The Anchoring Ban

[Drumdog]

I just don't care about this. Hopefully this putts it to bed. (see what I did there?)

 

[TheWoo]

I had hope they would honestly! There is so much more important things to deal with than the anchored putter.

I think this is actually why they will adopt it - there are more important issues, so why fight it?

 

[barspin89]

I don't agree with anchored putters nor do I understand their benefit. I've messed around with a few different types from belly putters to long putters and they feel foreign to me so I just don't get the appeal. Either way, shame on all pro tours for allowing them in the first place as it goes against one of the oldest rules in golf. To allow them, then 25 years later, ban them... I see as a double standard. The game is in a much different place from 25 years ago. If the pro tours let drivers progress to more than double their original size at 460cc and even the shorter pros are hitting the ball 300+, why make a stink about a putter? I could understand banning a hydraulic motorized robotic driver arm attachment (saying it existed) but a putter, no matter it's length or what it's anchored to, still needs to be stroked by a golfer who understands the speed and line of a putt. Anchored putters should be allowed because they were allowed in the first place and they give no real advantage, plain and simple!

 

[blugold]

I don't agree with anchored putters nor do I understand their benefit. I've messed around with a few different types from belly putters to long putters and they feel foreign to me so I just don't get the appeal. Either way, shame on all pro tours for allowing them in the first place as it goes against one of the oldest rules in golf. To allow them, then 25 years later, ban them... I see as a double standard. The game is in a much different place from 25 years ago. If the pro tours let drivers progress to more than double their original size at 460cc and even the shorter pros are hitting the ball 300+, why make a stink about a putter? I could understand banning a hydraulic motorized robotic driver arm attachment (saying it existed) but a putter, no matter it's length or what it's anchored to, still needs to be stroked by a golfer who understands the speed and line of a putt. Anchored putters should be allowed because they were allowed in the first place and they give no real advantage, plain and simple!

What rule were they against? There will be a rule in 2016. But never in the previous 400 years has it been illegal to anchor any club, much less the putter.

 

[barspin89]

What rule were they against? There will be a rule in 2016. But never in the previous 400 years has it been illegal to anchor any club, much less the putter.

It goes against the basic definition of a traditional golf stroke. I'm not trying to be rude here, but are you serious? In 400 years of golf, anchoring has been around for maybe 25... about the same amount of time as cavity back irons, heel-toe weighted putters and massive headed titanium woods that almost let the great game, that we enjoy so much, get WAY out of control. The USGA and the R&A have created the most fair, and well thought out, set of rules for any game or sport that exists today. Every decision is made in the best interest of the game and it's traditions. Driver size was capped to not make 90% of the world's courses unplayable. Grooves were regulated to control the massive amount of spin from stronger, more athletic modern players. Anchoring is being banned to solidify the definition of the golf stroke and because it creates controversy which the USGA and R&A want nothing to do with. If the stroke is being questioned, it has to go. It's a necessary step for the future of the game. If anyone on this forum can name one rule from the official USGA or R&A rulebooks that's unfair or unjust, I'll sell my clubs on eBay and give up the game. I think I can sleep sound tonight.

Once again, I agree with the rule but I don't agree with the sequence of events. I feel anchoring should have never been allowed but it was and now we have a controversy.

read this: http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-equi...5/2013/05/the-anchoring-argument-and-tra.html
...and by the way, he's not anchoring

 

[ASN21]

PGA adopted this also to take effect 1 Jan 2016.....

Thank goodness...hopefully this ends the drama. Good decision by PGA.

 

[TheWoo]

It goes against the basic definition of a traditional golf stroke. I'm not trying to be rude here, but are you serious? In 400 years of golf, anchoring has been around for maybe 25...

First, in blu's defense, this "basic definition of the stroke" has never been formalized in a way that prevents anchoring - until now.

Secondly, anchoring has been around at least 60 years.

All that said, this just isn't a big deal to me.

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[blugold]

It goes against the basic definition of a traditional golf stroke. I'm not trying to be rude here, but are you serious? In 400 years of golf, anchoring has been around for maybe 25... about the same amount of time as cavity back irons, heel-toe weighted putters and massive headed titanium woods that almost let the great game, that we enjoy so much, get WAY out of control. The USGA and the R&A have created the most fair, and well thought out, set of rules for any game or sport that exists today. Every decision is made in the best interest of the game and it's traditions. Driver size was capped to not make 90% of the world's courses unplayable. Grooves were regulated to control the massive amount of spin from stronger, more athletic modern players. Anchoring is being banned to solidify the definition of the golf stroke and because it creates controversy which the USGA and R&A want nothing to do with. If the stroke is being questioned, it has to go. It's a necessary step for the future of the game. If anyone on this forum can name one rule from the official USGA or R&A rulebooks that's unfair or unjust, I'll sell my clubs on eBay and give up the game. I think I can sleep sound tonight.

