maybe the caddie union pushed it...

to speed up the pace of play

long putters are all fun and games until the LPGA players start anchoring them in the vag.

http://onpar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/...-pace-of-play/

"At the 1966 United States Open at San Francisco’s Olympic Club, the site of this year’s Open, the U.S.G.A. experimented with some of the magazine’s suggestions: each player putted continuously until he holed out, and the ball could be lifted for cleaning on the green only before the first putt.

The pace of play for the last group improved more than an hour in the first two rounds in threesomes and an average of 45 minutes in the last two rounds played in pairs. The leaders played the final round in a brisk 3:29."


this rule change would be awesome.

pix or gtfo

Seems kind of weird to putt out while standing on what will undoubtedly be a playing partner's line.

Michelle Wie would gain 2 strokes per round by shoving her putter up her (BLEEEEEEEP)

This. Just in case though I plan on trying one out soon. I'm old enough to not get ridiculed now and missing 2 four footers this past week prevented me from shooting a backside 31.

I think the Sam Snead anti-straddling rule is dumb as well.

I also think people should be able to leave the flag stick in the hole on the green. The advantage gained is slight and if it's available to everyone what's the harm? It would also improve speed of play slightly and thus it would be great if we went back to allowing it. That rule is less than 60 years old as I recall seeing video of Arnold Palmer drilling a putt into the hole while on the green with the flag stick still in the hole.

lol

Maybe add a little head gear and a neck brace. They could mount the putter to the head gear so it swings smoothly.


How about a rule that your putter has to be the shortest club in your bag. Or is that too simple.

Am I the only one that is a lol bad putter with long and belly putters? I'd conservatively estimate that my putting average would go up 4 putts per round if I was forced to use one.

To be fair, I hate the long putter. Having said that, I use a Nike mallet putter and have started anchoring it as a belly putter and my putting has improved drastically because of it.

Hypocrite?

People who are against long putters are against it because it can be anchored to the body, not simply because it's long. You could anchor a standard length putter to your body, it's just not as common. Bernhard Langer used to anchor a standard length putter to his left forearm.

I don't think there's anything wrong with disagreeing with a rule while taking advantage of it.