Putting is my favorite thing to do while playing golf. So much so, I have a putting green in my basement and a bunch of putters laying around, including several Scotty Cameron’s made specifically for me.
I was never a fan of anchored long putters because it provided a crutch to those players who were not good putters or did not practiced enough to be a good putter.
I still think that allowing the usage of long putters on tour should not be allowed and it opens the door to scrutiny as has been the case with Scott McCarron and Bernhard Langer on the Champions Tour.
The governing bodies banned anchored putting on January 2016; but did they?
Introducing Arm-lock putting. Let us be honest, Arm-lock putting is nothing more than anchoring a putter grip to your forearm restricting a “free flowing swing”. Was this a compromised to appease the “yipsters” out there on the professional tours?
Arm-lock putting may not be the textbook definition of “the player’s forearm held against his or her body to establish a stable point”. By locking the grip, or “resting the grip against the forearm” the putter is technically locked against the body and therefore establishing a stable point.
Whatever the reason behind it, it is still anchoring by another name and it should be banned all together. Putting requires skill, grit, patience, and controlling one’s nerves under stress.
To me, skillful putting is what separates a Major Champion from a journeyman, and it should be preserved in its purest form.
It is time for the USGA and the R&A to right this wrong. Make putting great again!
https://www.usga.org/content/dam/usga/images/rules/anchoring/understanding-anchored-strokes.pdf