Rickochet The USGA needs to reverse their stupid rule change and allow anchored putting as they did for 30 years.

They still allow it. Bernhard Langer and Scott McCarron etal anchor to their sternum with the broomstick. No one calls them on it. Belly guys are the only ones that are effected it seems though Webb Simpson and Keegan Bradley seem to have figured out a way. A. Scott has used a broom stick in the past. In my own little reality I don't see arm lock putters any different than belly or broomstick they are also anchored. (to your forearm) If you are going to be purist then put your foot down and stop everything not here and there. USGA/R&A need to go out to Langer/McCarron and say we need to see some air between your top hand and your sternum no touching what so ever. They stopped the belly putter from being attached to the belly so do the same 100%.

    Spuzz He could lose the AimPoint nonsense as well.
    blech

    That's his biggest issue. Green reading.

      Par4QC And if I were to copy anyone's swing, it would surely be Molinari's.

      I wish i could putt like him!

        Rickochet I'm glad they changed it. What's come out of it is almost worse IMO as there are guys openly cheating (Bernie Lanchor and Scott McAnchor) and its allowed. Even if the officials or playing partner called them on it they can either deny or say it was not intended and they are good! It's not about theses guys anyways.....the usga does not want more and more young golfers going to an anchor stroke vs. conventional/semi conventional. In this regard it was a good move!

            ode the usga does not want more and more young golfers going to an anchor stroke vs. conventional/semi conventional.

            Unsure about that Chad. Justin Harding 33 yrs. old did well in The Masters using broom stick anchored. If you can't put something (cardboard, paper) between the top hand and the body/shirt/sternum and it falls out then you are not anchored. If it doesn't you are anchored. Easy to check but it was put in as a grey rule golfers policing themselves game of honor. Issue is guys playing for oodles of $$$ are not going to play by the rules try to circumvent as much as possible that grey areas allow them. Grey area no black and white.

                ode I'll have you know, I won spelling bees and received straight "A"s in spelling my whole time in school!!

                🤓😜

                  scotts33 I mean kids, people learnimg the game; there were more and more kids using that method and imo that's why they put a stop to it. I think that was what the usga saw and ultimately one of the main factors in changing the rule .....I think they wanted too all along and could not stomach a decent % of a new generation anchoring!

                      ode scotts33 I mean kids, people learnimg the game; there were more and more kids using that method and imo that's why they put a stop to it. I think that was what the usga saw and ultimately one of the main factors in changing the rule .....I think they wanted too all along and could not stomach a decent % of a new generation anchoring!

                      There are two boys in local First Tee program Madison using broomstick. I don't think it has age boundaries. There is less and less stigmatization using out of norm swing methods (DeChambeau 25 years old single axis-single length, tried face-on and then USGA shut him down on that usage), equipment and use of equipment than in the past.

                      • ode likes this.

                        For a pro he's not a good putter, but he can still probably putt better than anybody at your local muni.

                        I agree that the Aim Point crap should go, and I also think that once you start down that road of alternative grips and all that crap things just tend to get worse.

                        Rickochet and I will have to agree to disagree about the anchored putting, etc. I don't think they should ever have allowed it. I kind of feel like they should also outlaw anchoring on the forearm like Kuchar does, since in spirit it's the same process.

                        Putting is a skill. If people want to be good at it, they have to practice it. And, like all skills, some people will be more gifted at it than others, and that's ok. We shouldn't be able to equalize all aspects of putting. It's supposed to be challenging.

                        Limit putters to 37 inch length. If your 7 foot 6 inches tall and it ain’t long enough adapt. Last time I went down the park they didn’t have a 7 foot rim for short guys.

                          Tinker
                          8' actually.

                          They'll allow drivers as big as your noggin', but not an anchored putter? Makes zero sense to me, but what do I know.

                            Par4QC "And if I were to copy anyone's swing, it would surely be Molinari's."

                            I do copy Molinari's swing.....At least once a round, I hit a shot like his 3rd on 15 yesterday. It doesn't
                            always find a pond, but it's still equally destructive!!

                              scotts33

                              Yes. My biggest beef. It's basically a green light to cheat with everyone watching. The USGA really lost their way with this decision.

                                ode as there are guys openly cheating (Bernie Lanchor and Scott McAnchor) and its allowed.

                                The USGA looked into it - it went like this:

                                USGA: "Scotty and Bernhard, we think you guys are anchoring against your chest - it's a rules breach"
                                McCarron & Langer: "no, we're not"
                                USGA: "Well, OK then"

                                  ode the usga does not want more and more young golfers going to an anchor stroke vs. conventional/semi conventional.

                                  I don't think the USGA gave a squat one way or the other particularly since this had been ok for 30 years. This was pushed by a few upper echelon PGA greats who thought it didn't "look right". The PGA home pro's wanted to keep it the way it was almost unanimously as being great for most amateur golfers. "No Balls" Fincham shocked most by supporting the squeaking wheel elite.

                                    Is it not much easier to hit a straight putt with the club anchored to the chest/belly? It always seemed to me this took the potential for face rotation out of the stroke. I thought that was the point of the ban, force the "nerves" back into the equation. Very easy to twist the putter head a little with a conventional stroke under pressure.

                                    Full disclosure - I've never ever tried an anchored stroke. This observation comes from watching others. The putter is moved in a piston-like fashion through the ball, as if on a two dimensional plane. Rotation of the face seems highly unlikely.

                                    Even Kuchar's arm anchor allows for face rotation, so it does not seem the same to me.

                                    When it was legal I tried anchoring (belly) and it was fantastic on shorter putts. I completely stopped pulling putts and it felt like cheating from that 4-6 foot range that I sucked at.

                                    It was horrible for long putts on slow public course greens though. I could not get the ball to the hole with the putter anchored....at least not here in New England. Out in AZ at a high end course it wasn't an issue.

                                    I've wondered what it might be like to have a wedge with a longer shaft that you "anchor" like the armlock putter. Would it be easier to chip/pitch the ball around the green? Would it be legal since the putter is? I don't plan on trying it, but this is the stupid stuff that runs through my mind.

                                    I have never seen anyone at a public course with anything other an a standard length putter. Not once, which I find odd when it was so popular with people who didn't putt well. Never, not once.

                                      ode I mean kids, people learnimg the game; there were more and more kids using that method and imo that's why they put a stop to it. I think that was what the usga saw and ultimately one of the main factors in changing the rule .....I think they wanted too all along and could not stomach a decent % of a new generation anchoring!

                                      Yup. I remember Mike Davis being on the Golf Channel and being asked if the USGA had any plans on banning anchoring. He said no. Then several months later you had Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson and Adam Scott all win Majors anchoring.

                                      That's when they changed their tune regarding anchoring. It was OK if old guys won on the Champions Tour, but they couldn't live with it if they won anchoring on the PGA Tour.