far and wide for a solution to their putting woes - for some of them, anchoring is that solution. I would expect that A. Scott will not experience the same help from the long putter if he can no longer anchor it against his body.

Whether you agree with this ruling or not, there is nothing about it that makes golf more "lame". They are trying to deal with changes to the game with rule changes to maintain the integrity, decorum and tradition of the game. I am not sure I agree with the change, but I understand where they are coming from.

Should we let people lay down and putt like they are shooting pool? Should we let them straddle the line and putt like they are playing croquet (Snead tried that for a while and they outlawed it)? You have to draw the lines somewhere.
 
scooter84 said:
I agree there are other issues they should be dealing with - rather than the anchoring issue. That being said, there is a lot of wrong on this thread.

Anchoring is an advantage to some people - not everyone. Some people are great putters the old fashioned way. For others, they have developed the yips or other issues which has forced them to search far and wide for a solution to their putting woes - for some of them, anchoring is that solution. I would expect that A. Scott will not experience the same help from the long putter if he can no longer anchor it against his body.

Whether you agree with this ruling or not, there is nothing about it that makes golf more "lame". They are trying to deal with changes to the game with rule changes to maintain the integrity, decorum and tradition of the game. I am not sure I agree with the change, but I understand where they are coming from.

Should we let people lay down and putt like they are shooting pool? Should we let them straddle the line and putt like they are playing croquet (Snead tried that for a while and they outlawed it)? You have to draw the lines somewhere.
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My main problem is they've let this go on too long. Should have nipped it in the bud 10 years ago on the belly putter and many more years back on the long putter. I have a problem with the powers that be taking away certain clubs that have either a) prolonged careers or b) helped more people enjoy the game, 10+ years after they came into existence.

Its too late at this point to reverse course and they are going to ruin the game for some weekend golfers and ruin the careers of some professionals.
 
Tin Cup said:
My main problem is they've let this go on too long. Should have nipped it in the bud 10 years ago on the belly putter and many more years back on the long putter. I have a problem with the powers that be taking away certain clubs that have either a) prolonged careers or b) helped more people enjoy the game, 10+ years after they came into existence.

Its too late at this point to reverse course and they are going to ruin the game for some weekend golfers and ruin the careers of some professionals.
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The solution lies in that dirty word: bifurcation!
 
scooter84 said:
I agree there are other issues they should be dealing with - rather than the anchoring issue. That being said, there is a lot of wrong on this thread.

Anchoring is an advantage to some people - not everyone. Some people are great putters the old fashioned way. For others, they have developed the yips or other issues which has forced them to search far and wide for a solution to their putting woes - for some of them, anchoring is that solution. I would expect that A. Scott will not experience the same help from the long putter if he can no longer anchor it against his body.

Whether you agree with this ruling or not, there is nothing about it that makes golf more "lame". They are trying to deal with changes to the game with rule changes to maintain the integrity, decorum and tradition of the game. I am not sure I agree with the change, but I understand where they are coming from.

Should we let people lay down and putt like they are shooting pool? Should we let them straddle the line and putt like they are playing croquet (Snead tried that for a while and they outlawed it)? You have to draw the lines somewhere.
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There isn't any "wrong" on this thread, it's people's opinions. If anchoring were an absolute best way to putt, everybody would be doing it. I pointed out the long putter probably wouldn't be as useful if you can't anchor it. I'm not sure where I stand on this, in a way I agree that it has bee accepted too long for them to go back on it now. As long as a few were doing it and nobody was winning majors with it, it seems the R&A and USGA were okay with it, now that guys are winning majors with it they seem to have a problem.
 
liveanddiedeac said:
What will be interesting is how the players will try to get around the new rule. The guys that use the long putter like Adam Scott uses could seemingly get around this by instead of anchoring their top hand to their chest, holding the top hand out away from the chest so that the only parts of their body touching the putter would be their hands. It may be not be near as effective since the top hand wouldn't be as stable, but it wouldn't surprise me to see some of them try it in that fashion.
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nm
 
liveanddiedeac said:
There isn't any "wrong" on this thread, it's people's opinions. If anchoring were an absolute best way to putt, everybody would be doing it. I pointed out the long putter probably wouldn't be as useful if you can't anchor it. I'm not sure where I stand on this, in a way I agree that it has bee accepted too long for them to go back on it now. As long as a few were doing it and nobody was winning majors with it, it seems the R&A and USGA were okay with it, now that guys are winning majors with it they seem to have a problem.
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Actually, it is factually wrong to say things like "if anchoring was an advantage then everyone would be doing it" - at a very minimum that is the creation of a straw man. By taking this action, the USGA is not saying that it is an absolute advantage - they are saying that it may provide an advantage to some. Clearly the people doing it think it provides them an advantage.

And, this doesn't necessarily have any impact on the weekend golfer. Do weekend golfers worry about the one-ball rule? How many weekend golfers go back to the tee after losing a ball? I doubt too many weekend hackers are going to call a penalty on their playing partner for anchoring his putter...
 
scooter84 said:
Actually, it is factually wrong to say things like "if anchoring was an advantage then everyone would be doing it" - at a very minimum that is the creation of a straw man. By taking this action, the USGA is not saying that it is an absolute advantage - they are saying that it may provide an advantage to some. Clearly the people doing it think it provides them an advantage.
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All sorts of modern equipment may be an advantage to some and not others. Not sure that is where the USGA wants to draw the line. Younger pros winning majors and teaching professionals suggesting the technique to juniors pushed it to this point. When nobody was winning consistently with it, few people seemed to care.

This won't affect weekend golfers unless manufacturers stop making the equipment or their playing partners take their weekend games very seriously. It will affect club level competitions, I would guess.
 
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