Well, it is officially here. The USGA and R&A, the governing bodies responsible for the rules of golf, have finally officially declared that they are considering a ban on the use of golf clubs “being anchored to the body”, starting in 2016.
Of course we know that they are referring to the use of the long putter and the “belly putter”, which have recently become a common phenomenon on the PGA tour and your local golf course.
At first only the “old guys” we’re using them with sometimes mixed revues. However, with the onslaught of some “young guns” now using these putters on the tour, and very successfully I might add, the witch hunt to ban the use of such new technology is now seriously under way by the custodians of the rules of golf.
I can remember when these new putters first hit the market. The purists of the game ridiculed and disdained anyone who was using them. Actually the first models produced weren’t that good. It has taken awhile for technology and the club companies to get the lengths and weights right for the clubs to really be effective.
I was at the national PGA show in Orlando in 1999, working for the Toski Co., and I remember that a huge debate was raging about the new ways of putting. Is it right?, is it legal?, should we get involved? I distinctly remember that I was very much in favor of getting the company involved to the max with the new putters. I could really see how they would benefit the golfing public.
How can it be wrong to improve ones ability to play a game which is so difficult. For crying out loud, they experimented with making the hole larger at one point to make the game more fair.
You know, we are in the middle of a crisis where people are leaving the game because the game is to hard and takes to long to play. Instead of making the game harder we should be doing everything we can to make it more enjoyable.
Get real. Let the tour guys make more putts! Give the fans something to cheer about!
Keith Haley Golf 