Why Belly Putters Have Grown In Popularity

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"EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BELLY PUTTING"
We recently posted this at SeeMore Putters Blog. Below is a shorter version of why Belly Putters have grown in popularity. To see full version click here. After a number of belly fittings and talking with our SPi instructors. We have put together a belly package in one place for everyone to learn about the instruction, proper fitting and why so many golfers are having a SeeMore belly as one of their putters.


By John Higgins - SPi Certified Platinum Instructor
Every golfer strives for consistency. Putting is the area of the game where many golfers are the most inconsistent. With belly putters winning multiple PGA Tour events in 2011, more players at all levels are interested in anchoring their putters. The belly putter is now often believed to be the answer to putting woes because it eliminates factors by helping the golfer establish consistent:
  1. Posture
  2. Loft on the putter-face
  3. Release of the putter-head through impact
To see and learn more about the benefits of belly putter, watch this video below.



The belly putter may be right for you if your hands get extremely involved in your stroke or if you have a tendency to decelerate.

Considerations Before You Switch
Note that the players who are having success on the PGA Tour are able to practice with their new technique much more than the majority of avid golfers. Also, many successful belly putter users have committed to using it long-term. It’s not an instant “cure all” as it requires practice just like any other method in putting. Before switching to a belly putter, make sure to take your standard putter and implement a system for putting by practicing establishing consistent:
  1. Eye position
  2. Ball position
  3. Forearm position
  4. Grip
  5. Alignment
If you commit to a system for putting, practice it and you still aren’t putting well, a belly putter may be a welcomed change. Utilizing the patented RifleScope Technology RST, a SeeMore Putterprovides a system for feedback and will allow you to develop consistent setup and alignment in both a standard length and a belly putter. To witness the benefits, watch this video. RST Benefits in SeeMore’s Belly and Standard Length Putters








 
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I would like to see some numbers on how many have been used on tour each year over the last 10 years.Can anyone find out? I believe Belly putter have gotten so popular on tour due to drug testing.Beta Blockers were very common to be taken among the ranks.
 
I would like to see some numbers on how many have been used on tour each year over the last 10 years.Can anyone find out? I believe Belly putter have gotten so popular on tour due to drug testing.Beta Blockers were very common to be taken among the ranks.

huh???
 
I would like to see some numbers on how many have been used on tour each year over the last 10 years.Can anyone find out? I believe Belly putter have gotten so popular on tour due to drug testing.Beta Blockers were very common to be taken among the ranks.

There has been several articles in the past and present issues of the various golf magazines that I think quoted some tour numbers. I might have them book marked at home but not here at work.

Not sure what you mean with your comments about drug testing and beta blockers?
 
What is there not to understand?

could you expand on why you think drug testing has led to more belly putters? I guess I am failing to see a direct correlation between the two
 
could you expand on why you think drug testing has led to more belly putters? I guess I am failing to see a direct correlation between the two

Drug testing prevent players from taking beta blockers.Beta blockers were very popular among the players.I don't know how many took,but do know few who did take them.Claimed it helped their putting.

Since, they can't take beta blockers,Is this the reason belly putters have explode off the charts? I don't know,but I believe it is part of the reason.
 
could you expand on why you think drug testing has led to more belly putters? I guess I am failing to see a direct correlation between the two

I don't get that either. I think you are seeing them become more popular for amateur golfers simply because they are becoming more popular on tour. We may like to believe we are not influenced by what is being played on tour, but I think we are.
 
Speaking to people around the tour, I do not think there is any correlation. You could make the same argument that says hybrids took off when drug testing started and cavity backs took off when drug testing started. I see them as completely separate issues.
 
I don't know. I guess when I see a question as to why belly putters have gotten so popular and then this is the answer
I believe Belly putter have gotten so popular on tour due to drug testing.
I just don't buy it. Call me naive if you want. I know Craig Perry in 2000 mentioned some players were taking Beta Blockers, but I don't tend to believe that is why Belly putters have gotten so popular on tour or in an amateurs bag.

I'm guessing they are getting popular because some find it easier to make a more repeatable stroke. With putting being such a premium on tour, holing an extra putt or 2 could be the difference between getting a pay check and not. Let alone winning and coming in 3rd. Tour players are using them now and seem to have been having some success with them, so of course that will trickle down to amateurs.
 
