Anchored Putter Ban: One Year Later How Five Players Affected

Adam Scott

Adam Scott has remained at an elite level since the anchor ban was implemented.

We didn’t see any anchored putter alums win a major in 2016, but Adam Scott had himself a nice year with a pair of wins and five more top-fives worldwide with a traditional putter. Scott held on to the broomstick putter that won him the 2013 Masters just about as long as he could through 2015.

Scott didn’t close out 2013 anywhere near the top of the PGA Tour in SG putting (108th), but it was a slight improvement from his days of finishing outside the top 150. That’s all it took for the elite ball-striker to break through.

He jumped all the way to 54th in SG putting in 2014, but dipped back down to 157th in 2015. Perhaps 2016 was a needed excuse to break from the broomstick.

Scott’s Game After the Anchored Putter Ban

It didn’t take long in 2016 to find the winner’s circle with the new club in the bag. He won the Honda Classic and WGC-Cadillac Championship in consecutive weeks in March.

Scott wasn’t ready to attribute his first win in two years to the putter alone. He is known more for his elite ball-striking, after all.

“I think everyone is guilty at some point of being pretty reactive to whatever happens, and time does pass quickly,” Scott said at the Honda Classic winner’s press conference. “If I came out at the back end of last year with the short putter and just had very mediocre results and no confidence and started really poorly this year, no confidence, I’d feel like I’m a long way behind that standard that was set.”

Now with a full year’s worth of data, he was correct to pump the brakes in assessing his putting woes being over. He made a meager jump to 129th in SG putting, but as has been the case throughout his career, his length and accuracy continue to lay the foundation for his success.