The USGA and R&A Made the Correct Decision…Just 30 Years Too Late

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: December 3, 2012

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Most golf purists will say that the USGA and the R&A made the proper decision by banning players from anchoring a golf club against their body.

As USGA executive director Mike Davis discussed on Golf Channel last week, golf has been played for centuries, and throughout that entire period of time, the golf stroke has always consisted of players holding the club away from their body while making a stroke.

They’ll be plenty of be arguments over how the rule should be implemented, the timing of the implementation and whether or not there should be a different set of rules for professional golfers vs. casual golfers. But even the most ardent supporters of belly putters would have a difficult time arguing that these contraptions which players anchor to their bodies do not undermine the spirit of the game and detrimentally alter the way in which the game of golf was originally meant to be played.

That being said, what many have rightfully questioned has been the timing of the USGA and R&A’s decision.

Belly putters have been around in one form or another for more than 30 years now. People were questioning their use back in the late 70s and have been beating the same drum about banning them for the past 30 years.  

So, why have the USGA & R&A only now decided to ban belly putters?

Although the USGA and R&A will argue that they have been looking into the issue for a long period of time and that they feared the recent growth in belly putter usage now posed a threat to the game, most knowledgeable golf fans realize that their decision was very much based on three men: Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson and Ernie Els.

Bradley became the first man to win a major while yielding a belly putter at the 2011 PGA Championship. Simpson and Els followed by using belly putters to win the 2012 U.S. Open and 2012 Open Championship, the USGA and R&A’s flagship events.<...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Golf

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