Once again, I agree with the rule but I don't agree with the sequence of events. I feel anchoring should have never been allowed but it was and now we have a controversy.

read this: http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-equi...5/2013/05/the-anchoring-argument-and-tra.html
...and by the way, he's not anchoring

Wow. Where to start. You're not rude. Just wrong IMO. Which doesn't mean much admittedly. Find me any such definition of a stroke that anchoring violates in the current rules of golf and I will sell my clubs on eBay to the lowest bidder. Second, according to the future rule, Bobby Jones is anchoring his hand to his leg, which violates the 2016 rule. Also, Ken Venturi anchored his hand to his leg in a similar fashion. Second, equipment advances havent ruin or threatened anything. Average handicap hasn't changed.

I am 100% against the rule. It serves no purpose in getting people to play and enjoy the game of golf. But at this point, it's water under the bridge. But to say that the anchored stroke currently violates any part of the rules of golf is wrong.

 

[wadesworld]

I'm just glad the PGA Tour and PGA have acquiesced. I always believed that was going to be the outcome, but it's good to see it happen. Say whatever you will about anchoring, but having the PGA Tour and/or the PGA go against the USGA and R&A would have been awful for the big picture of the game.

 

[barspin89]

Wow. I don't think my point is getting across. Bobby Jones has his hands close to and maybe touching his legs, but the butt end of the grip is not touching anything. His wrists are free to pivot. That's not anchoring.

To say that advances in equipment haven't changed the game is ridiculous! I'm 5' 9", 140lbs and I can hit a driver 270+. It doesn't take a genius to know that I wouldn't get that distance from a 50 year old 150cc wooden driver. Average handicap doesn't prove anything.

 

[blugold]

Wow. I don't think my point is getting across. Bobby Jones has his hands close to and maybe touching his legs, but the butt end of the grip is not touching anything. His wrists are free to pivot. That's not anchoring.

To say that advances in equipment haven't changed the game is ridiculous! I'm 5' 9", 140lbs and I can hit a driver 270+. It doesn't take a genius to know that I wouldn't get that distance from a 50 year old 150cc wooden driver. Average handicap doesn't prove anything.

According to the list of banned techniques, starting in 2016, anchoring any part of your arm below the elbow to your body is deemed to be an anchored stroke.

To the second part, I never said that.

 

[Fourputt]

Someone pointed out to me that a popular short putter method will be banned under this rule... The one where people press their arms to their sides while putting as that is also "anchoring"...

Yup that's going to be considered cheating in 2016

Not as along as the arms aren't against the body below the elbow.

And I don't get the reference to Bobby Jones. I've never seen anything that suggests anchoring by him. Show me a reasonable stroke which can be made with the hands anchored against the legs. Blu is stretching the idea to suit his beliefs.

 

[barspin89]

In the 1000 rounds of golf I've played in my life I haven't come across one player using an anchored putter. The only players this rule will seriously effect is the pros who use them, and they're good enough to adjust to a standard putter.

If you read rule 14-3 it states: Except as provided in the Rules, during a stipulated round the player must not use any artificial device or unusual equipment (see Appendix IV for detailed specifications and interpretations), or use any equipment in an unusual manner:

Wouldn't you consider a belly or long putter unusual equipment? Compared to putters that were used for the previous 350 or so years of the game, I certainly would. And an anchored stroke is most definitely an unusual manner of putting. Find me a picture of someone putting like Adam Scott before 1985 and I'll eat my words. It's been indirectly stated in the rules for a long time. Blu, I respect your opinion and I most certainly don't want you to sell your clubs to the lowest bidder. Keep enjoying the game as I will, with or without anchored putters.

 

[Kobey]

Wouldn't you consider a belly or long putter unusual equipment? Compared to putters that were used for the previous 350 or so years of the game, I certainly would. And an anchored stroke is most definitely an unusual manner of putting.

The first time one was used or anchored, yes I'd agree that it would be considered unusual equipment or manner of putting. That's when they should have put a stop to it. Once it becomes accepted and allowed in USGA events, it's no longer unusual.

