OT Golfers....rule change this week...what say you?

[Blakeon18]

I see that the USGA are meeting in the next few days to discuss
outlawing the increasingly common practice of anchoring your putter [long] to your torso.

Agree or disagree?

My first impression is that it should be gonzo....my guess is that they will in fact ban it.

While they are at it, I think they should also ban the practice of allowing caddies to line up a player before they swing. The PGA does not allow it but the LPGA does. I figure elite players should face that particular challenge without supervision. It's interesting that the LPGA permits it but then requires the caddie to step away before the player begins her swing. Is the only reason for that to allow the TV cameras to get a clear view from behind ?

 

[geordi]

Dump it. And while you're at it, make the hole about twice as big!

 

[cohenzone]

Of all the things they want to ban. The pros use equipment that only hackers should be allowed to use. Using wedges or 9 irons for the second shot on par 4 holes 420 or longer tells you all you need to know about how the modern technology has perverted the professional game. The belly putter is the least of the perversions.

I second making the hole twice as big and also making the courses move the flags much closer to where my ball usually winds up.

 

[Blakeon18]

http://gulfnews.com/sport/golf/long-putters-ban-set-to-be-introduced-1.1110759

An up-to-date article suggests that the decision has already been made.

 

[boontonbomber]

I see that the USGA are meeting in the next few days to discuss
outlawing the increasingly common practice of anchoring your putter [long] to your torso.

Agree or disagree?

My first impression is that it should be gonzo....my guess is that they will in fact ban it.

While they are at it, I think they should also ban the practice of allowing caddies to line up a player before they swing. The PGA does not allow it but the LPGA does. I figure elite players should face that particular challenge without supervision. It's interesting that the LPGA permits it but then requires the caddie to step away before the player begins her swing. Is the only reason for that to allow the TV cameras to get a clear view from behind ?

agree on both. lining up players really rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Olde Coach]

I see that the USGA are meeting in the next few days to discuss
outlawing the increasingly common practice of anchoring your putter [long] to your torso.

Agree or disagree?

My first impression is that it should be gonzo....my guess is that they will in fact ban it.

While they are at it, I think they should also ban the practice of allowing caddies to line up a player before they swing. The PGA does not allow it but the LPGA does. I figure elite players should face that particular challenge without supervision. It's interesting that the LPGA permits it but then requires the caddie to step away before the player begins her swing. Is the only reason for that to allow the TV cameras to get a clear view from behind ?

I say BAN the long putters. And the right way to do it is by banning anchoring. Good for the rule-makers. And the LPGA should have banned the caddies from helping their players alignment a long time ago.

 

[Blakeon18]

Olde Coach has the specifics of this right....no surprise. It is the anchoring that is improper. If some player wishes to use the long putter with no anchor to the torso...good luck.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I agree with banning caddy assists with line up. Body alignment at address is part of the game. I also think caddies should not be allowed to read putts.

As for equipment - it's all about the ball and the PGA hasn't had the courage to address that.

 

[VAMike23]

I would support a ban on the anchored putters as well.

On a related note, I would love to see someone start a tournament during Silly Season called the Persimmon Open. Only classic wooden 'woods' would be allowed in the bag. All irons and wedges would be allowed but no hybrids. I would require old balata balls as well but that's getting carried away! I agree that the modern ball is much better and longer but IMHO today's driver technologies have at least as much impact.

The tournament would provide an ample selection of clubs covering a broad range of lies and swingweights for those players who do not bring their own. Most drivers would be in the old standard length of 43" or whatever it was. Maybe we could make a few at 44". Fairway woods would also be provided.

And no belly putters!

 

[cohenzone]

I would support a ban on the anchored putters as well.

On a related note, I would love to see someone start a tournament during Silly Season called the Persimmon Open. Only classic wooden 'woods' would be allowed in the bag. All irons and wedges would be allowed but no hybrids. I would require old balata balls as well but that's getting carried away! I agree that the modern ball is much better and longer but IMHO today's driver technologies have at least as much impact.

The tournament would provide an ample selection of clubs covering a broad range of lies and swingweights for those players who do not bring their own. Most drivers would be in the old standard length of 43" or whatever it was. Maybe we could make a few at 44". Fairway woods would also be provided.

And no belly putters!

If you've ever seen one of the very old Wide World of Golf shows, in the early 1960s. greats like Palmer regularly needed 3 shots to a par 5 and were using 7 irons from 150-160. At the GHO I once followed Mickelson and he was typically using 9 iron or wedge on holes that are in the 440 range. The second shot on that length hole was never meant to be a complete accuracy shot the way a wedge or 9 is for the pros. There is a pretty noticeable difference between the accuracy of a 6 or 7 iron and a wedge for the touring pros.

 

[VAMike23]

If you've ever seen one of the very old Wide World of Golf shows, in the early 1960s. greats like Palmer regularly needed 3 shots to a par 5 and were using 7 irons from 150-160. At the GHO I once followed Mickelson and he was typically using 9 iron or wedge on holes that are in the 440 range. The second shot on that length hole was never meant to be a complete accuracy shot the way a wedge or 9 is for the pros. There is a pretty noticeable difference between the accuracy of a 6 or 7 iron and a wedge for the touring pros.

