Anchored Putter Ban: One Year Later How Five Players Affected

Ernie Els

Ernie Els has tried it all to cure his putting woes, including the belly putter.

Golf is a game of tinkering. Few embody that more than Ernie Els. The “Big Easy” has one of the sweetest swings in golf, but has struggled to replicate that rhythm on the green at times in his career.

His woes have particularly manifested as of late. Els’ 2015 season with the flatstick evoked the infamous y-word in golf (yips) from critics who saw him frequently three- and four-putt greens. The former world No. 1 finished an abysmal 173rd in SG putting.

He switched to a cross-handed grip and reaped dramatic results. Els finished 23rd in SG putting the next year. His newfound success still seemed a little tenuous, especially after his meltdown at Augusta. In his first hole at the Masters, Els lagged a 50-footer to six feet. Not bad. He needed six more putts to ultimately exit the green.

“I couldn’t get the putter back,” Els told the media after his round. “I was standing there, I’ve got a three-footer, I’ve made thousands of three-footers, and I just couldn’t take it back.”

Els Can’t Putt Consistently, With or Without Anchoring

His struggles predate the seven-putt. The former critic of anchored putters went to the dark side in search of success. Els had spells with the belly putter in the early 2010s. Like any other putting style he used, ups and downs followed. He didn’t experience a  drastic improvement from anchored putting, finishing outside the top 100 in SG putting in 2011 and 2012.

Els’ win at the 2012 Open Championship using a belly putter fueled the growing fire among those with ruling power to institute a ban. Perhaps forgotten is Adam Scott’s bogey-bogey-bogey-bogey finish (while also using an anchored putter) that paved the way for Els. Els’ was no flamethrower on the greens, either.

He admitted he couldn’t have won the Open that year without his belly putter, but he still finished in the bottom 15 in strokes gained putting that week at Royal Lytham.

Els’ success with the anchored putter netted a big win, but it might have come at the right place and time in a career mixed with putting highs and lows. The anchored putter appeared to be just one of 13 clubs in the bag that week.