 

[Smallville]

Find me a picture of someone putting like Adam Scott before 1985 and I'll eat my words. It's been indirectly stated in the rules for a long time. Blu, I respect your opinion and I most certainly don't want you to sell your clubs to the lowest bidder. Keep enjoying the game as I will, with or without anchored putters.

[/FONT][/COLOR]

No picture, but they have been around a lot longer than you think. I've tried to keep out of this thread because it's done and over, but I wanted to reply to this post.

Try 89 years ago. http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golftalkcentral/how-it-all-began-notable-long-putter-moments/

Or, from the first time someone won on Tour using one, 47 years ago.

1924: Leo Diegel develops a putting stance which involves a bent-over, elbows-out position with the butt of the putter at his belly button. Competitors called the move "Diegeling."

1966: Phil Rodgers wins twice on the PGA Tour with a 39.5-inch belly putter, using a technique suggested to him by Paul Runyan. According to the Associated Press, "Rodgers shoves the handle of his putter against his stomach and spreads his hands apart before taking his stroke."

August 1989: After nearly two months of debate, the USGA and R&A announce that long putters will continue to be permitted under the Rules of Golf. At the time, USGA executive director David Fay explained, "Putting is a very individualized art form. To inhibit a golfer's individual style would take some of the fun out of the game."

1991: Rocco Mediate wins the Doral Open, becoming the first player to win a PGA Tour event using a putter anchored to his sternum.

April 2011: USGA executive director Mike Davis appears on "Morning Drive" to discuss a possible ban of the anchored putter: "We don't see this as a big trend. It's not as if all the junior golfers out there are doing this. No one's even won a major using one of these things anchored to themselves. So we don't see this as something that is really detrimental to the game."

August 2011: Keegan Bradley wins the PGA Championship, becoming the first player to win a major while anchoring a putter to his body. Later that month, Davis expands on his earlier comments: "To date there's no evidence they are giving anybody an undue advantage. But could we become concerned some day? The answer is, yes."

June 2012: Webb Simpson becomes the second player to win a major using a belly putter, capturing the U.S. Open at The Olympic Club.

July 2012: Ernie Els wins the British Open using a belly putter, holing a 15-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole. Runner-up Adam Scott, using a long putter anchored to his sternum, misses a 6-foot putt to tie Els on the final hole. More than 27% of the field (43 of 156 players) use a long or belly putter.

Nov. 28, 2012: The USGA and R&A announce a proposal to ban anchored strokes, beginning Jan. 1, 2016.




Anyone who says this is to maintain the integrity of the game hasn't followed along. It's a knee-jerk reaction because a few majors were won using this method.

 

[blugold]

Not as along as the arms aren't against the body below the elbow.

And I don't get the reference to Bobby Jones. I've never seen anything that suggests anchoring by him. Show me a reasonable stroke which can be made with the hands anchored against the legs. Blu is stretching the idea to suit his beliefs.

Bobby Jones with his hand on his knee while putting...

And I was wrong. Not Venturi. It was Billy Casper...

 

[blugold]

In the 1000 rounds of golf I've played in my life I haven't come across one player using an anchored putter. The only players this rule will seriously effect is the pros who use them, and they're good enough to adjust to a standard putter.

If you read rule 14-3 it states: Except as provided in the Rules, during a stipulated round the player must not use any artificial device or unusual equipment (see Appendix IV for detailed specifications and interpretations), or use any equipment in an unusual manner:

Wouldn't you consider a belly or long putter unusual equipment? Compared to putters that were used for the previous 350 or so years of the game, I certainly would. And an anchored stroke is most definitely an unusual manner of putting. Find me a picture of someone putting like Adam Scott before 1985 and I'll eat my words. It's been indirectly stated in the rules for a long time. Blu, I respect your opinion and I most certainly don't want you to sell your clubs to the lowest bidder. Keep enjoying the game as I will, with or without anchored putters.

A long or anchored putter has never been defined as a "unusual device". And as Fourputt has stated numerous times, and he's right. This ruling has nothing to do with equipment.

 

[Fourputt]

Someone pointed out to me that a popular short putter method will be banned under this rule... The one where people press their arms to their sides while putting as that is also "anchoring"...

Bobby Jones with his hand on his knee while putting...

His hands may brush his leg on the follow through, which is all we are seeing in that photo. I defy you to successfully make a full stroke with that as a starting position. It may be nothing more than an illusion caused by his baggy slacks too.

 

[blugold]

His hands may brush his leg on the follow through, which is all we are seeing in that photo. I defy you to successfully make a full stroke with that as a starting position.

