"Perhaps the answer lies in allowing long putters for recreational play, but outlawing them for professionals."
/Would Doug Sanders have yipped that 3-footer to win the 1970 British Open with a belly putter?
And what of the 2-footer - that never touched the hole - that would’ve gotten Ben Hogan into a playoff for a green jacket in 1946?
“Historically, most of the people who use long putters or belly putters are golfers who have mental demons—I hate to use the 'Y' word [for that dreaded affliction known as the yips]—or maybe have trouble bending over because of some physical ailment," Mike Davis, the USGA's executive director, told the Wall Street Journal.
“We'd hate to pull these putters away from them, because golf is a game. It's for fun and recreation.”
For fun and recreation? I’m not sure how much fun Hogan had in his latter years, standing frozen over the ball, unable to pull the trigger on short putts.
He then asks if perhaps bifurcation on putters should occur and follows up with these fine points:
Because there’s little doubt that putters whose nerves are shot can be re-born with a long putter.
Doesn’t that give them an advantage they don’t really deserve?
Shouldn’t dealing with nerves be an integral part of winning a golf tournament?
Meanwhile the cheaters spirit-of-the-stroke violators are fighting back! Steve Elling talks to Jim Furyk at length about how he sold his soul by asking Keegan Bradley how to rig himself up with a belly putters
Simpson and Bradley are at the fore of the first real wave of players who have used the putter for most of their golfing lives, and don't fully understand the stigma discussion. To them, it's merely taking advantage of the best available resources at hand, aesthetics be darned.
"I mean, guys are talking about banning the putters -- I think it's pretty crazy," Simpson said. "Because if it was so easy, why isn't everybody using it? The belly putter/long putter is still in the minority."
Well, for now. Of the top 17 at the moment in FedEx Cup points, five are using belly or broom putters.
So, for those purists out there who let the belly putter gnaw at their gut, find some Maalox, because this doesn't look like a passing fad, does it? Bradley all but promised as much.
"Unfortunately, those purists out there are going to have serious problems in about 10 years," Bradley said, "when about 50 percent of the guys on tour are using them."
