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.

                    Typhoon 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.

                    Same here. I live in a golf community and see dozens of players daily either while playing or on the green behind my house. NOBODY uses a long putter.

                        A long putter, even though it's just a lengthened shaft, looks so foreign next to a standard putter that it just doesn't even seem right to consider it. I'm about as bad a putter as you'll likely find and am not comfortable in trying one as helpful as it might be to me. It doesn't look like a conventional club even though all of the components used are conventional. I was reluctant to even try a fat grip thinking it is also does not look conventional (traditional), but at least it doesn't jut two feet above everything else in the bag.

                        Just to get back on topic, I'd love to have Adam Scott's full swing. Being short and fat kind of prevents me from copying it, but it is a great looking and effective swing.

                        • ode likes this.

                        sdandrea1 Typhoon 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.

                        Same here. I live in a golf community and see dozens of players daily either while playing or on the green behind my house. NOBODY uses a long putter.

                        And thank God for that, avg Joe would not even know what to do with a belly or long putter. I have a friend who's played golf his whole life, h.s. team, caddied at a prestigious courses. He buys a CB putter (roughly 38") and is trying putt with it with his hands at the end of the grip. I had to show him how to use it, I couldn't imagine trying to figure out a belly, arm lock, or long putter!

                        Pros and high level ams are going to have OEMs and coaches etc. getting the gear they want and need as well as help getting the right fit. IMO if there is a club in the bag that needs to be fit, it's the putter! It has to take a lot of time and practice to master a non traditional putter/stroke.

                          Also, every golf shop I go in has maybe a few options at most for long putters or belly or arm lock ...in fact I'd say more shops do not have these options for sale vs. do!

                            ode in fact I'd say more shoos do not have these options for sale vs. do!

                            You might as well build your own long putter.
                            Most parts are on close out now.

                            • ode replied to this.

                                Spuzz

                                Tis the one area in clubmaking I avoid, putters. Straight shaft simple enough but aligning the grip is not as easy as it looks. Single and multi bend putters, forget it, I do not have the requisite skill to accurately align shaft correctly and find even harder to then accurately align the grip. Leaving that to the folks who know what they are doing!

                                    ode I avoid, putters

                                    LOL
                                    I do my putter grips by eye now but if you have a laser it helps quite a bit.

                                    A straight in shaft and a round split 2 piece grip doesn't seem too difficult?
                                    Nothing to line up.
                                    Never tried a split grip myself though.

                                    • ode replied to this.
                                    • ode likes this.

                                        Spuzz A straight in shaft and a round split 2 piece grip doesn't seem too difficult?

                                        True

                                        Spuzz LOL
                                        I do my putter grips by eye now but if you have a laser it helps quite a bit.

                                        I affix in vice and put the level on the face to make sure it's straight and then put on grip and get the floor against a straight edge and tweak as I see fit.