It would be wristy. That's for sure. And you would win. I don't think I could make that stroke. But some have tried.

 

[JF]

It goes against the basic definition of a traditional golf stroke. I'm not trying to be rude here, but are you serious? In 400 years of golf, anchoring has been around for maybe 25... about the same amount of time as cavity back irons, heel-toe weighted putters and massive headed titanium woods that almost let the great game, that we enjoy so much, get WAY out of control. The USGA and the R&A have created the most fair, and well thought out, set of rules for any game or sport that exists today. Every decision is made in the best interest of the game and it's traditions. Driver size was capped to not make 90% of the world's courses unplayable. Grooves were regulated to control the massive amount of spin from stronger, more athletic modern players. Anchoring is being banned to solidify the definition of the golf stroke and because it creates controversy which the USGA and R&A want nothing to do with. If the stroke is being questioned, it has to go. It's a necessary step for the future of the game. If anyone on this forum can name one rule from the official USGA or R&A rulebooks that's unfair or unjust, I'll sell my clubs on eBay and give up the game. I think I can sleep sound tonight.

Once again, I agree with the rule but I don't agree with the sequence of events. I feel anchoring should have never been allowed but it was and now we have a controversy.

read this: http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-equi...5/2013/05/the-anchoring-argument-and-tra.html
...and by the way, he's not anchoring

It's unfair and unjust that you get penalized for someone else's laziness If your ball lands in a divot in the fairway. The rules prevent you from taking relief from that.

Like it or not anchoring was allowed. Why make a reactionary decision based on a few pros to fix something that isn't broken?


THPing on Tapatalk

 

[Badger_Golfer]

It's unfair and unjust that you get penalized for someone else's laziness If your ball lands in a divot in the fairway. The rules prevent you from taking relief from that.

Like it or not anchoring was allowed. Why make a reactionary decision based on a few pros to fix something that isn't broken?


THPing on Tapatalk

Whether or not it was broken is a matter of opinion.

 

[barspin89]

There's a big difference between a couple of pros experimenting with unconventional putters, and 15-20% of the tour using them. Giving me 2 examples of anchored putters before 1991, used by guys most of us have never heard of, is not a valid argument. There's a belly or long putter in almost every group in every PGA event today. And anchored putters were never defined as unusual equipment? That's like saying "a garden shovel has never been defined as unusual equipment".

The funny thing is that I don't use an anchored putter and never will, so I could care less whether or not they're banned. my only concern on this topic is whats good for the game.

I should've avoided this thread. I'm gonna be in a straight jacket if I read any more of this... and that's really going to effect my swing!

 

[JB]

There's a big difference between a couple of pros experimenting with unconventional putters, and 15-20% of the tour using them. Giving me 2 examples of anchored putters before 1991, used by guys most of us have never heard of, is not a valid argument. There's a belly or long putter in almost every group in every PGA event today. And anchored putters were never defined as unusual equipment? That's like saying "a garden shovel has never been defined as unusual equipment".

The funny thing is that I don't use an anchored putter and never will, so I could care less whether or not they're banned. my only concern on this topic is whats good for the game.

I should've avoided this thread. I'm gonna be in a straight jacket if I read any more of this... and that's really going to effect my swing!

20% on tour using them? In all of 2012 15% of the entire tour experimented a single time with unconventional putters and that includes a stroke like Kuchar. Regular use was down below 10%. Stats from 2012 Darrell Survey.

 

[blugold]

There's a big difference between a couple of pros experimenting with unconventional putters, and 15-20% of the tour using them. Giving me 2 examples of anchored putters before 1991, used by guys most of us have never heard of, is not a valid argument. There's a belly or long putter in almost every group in every PGA event today. And anchored putters were never defined as unusual equipment? That's like saying "a garden shovel has never been defined as unusual equipment".

The funny thing is that I don't use an anchored putter and never will, so I could care less whether or not they're banned. my only concern on this topic is whats good for the game.

I should've avoided this thread. I'm gonna be in a straight jacket if I read any more of this... and that's really going to effect my swing!

"Unusual equipment" means things like an ancillary device connected to the golf club used to swing the club. There is an entire section of the rules that define what constitutes a legal club. Buy just because something wasn't used before 1991 doesn't mean it should be illegal. Hybrids come to mind.

This rule is an equipment issue, it's a stroke issue. Nonetheless, the rule is made. It's all water under the bridge at this point.

 

[Ooo]

I've only played with one player that used a long putter and he was the worst putter I have ever played with. They may have done him a favor because he couldn't get any worse. He just kept putting until he got a short one.