Long putters are far from over yet
Looks like the long putters are finally going to call it a day starting January the 1st, 2016. For golfers like Ernie Els and Webb Simpson, who have won majors using the putters, however that seems like a really long way off?
Critics of the putter are certain by that time Tiger Woods will run into some serious trouble, given his newfound love for the blade club.
They hope his overuse of the putter would get him into trouble a lot sooner, speeding up the ban process.
It is opined that professionals should always be using regulation equipment, and that long putters may give undue advantage to one player over the remaining field.
There ought to be a rule that standardizes all equipment and only standardized equipment ought to be allowed in on-field game-play.
The same ought to be the case for drivers that are said to be “becoming ridiculously long, and their shaft-lengths should be determined by player height and reach”.
In supporting the ban, critics of the long-putter ban argue that in the Ryder Cup between Team USA and Team Europe this season (which is not too down memory lane), there were three to four players on the USA team, who opted to use the putter while their
European compatriots used none.
What remains food for thought is the subsequent whitewash of Team USA by Olazabal and the lads, who accomplished that without long-putters.
The long-putter, it is thus earnestly claimed, does not add hyped advantage to the user’s arsenal. The use of these putters is hype fashioned after a short-lived rise in popularity of their use by seasoned golfers and nothing more.
It is funny how this ban on broomsticks comes right in the heels of the Webb and Els wins in earlier seasons.
The broomsticks have been around for the better part of two decades. The fad is fairly recent, and so is the way of holding the putter.
As popularized by Ernie Els, the new way of holding the putter’s end to the paunch instead of the chest, thus making it a belly putter, and not a chest putter.
This move thankfully takes the unnecessary wobbling of wrists and the shaking of forearms out of the putting equation.
The wrists and forearms need be aligned so as to minimize trembling as the golfer concentrates to putt the ball over the distance.
This can become exceedingly hard when under pressure to perform. Brandt Snedeker explains rather beautifully, stating when you stand on the 72nd hole and you have tremendous pressure to birdie, the whole situation can become rather stressful.
A broomstick, cancelling the wrist and forearms out, works wonders.
Others like Bernhard Langer have made the putter a formidable tool in their caddie bag. The German born Langer has been putting with the bladed broomstick for about 15 years now and he finds the ban amusing at best.
"It has been out for that long," Langer said "If there is anything illegal about it, why did they not stop it right away? If it is that easy with a long putter, a belly putter, why aren't 90 percent of the pros and 100 percent of the amateurs using it?"
"I do not think it is the end of it," he said. "There are pros that are on tour that grew up with that putter. They have invested 15-20 years in practicing, maybe 30 years practicing with a long putter or belly putter, and now they have to switch and they
make a living doing that".
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