I agree that today's pros use at least 2 clubs less and sometimes 3 clubs less on their iron shots, compared to the old days. (150 yds used to be a reasonable avg for 7-iron shots by good players). Part of this increase is certainly the modern golf ball, as Nicklaus and many others have pointed out (including vtcwbuff). The rest is due to the players, who pack more power in their swings today.

 

[Icebear]

Olde Coach has the specifics of this right....no surprise. It is the anchoring that is improper. If some player wishes to use the long putter with no anchor to the torso...good luck.

Watch they will put a special mouth piece on the butt of the putter and long putter devotees will anchor at their mouth which is not the torso. The right way to do it is to simply state that all clubs may only be held in the hands without any other contact point. Torso does not necessarily solve the problem.

 

[cohenzone]

I agree that today's pros use at least 2 clubs less and sometimes 3 clubs less on their iron shots, compared to the old days. (150 yds used to be a reasonable avg for 7-iron shots by good players). Part of this increase is certainly the modern golf ball, as Nicklaus and many others have pointed out (including vtcwbuff). The rest is due to the players, who pack more power in their swings today.

It's the clubs as well. I notice it in my own change of clubs that I get about 10 yards more per iron in my year old clubs than I did in my old ones.

 

[Alydar]

As far as making the hole bigger, they tried it back in the 20's or 30's. The good putters made more putts while the bad putters still missed. The idea was abandoned quickly. As far as belly putters, so what? I don't think it's such a great advantage. Certainly not ruining the game. The day they invent a device that blocks negative thoughts and fears then I will support banning it.

Funny how no one ever suggests we go back to hickory shafts. The introduction of steel was (and remains) the biggest technological advance ever. Why is it not banned? Simply, $$$. For all the talk of tradition and the somber speeches of the USGA the game is controlled today by manufacturers of equipment. It would have been easy to simply say that shafts must be steel, or ban Titanium and graphite. The reason they don't do that is $$$. I had friends I played with back in the 60's who hit 9 irons 150+ yards. I also watched pros in the 90's use 7 irons from 150. Lighter shafts (even steel has gotten thinner and lighter) and heads have allowed longer shafts and ball spin rates have allowed higher trajectories. So lofts have gotten stronger resulting in a 9 iron having less loft and being an inch or more longer makes them no different from a 7 iron.

And in any event, 90% of people who play can't break 100, same as 40 years ago. Average scores haven't improved. I've been playing for over 40 years (knees have put a temporary halt on it) and while I can hit a drive further with my 48" driver as opposed to the 43" driver I had in 1973, it hasn't reduced the challenge of the game one bit. In all these years I've seen 1 technological change that actually made golf easier for the average player. It was the Polara ball, that had a dimple pattern that gave the ball a gyroscopic spin that straightened out hooks and slices. It was quickly banned with a rule change (and 6 million to the manufacturer in compensation since they marketed it within the existing rules). All the "controversy" over square grooves was mostly about $$$. Ping had become so dominant in iron sales that other manufactures (and their player reps) mounted a propaganda war. Pros in the 70's had Wilson or MacGregor on their bags and Ping Eye 2's in them. I laughed when Jack said that Ping irons were the only reason Mark Calcavecchia was on tour. When Mark won the British Open Jack was made to look foolish. He also said on camera that clubs shouldn't replace skill after appearing in ads for a decade telling us that MacGregor irons would make us play better. It was the pinnacle of hypocrisy and I lost a lot of respect for Jack.

If belly putters improve putting so be it. from my experience, good putters will putt well using a hockey stick and bad putters will putt bad with laser guided putters. My guess is that putter sales are down because people like belly putters.

JMO

 

[uconnfan68]

I agree that today's pros use at least 2 clubs less and sometimes 3 clubs less on their iron shots, compared to the old days. (150 yds used to be a reasonable avg for 7-iron shots by good players). Part of this increase is certainly the modern golf ball, as Nicklaus and many others have pointed out (including vtcwbuff). The rest is due to the players, who pack more power in their swings today.

The equipment difference is huge. Both clubs and balls have more technology than ever, but I think clubs have have a larger impact than either golf balls or players differences.

 

[pap49cba]

I think it's a dumb move. The game has much larger issues that the ruling bodies should be worried about, not least of which is the fact the many of the great, old championship courses are being rendered obsolete by modern equipment and balls. Long putters have enabled many players including disabled and "yips" sufferers to continue to enjoy the game.

Long putters have been around for decades (see Orville Moody) but it wasn't until a few pros started winning major championships that the poobahs even took notice. With the money at stake on the various pro tours if these things were perceived to be a big advantage every single player out there would be using them.

I'm in David Ferherty's camp when he said professional golf is the only professional sport in the world where the rules are made by amateurs.