OF LONG & SHORT PUTTERS! A year ago, Keegan Bradley won the P.G.A. Championship with a putter anchored against his stomach. This year, two of the three majors were won by golfers wielding longer-than-normal putters.
At last month’s British Open, more than a quarter of the field were using non-traditional putters. The winner, Ernie Els had his putter jabbed in his belly, while the runner-up, Adam
Scott, had his putter staked against his chest.
It was at this juncture that the grumbling took on a loud, authoritative voice, and it portents change.
The day after the 2012 British Open concluded, Peter Dawson, chief executive of the Royal & Ancient, which governs the rules of golf, along with the United States Golf Association, said: "A decision on the permissibility on the use of long putters will be reached soon".
Tiger Woods, when asked about the use of long putters, offered this solution … make them no longer than the shortest club in the bag! ... :-)
What say you?
(NOTE: In a statistical category used to measure putting efficiency called strokes-gained, no player ranked in the top 20 uses a long or belly putter)