I think what the BigLefty is trying to say is that beta blockers were used to keep the nerves down which helped with putting, now that there is drug testing in place they can't use the beta blockers...so putting got worse...therefore the rise of the belly and long putter.

I am not saying I agree with that theroy, I am just trying to help decypher!
 
I know in my case even though I didn't start taking the sport seriously until this year I have putted on greens in sporting goods stores for years with dozens of different putters and never once picked up a belly putter. In the past three months I can't walk past a long putter in a store or pro shop without giving it a roll. The only reason for this in my case is the amount of tv/internet/magazine chatter I have seen/heard/read that have convinced me that they're at least worth a look.
 
I am on average four strokes better since going to the belly putter. I know that sounds like alot however I was really dorking up some short putts prior to my conversion.
 
Belly putters have exploded on tour because they make putting easier for some pros. And since the pros are using them, amateurs are using them.

My other opinion is that guys are using bellies more is because of global warming. I can make silly claims to.
 
I am on average four strokes better since going to the belly putter. I know that sounds like alot however I was really dorking up some short putts prior to my conversion.

Really? That's a lot!

Is that an actual recorded stat or a guess? If its an actual stat I assume your handicap has come down by the same margin?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Really? That's a lot!

Is that an actual recorded stat or a guess? If its an actual stat I assume your handicap has come down by the same margin?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep it has lowered my handicap from around 16 to a 9.4 this year although at the present it's back up to a 10.9. For a few months I was keeping stats on number of three putts and they practically disappeared so yea, it really lowered my scoring average. The next Ghin out should have me approx at 10.4 or so and my scores always go up in the winter months. The belly putter on whole has kept my handicap within a decent range.
 
I know this is old,but it does show that Beta Blockers were common, even way back.Shows he used it to help him with his putting.

All I'm wondering is,how much of this has helped explode belly putters on tour?

[h=1]Golfer Alleges Drug Use on Tour[/h]Published: April 06, 1994

Although the sport has never had a documented case of a player's testing positive for drugs, golfer Mac O'Grady has charged that at least 7 of the top 30 players in the world use beta blockers to calm themselves and steady their putting.

In today's editions of The Augusta Chronicle, O'Grady, a former PGA Tour player, said he used beta blockers for six months in 1985-86 to help his putting. He said many top players use beta blockers, but declined to name them.
Beta blockers are commonly prescribed to treat high blood pressure and certain forms of heart problems, such as angina. They slow the heart rate and lower blood pressure. The theory is that they would steady a golfer in pressure situations.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/06/sports/golfer-alleges-drug-use-on-tour.html?src=pm
 
Another article from same time period


[h=1]Golfers accused of drug use/O'Grady says beta blockers help putting of some players[/h] [h=3]JAYNE CUSTRED Staff[/h] [h=4]WED 04/06/1994 HOUSTON CHRONICLE, Section Sports, Page 5, 2 STAR Edition[/h]




AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The golfers were barely through the gates at Augusta National this week, and a controversy was already brewing. Mac O'Grady, who wasn't invited to play in the 1994 Masters, shook the dogwood trees by suggesting that a number of top golfers are regularly using prescription drugs to help their games.
O'Grady, who was at the Masters helping friend Seve Ballesteros with his swing, claimed that some players -- Europeans especially -- are taking beta blockers. While the prescription drugs are not illegal or against PGA Tour policy, O'Grady maintained that because they can help some players' putting, they are unethical.
"Of the 30 top players worldwide, I would be surprised if it was less than seven" who are using beta blockers, O'Grady said.
Beta blockers are commonly used to treat high blood pressure, angina and anxiety-related symptoms. An Augusta cardiologist, Dr. A. Bleakley Chandler Jr., said beta blockers slow the heart rate and lower blood pressure.
But O'Grady contends that since the drugs control a part of the brain that affects fear and anxiety, players using beta blockers "don't relive past negative traumas."
O'Grady said he tried the drugs for six months in the mid-1980s and that they helped his putting. But others claim beta blockers did not help them.
Nick Price, the 1993 Player of the Year, said he took beta blockers from 1982 to 1989 and that they hampered his game.
"It hurt me," Price said. "It didn't let me be myself."
Price, who has high blood pressure, said he still takes drugs for the condition, but medicine that doesn't sap his energy like the beta blockers did.
Two of the top European players, meanwhile, denied using the drugs. Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer said they've never taken beta blockers.
O'Grady said the best way to ensure there are no golfers using the drugs would be to give random urine tests to all PGA Tour players. But tour officials said they have no plans to do that.
"Prescription drugs are allowed under PGA Tour substance-abuse policy," said John Morris, vice president of communications for the tour. "We are unaware of anyone abusing the use of beta blockers."

