Padraig Harrington has told his belly aching rivals to get used putting conventionally after golf’s ruling bodies banned anchoring the putter to the body.
Golf’s ruling bodies voted unanimously to declare players will be in breach of the Rules of Golf from 1st January, 2016 if caught in fact anchoring any club, putter or wedge.
The rule change has been prompted with three of the past five Majors won by players either anchoring the belly putter or long-handled putter to a part of their body.
Only recently there was further alarm with 14-year old China-born Guan Tialang won the right to tee up in next year’s Masters and British Open using a belly putter to win the coveted Asian Amateur title.
Padraig Harrington says players like Sweden’s Carl Pettersson have got to get used to putting conventionally. (Photo – www.golffile.ie)
The USGA’s CEO Mike Davis said: “Throughout the 600-year history of golf, the essence of playing the game has been to grip the club with the hands and swing it freely at the ball
“The player’s challenge is to control the movement of the entire club in striking the ball, and anchoring the club alters the nature of that challenge.
“Our conclusion is that the Rules of Golf should be amended to preserve the traditional character of the golf swing by eliminating the growing practice of anchoring the club.”
“It would be hard to find anybody in the professional game using a long putter or belly putter who didn’t know this announcement was coming,” said Harrington.
“It was timely to make the change and protect the traditions of the game so it doesn’t become so embedded in the game that kids in particular think it’s the right or normal thing to do.
“It’s a decision for the benefit of the game, full stop!”
And Harrington had some words of advice for belly putting exponents American Keegan Bradley and Sweden’s Carl Pettersson who said they may consider instigating civil litigation if a ban were to come in place.
Indeed, Pettersson suggested he would lose 16 years practicing and using the belly putter if he had to go back to a standard length putter.
“Well, he’s had 16 good years of using them but then I also won three Majors with box grooves and I’d love to have them back but I can’t,” said Harrington.
“I had used a composite set in all three Majors wins getting absolutely the very n’th advantage legally that you could.
“But if the belly putters were coming on the scene now, they’d not be passed.
“And yes, they should have done it 16 or 20 years ago and if they didn’t ban them now they’d become institutionalised with kids coming in and using them.
“It has become so commonplace now that it’s starting to get entrenched so they needed to put a stop to it.”
