Q&A - Question and Answer Guides

A history of long-putters and the use of anchor points is described in the table below. Long-handled putters have been used for more than 30 years. Many players adopted them to overcome the yips and other problems with putting that threatened to end many promising careers. Many players who shifted to longer putters, were able to remain competitive and to continue their professional golfing careers.

However, their popularity has increased dramatically over the past two years. It is estimated that about 15% of professionals now use anchored long -putters this method. Recent event results have highlighted the shift from a technique to overcome injuries or the yips to becoming a mainstream technique. Many have claimed ‘Enough is Enough’

• Keagan Bradley won the 2011 PGA Championship with a belly putter.
• In June 2012 Webb Simpson, playing at The Olympic Club, was crowned the winner of the U.S. Open. He used a belly putter.
• July 2012 Ernie Els used a belly putter to win the British Open. The runner-up was Adam Scott, who used a broomstick putter anchored to the sternum.
• Almost one third of the British Open Field in 2012 (43 of 156 players) used either a long or belly putter.
• November 2012 Tianlang Guan, aged 14 at the time, won the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship using a belly putter, earning an invitation to play in the 2013 Masters event (the youngest player ever to qualify). This win and qualification for the Masters by such a young player may have been the final straw that triggers golf's governing bodies to finally act to ban anchored putting actions.

What are the Advantages of Long-Putters when Anchored

Many people have made the valid point that the genie was let out of the bag long ago. If long-putters were going to be banned, it should have happened 20-plus years ago. Many people have modeled their games around the long-putter and have been using anchoring for 5 and even 10 years. The long putter has been permitted for so long, why make the changes now?

Many have argued that the long-putter and anchoring points have allowed many players with injuries and ailments to continue to play the game, including those who developed the yips, lost control over the muscles in the wrists and lower arms and simply lost confidence in putting. Many older golfers use theme. But the recent explosion in popularity has clearly extended beyond overcoming injuries and disabilities, especially when teenagers just entering the professional ranks are using them. Traditionalists in golf, including many of the leading professionals such as Tiger Woods, argue that anchoring putters to the body threatens to fundamentally change golf.

There is a truly unbelievable array of putter head designs that are permitted within the rules. The problem is just at the other end. The Rules of Golf specify that a putter cannot be shorter than 18 inches, but there's no maximum length (although there is a maximum for other clubs of 48 inches). However there is an existing general rule stating that equipment must maintain "traditional and customary" use. This is probably the lever for applying the new rule to anchoring points.

Many stroke and equipment rules have been changed in the past. It was decided over 100 years ago that the ball must be fairly struck and not be spooned, pushed or scraped. The croquet style putter was banned in 1968, but many weird head designs have been allowed, including the metal driver. Also there have been rules on maximum club length (48 inches, but not for putters).

The fundamental principle driving the rule change is that all golf strokes were meant to be played with hands and arms away from the body. Anchoring a putter against body provides a third point of contact between golfer and club apart from the two hands. This anchoring creates a fulcrum for allowing a pendulum like stroke. Many people believe only the hands should connected to any golf club and anchoring to the body provides an unfair advantage, which goes against the ethos and spirit of the game. Many claim that this is paramount to cheating.

The proposed new rule would apply for all levels of the game of golf.

The proposal is for Rule 14-1(b) to be inserted which reads, "In making a stroke, the player must not anchor the club, either 'directly' or by use of an 'anchor point."

The anchoring is defined as players intentionally gripping the club with the hands, or directly so that it contacts any part of the body.

Putting grips such as "cross handed" or "claw" or are still permitted. Long putters would still be permitted. A belly putter style or a moderate length putter, which is held against an arm would still be allowed, provided they don't touch the stomach (Angel Cabrera used this style when he won the 2009 Masters). Broomstick putters, such as used by Adam Scott, would be permitted provided the handle and hand holding it, are held away from the chest and is not secured against the torso.

Why Make the Rule Change to Prevent Contact with the Body during Putting?