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/a...cused-of-drug-use-o-grady-says-beta-bloc.html
 
And again that still does not say anything about a correlation. Belly putters like hybrids and cavity backs were not around or popular years ago on tour. As the younger generations grow up through the college ranks sponsored by OEMs throughout the schools, you are seeing more and more choices and more and more different setups as the kids come up.

Someone coming up like Keegan Bradley now has choices in the putter from full length, standard length and belly where as 20 years ago that was not the case. The same thing with cavity backs and hybrids.

Are there any facts or statistics to support this thought process or is it just "some guys took beta blockers, they are supposed to help you calm down, now they dont, so all putting changes are related to drugs"?

I mean based on that theory, one could say that Scotty Cameron tour numbers are because of drug testing. During the time that drug testing came into place, the Cameron putter usage on tour went up considerably. Therefore it must be because of drug testing. :alien:
 
And again that still does not say anything about a correlation. Belly putters like hybrids and cavity backs were not around or popular years ago on tour. As the younger generations grow up through the college ranks sponsored by OEMs throughout the schools, you are seeing more and more choices and more and more different setups as the kids come up.

Someone coming up like Keegan Bradley now has choices in the putter from full length, standard length and belly where as 20 years ago that was not the case. The same thing with cavity backs and hybrids.

Are there any facts or statistics to support this thought process or is it just "some guys took beta blockers, they are supposed to help you calm down, now they dont, so all putting changes are related to drugs"?

I mean based on that theory, one could say that Scotty Cameron tour numbers are because of drug testing. During the time that drug testing came into place, the Cameron putter usage on tour went up considerably. Therefore it must be because of drug testing. :alien:

We really need to be able to "like" posts here lol
 
I know this is old,but it does show that Beta Blockers were common, even way back.Shows he used it to help him with his putting.

All I'm wondering is,how much of this has helped explode belly putters on tour?

[h=1]Golfer Alleges Drug Use on Tour[/h]Published: April 06, 1994

Although the sport has never had a documented case of a player's testing positive for drugs, golfer Mac O'Grady has charged that at least 7 of the top 30 players in the world use beta blockers to calm themselves and steady their putting.

In today's editions of The Augusta Chronicle, O'Grady, a former PGA Tour player, said he used beta blockers for six months in 1985-86 to help his putting. He said many top players use beta blockers, but declined to name them.
Beta blockers are commonly prescribed to treat high blood pressure and certain forms of heart problems, such as angina. They slow the heart rate and lower blood pressure. The theory is that they would steady a golfer in pressure situations.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/06/sports/golfer-alleges-drug-use-on-tour.html?src=pm

Yes beta blockers were a topic of conversation and some players took them but this article was written 17 years ago. At that time I think a handful of guys were using broom style putters. Not sure there was even a belly putter on tour at that time, if there was I'm drawing a huge mental block.
As to their popularity on tour, guys see something working and will gravitate toward it. Some use to keep career going or save it. Other use in their prime and win even more. Others are using to get the careers back on track. There have to be multiple reason for the increase use of the non traditional putters but I would venture to say drug use is at the bottom or under the list. Just my opinion, of course
 
So, did beta blockers help with the Yips?
 
BigLefty - I like that you are stating your case and showing some articles. However, the fact that someone said that they believe the increase of belly putters is because of drug testing on tour is just laughable to me.
 
Belly putters have exploded on tour because they make putting easier for some pros. And since the pros are using them, amateurs are using them.
Exactly. If tour pros hadnt starting winning with belly putters you would not have seen the growth in popularity. Just like with any other fad in golf, its a direct result of people seeing tour pros having success with something new and weekend golfers trying it, thinking that its a magic cure to their putting problems.
Ive messed around with a few belly putters and I couldnt get the ball anywhere near the hole with them. If Im going to commit to a long-term process of relearning how to putt with a belly putter, why not just work on perfecting the putting stroke that I already have?
 
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