Anchored Putter Ban: One Year Later How Five Players Affected

Over a year has passed since the implementation of golf’s anchored putter ban – how has the ban impacted the players who anchored?

The anchored putter ban “prohibits anchoring a club when making a stroke”.  Implemented on January 1, 2016, the rule sent shockwaves through the game, particularly among the professional ranks.

Many were sympathetic to the protests. The slightest advantage a golfer can find, like using a broomstick putter, can make the difference in one’s career.

“We’re not going to take away your long putter,” Mike Davis told Golf Digest. All you need to do . . . [is] control the whole club with your hands. So long and belly putters are still legal – as long as you don’t anchor them.”

The argument against anchored putters is based on the assumption that affixing the club to one’s body is an illegitimate way of gaining control of the putting stroke. The swinging motion consistent in all facets of golf is diminished.

Use of anchored putters increased after a streak of four of six major winners were anchoring their putters.

Anchored Putting – Arguments Pro & Con

The argument for anchoring is rooted in the belief that going to the anchored putter is a matter of comfort and preference. Certain players might improve from their traditional stroke, but that it is not necessarily a cure-all. Any success from the anchored putter comes from a place of skill or is psychological, but not from any sort of inherent advantage.

No concrete evidence documented a noticeable advantage gained from anchoring when the USGA and the R&A implemented the anchored putter ban..

Some assert that the anchored putter ban resulted from an outcry among a generation of golfers who preceded the popularization of alternative putters and equipment. As there was for the implementation of a 3-point line in basketball or instant replay, there will always be bristles about changes in a sport. Long putters have been around since the 1960s, but were often seen as a gimmicky novelty until they sprouted up more frequently in the 2000s.

The run of major champions with an anchored putting style was another likely factor in the decision. Keegan Bradley’s win at the 2011 PGA Championship ushered in a span of four of six major champions to use the alternative style. Webb Simpson, Ernie Els, and Adam Scott followed Bradley into the championship circle.

Let’s take a look at how the four major champs and a fifth wild card stack up since the rule change.