Fincham and the Anchored Putting Showdown

Personally, I am in favour of the ban - clubs are meant to be swung - simple. Not anchored to another part of your body to avoid the yips or steady your hands...

There can only be one outcome - USGA and R&A be brave enough to ban them - this will separate players who just want to earn £'s from those that truly want to win majors - by removing the US Open / Open and USPGA events (not sure on Masters) from those who won't change will see who really wants to win a major and be a great and the history of this fantastic sport!

Ban.

Personally I have no real strong feelings. If pressed I'll say I believe it to be a foul stroke because it is a connection between the body and hands that no other club has.

I'd maybe have a stronger opinion but I'm such a bad putter that anchoring a longer club just seems to give me even more to think about. lol

Tiger summed it up best - "we swing the other 13 clubs using our hand, why should the putter be different". 

I'm in favour of the ban, but I'm genuinely concerned about the direction this is taking. Fincham seems to be in the pocket of the big manufacturers who don't want to have their R&D departments constrained by too many rules. This fight is purely the precursor to a bigger fight regarding all other aspects of the game, especially balls.

Imagine, if you will, the split happens. The PGA goes it alone. The Majors become a serious bone of contention, then some bright spark in China schedules a PGA sanctioned event with a $20 million purse at the same time as The Open. I have no doubt that there will be a worrying number of players who will chase the money. If you take this situation to it's extreme (and we all love extremes), this battle could drastically change golf as we know it, and not for the better...

How about this for a scenario.....

- PGA Tour goes against ban to appease the big manufacturers.
- R&A and USGA rule that pga tour members cannot enter the Open or US Open.
- WGC side with R&A & USGA and do the same.
-Tiger, Rory etc defect to Euro Tour in search of majors.
- Most other high profile players and sponsors do the same
- Euro Tour expands to 3 layer World Tour including flagship WGC events in US
- African and Asian Tours become feeders for World tour
- PGA Tour becomes equivalent of NASCAR as a US only - standalone competition.
- Masters becomes the PGA Tour's "major" but no longer recognised
- Masters replaced by another major (SA, Dubai or Far East)

Like I said, we all like extremes...

BigPete wrote:

How about this for a scenario.....

- PGA Tour goes against ban to appease the big manufacturers.
- R&A and USGA rule that pga tour members cannot enter the Open or US Open.
- WGC side with R&A & USGA and do the same.
-Tiger, Rory etc defect to Euro Tour in search of majors.
- Most other high profile players and sponsors do the same
- Euro Tour expands to 3 layer World Tour including flagship WGC events in US
- African and Asian Tours become feeders for World tour
- PGA Tour becomes equivalent of NASCAR as a US only - standalone competition.
- Masters becomes the PGA Tour's "major" but no longer recognised
- Masters replaced by another major (SA, Dubai or Far East)

Personally I would love that. I don't like it that the US has '3 Majors' on its continent. It would be great if there was 1 in US, the Open in the UK, an Asian open (to recognise the growth in the game over there) and a floating Open that moved regions to recognise great courses in the other regions. 

The PGA Tour are looking a bit isolated here.

In light of the fact that Tim Fincham may well lose the vote on belly putters he has proposed new rules on hole size to make it easier for players having to switch back to a conventional putter. A practice facility has already been built for these players to use before the Masters

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